England vs Uruguay: Thomas Tuchel to test options as questions linger on what Three Lions do without Harry Kane
After a busy season with Bayern Munich, plus potential injury, heat and travel issues, Thomas Tuchel must have a plan if Harry Kane is not available at any stage during the World Cup; Friday's friendly against Uruguay offers a great opportunity for Dominic Solanke and Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Friday 27 March 2026 15:37, UK
On this day 11 years ago, Harry Kane came on as a substitute for Wayne Rooney at Wembley to make his England debut against Lithuania. Eighty seconds later, he was wheeling off to celebrate scoring his first England goal.
Since then, Kane has gone on to be England's all-time leading scorer with 78 goals, and the single most important player for his country for a decade. Most feel that England cannot win the World Cup without him fit and firing.
But Thomas Tuchel has to prepare for a potential nightmare scenario where Kane isn't available. Injury, suspension, heat exhaustion - all are possible reasons why Kane could be KO'd.
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So what's the plan B up top? Who is Kane's natural understudy? At Wembley against Uruguay on Friday, in the penultimate friendly before the England boss has to pick his World Cup squad, opportunity knocks for the two Dominics.
"It's important the two of them understand it's a big chance to be in camp without Harry," Tuchel said of Solanke and Calvert-Lewin. "To compete for a real chance to start and get good quality minutes.
"Harry is Harry, our captain. A starter for us. The question is, if we are chasing a result do we really take Harry off? When is there a chance to be a sub for Harry? Or do we look for someone who will play with Harry? Or someone who is a good penalty taker? These are the questions we have to answer."
The hard truth is that with Kane turning 33 a fortnight after the World Cup final, and a packed workload for Bayern Munich leading up to the tournament, he will categorically not be able to play 90 minutes for a possible eight matches in the North American heat and humidity.
Tuchel has recognised he has to protect his prized asset at all costs - evidenced by the extra five days he has given him to rest this week, along with 10 other high-impact players.
Marcus Rashford, Phil Foden and Jarrod Bowen can all do a job as a No 9 in Kane's absence, but Tuchel has been clear that he wants another natural striker as part of his tournament squad. When I asked him in November whether he might take only Kane to the World Cup as his specialist striker, he answered pretty categorically that he doubted it, because he wouldn't feel his squad had the right "balance".
It appears Tuchel has narrowed his options down to three possible players: Ollie Watkins, Solanke and Calvert-Lewin.
Watkins has been left out of this squad because of his collapse in confidence, which has seen him score only two Premier League goals since January 3. He does though have credit in the bank, having played a key role for England at various times, not least in the Euros semi-final with the late winner against the Netherlands two summers ago.
Solanke has not played for his country since Lee Carsley's spell as caretaker manager. His season has been plagued by injury, but a goalscoring return of six in 17 appearances in all competitions isn't too bad, considering Tottenham's woeful form.
Calvert-Lewin's England exile has been even longer. He hasn't represented his country since the quarter-finals of Euro 2020, when he came off the bench to replace Kane against Ukraine. Ten goals in 27 games for Leeds this season have showed what he can do when he's fit and has a run of games.
It is significant that Tuchel mentioned penalties when talking of Kane's possible replacement. It is a key consideration, not only within the 90 minutes of World Cup matches, but also for any shoot-outs that may come in the knockout stages.
It seems pretty clear that Ivan Toney is not in Tuchel's plans right now, and so his next best penalty taker - other than Kane - isn't even a striker. Cole Palmer's penalty success rate is outstanding and may be an important factor in his battle with the other No 10s at England's disposal.
As for the three back-up strikers currently in Tuchel's eye-line, there is little to choose between them from 12 yards; and in truth, none of them has put their hand up as penalty specialist.
So what of their other attributes? Again, the statistics suggest there is a huge fall-off when compared to captain Kane.
It is clear Tuchel has a problem. Arguably, his biggest problem with the World Cup in mind. Kane represents England's biggest strength, but without him, it looks like England's biggest weakness.
