The World Cup is creeping closer and closer. Thomas Tuchel names his latest England squad tomorrow (Friday) morning for the upcoming friendlies against Uruguay and Japan at Wembley. The two matches represent the Three Lions’ final outings until mid-June, when England play Costa Rica days before the trip across the Atlantic for football’s biggest tournament.

England’s World Cup begins on June 17 against Croatia and there is still much debate as to who will be, and who should be, in the 26-man squad for the tournament. Tuchel will be without several big-name players in his newest squad, with Reece James and Jude Bellingham both injured. That opens the door for some of their other team-mates to make their case to be on the plane bound for the USA. Express Sport names six England players who should NOT go to the World Cup…

With respect to BDB, as he’s affectionately known in the North East, England just have better centre-backs and left-backs so he should miss out. Tuchel also has several players who can do a job at both right-back and left-back (see here: Tino Livramento and Djed Spence) who should get in over him too.

With his height, Burn offers a profile none of his team-mates do and few rival countries even have, which makes him brilliant for set-pieces. But if there were injuries to key players, I just think there’s others players you want facing Kylian Mbappe, Lamine Yamal and co. over Burn.

He’s below Lewis Hall, Nico O’Reilly, Spence and maybe Luke Shaw in the left-back pecking order. At centre-back, Marc Guehi, Ezri Konsa, John Stones, Harry Maguire and Fikayo Tomori are all better. Sorry Dan!

The Premier League’s youngest ever goalscorer is a phenomenon. But it’s far too early for him to go to the World Cup, even as an exciting wildcard from the bench. He just has so much growing to do yet and pushing him too hard too early will have dire consequences in 10 years or so’s time.

Mikel Arteta put it best this week: “If we just bring the temperature down and understand what is the best thing for this boy at his age. He’s doing something phenomenal, we all know that. Let’s keep it down a little bit.”

The teenager has a massive future for England but go let the kid smash it at the U19s Euros in Wales instead. The 2030 World Cup can be Dowman’s stage instead. And maybe also Rio Ngumoha’s.

I agree with Charlie. There is no denying that Max Dowman is a player with huge potential but when it comes to England, he should be one for the future, not the now. Anybody who genuinely thinks he should be at the World Cup because of one goal against Everton isn’t worth listening to.

It would also be irresponsible for Dowman’s own development to have him on the plane. He needs to be managed carefully, not run into the ground before he has even finished school.

To make an England squad, especially for a major tournament, you must be performing at a club level. That has been crystal clear since Thomas Tuchel took charge.

Conor Gallagher, therefore, should be nowhere near the team as things stand. He’s only provided one assist in eight matches since moving to Tottenham and has hardly pulled up any trees with his defensive work, either. There are much better players ahead of Gallagher and to include him in the World Cup squad would be wasting a spot on the plane.

Things were starting to look up again for Phil Foden after his disappointing campaign last time around, but the playmaker has once again fallen off the face of the earth and in truth, feels nowhere near the England squad as things stand. The fact he didn’t see the pitch at all during Manchester City‘s recent Champions League tie with Real Madrid speaks volumes.

It’s time for Thomas Tuchel to ditch this experiment once and for all. Sure, Jordan Henderson has plenty of experience and has played well at times for Brentford this season, but England have too many classy operators in the middle of the park for the ex-Liverpool man to be on the plane. In the heat of North America, Tuchel is going to need all the vibrancy he can get, and unfortunately for him, that won’t be coming from a 35-year-old Henderson.

I also don’t think Foden should go. Aside from that run of six goals in five games this winter, what has Foden done to justify his selection this summer? He hasn’t scored for City since December and only played 182 minutes in their last six league games. Even Pep Guardiola has taken him out of the firing line. Jude Bellingham is England’s best No. 10 and Bukayo Saka will start on the right. Foden caused chaos when Gareth Southgate tried to squeeze him into the team, why drag that carnage up again? Especially when there are dozens of players in his position in better form.

This is a really tough decision. And Tino Livramento will undoubtedly go on to have a brilliant international career. But if fit, Reece James and Trent Alexander-Arnold have to go to the World Cup as England’s right-backs. They’re far too talented to avoid. Livramento can play on the left, but with Nico O’Reilly’s emergence alongside Lewis Hall, there are better picks on that flank too. But his time will come.