Your Site analyses the winners and losers from the final England camp before Thomas Tuchel names his squad for the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico this summer.
England were dismal in the 1-0 loss to Japan but Elliot Anderson continued to show why clubs will be queuing up to sign him from Nottingham Forest this summer.
The performance on Tuesday lacked pace, intent and any kind of fight. However, Anderson can safely separate himself from those damning labels after at least trying to lead the charge from midfield.
The statistics speak for themselves. He led the game with 136 touches of the ball and completed 111 of his 117 passes on the evening. Add four interceptions, two tackles and one clearance to that list as well.
Declan Rice will undoubtedly walk back into the starting line-up when he is fully fit but Anderson has mounted a serious claim to partner him at this summer's World Cup. He already looks like a leader within the national team, which is made all the more impressive given that it was just his eighth cap.
Phil Foden would not have picked this international break as the ideal time to stake his claim in Tuchel's World Cup squad having fallen out of favour at Manchester City in recent weeks after a promising first half of the season, and his performance in both games across the March friendlies showed exactly why.
He has made only one goal contribution at the Etihad since mid-December and similarly struggled to stamp his authority against two packed visiting defences. He created only a single chance against Uruguay on Friday - three fewer than midfield partner James Garner and one less than his replacement for the final half hour, Cole Palmer, who should have registered an assist but for Dominic Calvert-Lewin's miscued header.
Foden followed that up with an even less effective attempt at showing why he can work as a false nine in the absence of Harry Kane against Japan on Tuesday night, registering the fewest touches of any England starter before he was withdrawn on the hour mark - at which point the Three Lions had not managed a single shot on target.
Foden's appeal at No 10 was already fading given his club form and long-standing patchy returns for England, but this may have been the final nail in the coffin at the worst possible time with the 25-year-old singled out, alongside Palmer, for his lack of attacking return following the Japan defeat.
"If we put offensive players on the pitch we demand offensive actions, creativity, dribbling, shots and assists and we clearly didn't have enough," Tuchel said of the pair.
Five years after bursting onto the scene against Croatia in his debut tournament performance during Euro 2020, it seems increasingly unlikely Foden will even be in the squad to produce a repeat display against the same opposition in England's opener this summer.
Similar to Foden, Cole Palmer fluffed his lines when given a big chance, especially in his favoured No. 10 position in the absence of Bellingham.
No doubting his impact when he's on song, but he is far from that right now. The crumb of comfort is that he is likely to get game time at Chelsea to play himself back into form.
The Manchester United defender was consummate and reliable throughout the March camp and friendlies.
It would surely be a surprise now if he didn't make the World Cup squad. Tuchel talked down his chances, saying he is still fourth or fifth on his list, but that is surely a bit of stick rather than carrot to make sure he maintains his standards at Old Trafford.
After being thrust into the starting line-up to make his England debut against Uruguay, James Garner drew comparisons to Real Madrid superstar Fede Valverde from Thomas Tuchel after the game.
"I'm very happy," Tuchel said when asked about Garner's debut. "He's our mini Valverde!
"He's getting there and played very good. He has this natural confidence."
Eyebrows were raised when the Everton midfielder was named in the line-up ahead of both Adam Wharton and Kobbie Mainoo but fears of his inability to cope with the international stage were quickly quashed with a confident opening 20 minutes on Friday.
His influence on the game faded but Garner has done no harm to his chances in the England set-up following his first involvement with the senior side. Another assured cameo off the bench when England needed a goal against Japan shows Tuchel already has some level of trust in the 25-year-old.
Noni Madueke, England and Arsenal can all be classed as losers in this international break.
A strong challenge from Uruguay defender Rodrigo Aguirre ended his England camp early, with the winger pictured in a knee brace after the 1-1 draw at Wembley.
Tuchel claimed pictures were worse than the reality of the injury but reports have now emerged that Madueke is a doubt for Arsenal's first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Sporting on April 7.
The injury arrives at not only a crucial point in the season for Arsenal, a team battling for a potential treble, but also for England.
This camp was the final chance Tuchel will get to look at his players before naming his World Cup squad and presented an opportunity for Madueke to solidify himself in the plans of the England boss.
