5 hours ago
10
Ben White arrived to a chorus of jeers from the England support when Thomas Tuchel introduced him as a 68th minute substitute. Of course he did. There ought to be no second chances for the Arsenal defender in the eyes of plenty of those present. He let the country down when he walked out on the England squad during the 2022 World Cup and made himself unavailable for the next two years.
The real surprise was what happened next. It was one of those paper aeroplane Wembley friendlies, the fans making their own entertainment in the absence of very much on the pitch. Tuchel was happy enough with the collective performance from his scratch lineup, drilling into the finer details, including the players’ work out of possession. There was next-to-no cutting edge, any drive.
Yet in the 81st minute, there was a real red letter moment for White. England had created nothing more than a headed chance for another substitute, Dominic Calvert-Lewin on 71 minutes, which he fluffed. The free-kick delivery from Cole Palmer, who also came off the bench, was excellent. Now, after a Palmer corner was touched on at the near post and the Uruguay goalkeeper, Fernando Muslera, could only parry, there was White at the far post to tap home from all of six inches.
On the occasion of his fifth cap – and his first involvement with the squad since Qatar – he had his first England goal. The response of the crowd to the announcement of the goalscorer’s name? Another round of boos.
There was more. England looked to be about to close out a scruffy win when Uruguay pushed in stoppage-time and when the ball was worked inside to Federico Vinas, yet another replacement, it was White who stretched into an unwise challenge.
Vinas saw him coming and Tuchel felt he knew what was doing when he went to ground. The contact was there and, after a video assistant referee review, the penalty was given. Federico Valverde blasted home and Uruguay might even have nicked it at the very end but for a crucial block from Harry Maguire, who was also back in the team after a lengthy absence. Albeit not as dramatic as that of White.
Tuchel hated the penalty decision, arguing it was so soft and he made the point that he did not think the VAR was working. How was Ronald Araújo not sent off for an X-rated lunge at Phil Foden early in the second half, he wanted to know? The Manchester City player limped off shortly afterwards. He was fortunate to depart under his own steam. Noni Madueke was also caught by a bad challenge and went off in the 37th minute. The Arsenal winger departed Wembley in a knee brace.
It was a fractious game and there was also the bizarre moment when Manuel Ugarte appeared to be shown a second yellow card after the opening goal but was not sent off. White’s strike also went to VAR after the England substitute Adam Wharton blocked off Agustín Canobbio. Wharton got away with it. Uruguay were incensed.
The rough stuff was mainly from Uruguay but not exclusively so. Madueke followed through high and a little recklessly with his trailing leg on Joaquín Piquerez as the England winger tried to cross in the early going, scissoring his opponent, as well, which made for an ugly twist. The Uruguay left-back was taken off on a stretcher.
Tuchel had gambled with his experimental line-up – even if the logic of giving his fringe players a shot at pushing their World Cup claims was possible to follow. His priority was to rest his over-worked first-choices. Tuchel knew it would be a short training week; four sessions from Tuesday to Thursday, including the double one on Wednesday. It was not much time to shape a completely new starting XI. There was not a single survivor from the team that began the previous game against Albania in Tirana.
The England support were bored for pretty much all of the first half – more interested in origami than what their team was able to build. Which was nothing. The mood was subdued. England lacked tempo. Their patterns were formulaic. Uruguay kept them at arm’s length easily.
What was there to report from the first period? James Garner, on his debut, won a few tackles and he showed up, trying to make things happen. Dominic Solanke had a couple of deflected shots which were not close. Djed Spence made a decent block to keep out a shot. James Trafford got to a cross with a solid punch. There were inward sighs when seven additional minutes were signalled because of the stoppage for Piquerez’s injury, although mercifully no boos when they were up.
Foden struggled to make a creative impression in the No 10 role; Palmer was brighter after he came on to replace him. And Foden’s night was scarred by Araújo’s tackle. The Barcelona defender’s studs were up and there was excessive force about it, Foden feeling the impact on his left ankle.
Tuchel raged on the touchline; you could hear his cries up in the press box. Remarkably, neither the referee nor the VAR took any action. There was a reason why Tuchel felt it was a bad day at the office for them. The manager made plenty of changes and White’s introduction was part of a quadruple one. It was the prompt for the evening to get more interesting.
