England take on Ghana tonight in their second game of Group L, and Thomas Tuchel has made a couple of changes to his starting XI.
After a convincing and thrilling win over Croatia last week, you would have been forgiven for thinking that Tuchel would not tinker with his team.
England can qualify for the knockouts if they beat Ghana, and it seems Tuchel wants something a little different in his line-up to get the job done.
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England starting XI announced for Ghana clash
Thomas Tuchel has shaken things up in his defensive line with two changes of personnel.
First, and probably not so surprising, is that John Stones has dropped out of the England XI to make way for his Manchester City team-mate Marc Guehi.
Stones has not played a lot of football this year, and is understandably lacking the match sharpness required to start a second game in a week – with Tuchel citing the “agility” of Guehi as a reason behind the choice.
Meanwhile, a more shocking decision from Tuchel is to pull Nico O'Reilly out of the line-up to be replaced by Djed Spence.
The Tottenham Hotspur man impressed when he came on against Croatia last week, exhibiting his immense speed and desire to get forward and threaten the opposition defence.
It is perhaps more a case of Spence forcing his way into the England starting XI rather than O'Reilly doing anything to lose his place.
The rest of the England line-up remains the same from that World Cup 2026 opener against Croatia.
The #ThreeLions make two changes for our game against Ghana 📋 pic.twitter.com/pNOtNzOxIoJune 23, 2026
Jordan Pickford starts in goal, while Reece James and Ezri Konsa join Guehi and Spence in defence.
A midfield trio of Declan Rice, Elliot Anderson, and Jude Bellingham will play behind a front three of Noni Madueke and Anthony Gordon out wide, with captain Harry Kane through the middle.