It looked like Lewis Hall's hopes of playing any major role in the USA had taken a hit for much of this camp after he was overlooked for Djed Spence at left-back in England's first game with Uruguay before favoured first-choice Nico O'Reilly usurped him to start against Japan as one of Tuchel's scheduled latecomers.
Hall had shown brief flashes in a 20-minute cameo during that first game but gave the England boss real food for thought in a half-hour stint against Japan, finally stretching the visitors' low block out wide and coming closest to levelling the game with a well-struck effort late on.
It was enough for Tuchel to hint at his pleasure at the Newcastle defender's performance, with the Three Lions boss also critical of starting full-backs Ben White and O'Reilly in a further boost to his hopes.
"But we did not have enough width, the full-backs did not engage enough going forward," he said of England's first-half difficulties. "That put everything through the middle, which did not work because it was too congested. It was a bit easier [for the final half-hour] because we had more overlaps and underlaps from the full-backs."
The role of Harry Kane's understudy at the World Cup is up for grabs but it's safe to say Calvert-Lewin failed to grab his chance against Uruguay.
The forward hasn't scored since February 2, a run of seven games without a goal, and those struggles in the final third spilled into his performance at Wembley on Friday.
A golden opportunity to end that drought was squandered when his header from point-blank range was skewed wide of the target. A miss both Calvert-Lewin and Tuchel won't forget anytime soon.
"It took Calvert-Lewin a little bit to get the press right and play with the same intensity," Tuchel said of the Leeds striker's performance.
"He had the big chance and he's upset with himself. It's normally a clear goal. He could have made a statement straight away."
The decision to send him home before the game against Japan on Tuesday spoke volumes.
Dominic Solanke, who has only started nine games for Tottenham this season due to injury, was equally as uninspiring but Tuchel did applaud the work rate from the striker and gave him the nod ahead of Calvert-Lewin to start the game.
Still, we are no closer to knowing what Tuchel's plans are for his back-up striker at the World Cup. A stand-out option is failing to present itself but the England boss is still working behind the scenes to address the issue.
"I have some ideas but I will not make them public." If those ideas were to try Foden as a false nine, he might need to rethink. Ivan Toney, Ollie Watkins and maybe even Udinese forward Keinan Davis - keep your phones close, lads!
It will take some time for Ben White to dispel the boos from any England crowd who still have not forgiven the Arsenal full-back for what is perceived, by some at least, as a betrayal of his country for walking out of Gareth Southgate's World Cup squad in December 2022 and ruling himself out of selection for the following 18 months.
Whether he gets that time or not, we will have to see. Without Reece James' injury absence and Jarell Quansah's late withdrawal he would probably still be waiting to end his England exile.
He is still a long outsider to go to the World Cup given he has played just seven Premier League games for Arsenal this season and was at least partly at fault for both goals England conceded over the international break - though the penalty he conceded against Uruguay was harsh.
But the fact he has finally laid that demon to rest is an overdue stepping stone in his England rehabilitation. The first step is the hardest, and now the noise around him can finally begin to subside.
The Manchester United midfielder looked very comfortable in his first England start under Tuchel, linking play well and disciplined in his positioning.
He may not have the dynamism of Elliot Anderson, but he has proved he is a safe pair of hands in the middle of the park.
There are now real concerns about the Manchester City defender's fitness and whether he can play a game every four days in the heat of North America.
There are concerns, too, about how little game time he has had and how little he may get under Pep Guardiola between now and the end of the season. If he's fit, he goes. Tuchel has made that clear.
Three players boosted their reputations without kicking a ball.
The failures and frustrations of Foden and Palmer show just how important Jude Bellingham is to England. The Real Madrid maestro and Tuchel will pray he now remains fit until the summer.
Watkins, meanwhile, has moved up the England pecking despite his absence. Low on confidence at Aston Villa, he will surely be reassured that neither Dominic Solanke or Dominic Calvert-Lewin did enough to threaten his involvement at the World Cup.
And finally, Reece James is the only one of all England's full-back options who has a guaranteed seat on the plane, if he is fit. Recuperating at home, he will have seen no one leap up to challenge him as front-runner.
The friendly against Japan marked the final chance for Tuchel to look at his players on the international stage before he he must submit his final 26-man World Cup squad on May 30.
England then have World Cup warm-up matches with New Zealand and Costa Rica, before their tournament opener against Croatia on June 17.
