Ethan Nwaneri showed Thomas Tuchel what he, and England, will be missing out on when they kickstart their World Cup campaign next week.
Ethan Nwaneri made quite the impression during England’s behind-closed-doors friendly against Miami United. The Arsenal midfielder fired the Three Lions to a 6-0 victory at Palm Beach Gardens on Thursday as Thomas Tuchel put the finishing touches on preparations for the World Cup.
England arranged to play the amateur side, who play in the fourth tier of football in the United States, for those who didn’t play a prominent role in Wednesday’s friendly against Costa Rica. The Three Lions boss also used the fixture, which was not played at full intensity, it has been revealed, to trial set-piece routines.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the clash against Miami United, Tuchel said: “It will be a match according to our rules. It will not be 90 minutes, maybe 60 minutes, maybe 2 x 30 or 2 x 25. It is to get some minutes into the legs of players who didn’t get minutes against Costa Rica.”
Ivan Toney scored a hat-trick, while Rio Ngumoha is said to have scored a brilliant goal from range. Nwaneri, who spent the second half of the season on loan at Marseille, and Jordan Henderson were also on target, finding the net against Claudio Frean’s side.
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It’s not said that England suffered knocks during the training match, meaning they’re set to face Croatia at the Dallas Stadium on Wednesday night with a clean bill of health. Nwaneri was one of four young players not named in the 26-man squad to join the Three Lions in Florida this summer.
Tuchel also drafted Ngumoha, Alex Scott and Josh King to aid preparations for the World Cup. Shortly before England jetted off to the United States, the former Chelsea boss explained why he decided to bulk up the training camp.
Last month, Tuchel said: “We will take some young players out who will train with us in the size of the squad that we need, and we have the two friendly matches to take care of the minutes and the load on the players.
“I’m happy to have these players, especially Alex, who was on the [long] list of 55 [players for the 26-man World Cup squad] and obviously he didn’t make the first cut, but the reaction of him was outstanding and the commitment and wish to be in pre-camp, and a step closer to the team was not even a question for him.”
Meanwhile, Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Harry Maguire, and Trent Alexander-Arnold were left at home. Tuchel later added: “I think from day one we were very clear that we are trying to select and build the best possible team, which is not necessarily to select and collect the 26 most talented players. Teams win championships; it is as simple as that.”
Even though Nwaneri won’t feature for England at the World Cup this summer, he appears to be thoroughly enjoying the experience in Miami. The Arsenal midfielder has uploaded pictures from his time in the England camp to his Instagram story throughout his stay.
Nwaneri was pictured smiling ear to ear during an indoor gym session before taking to the field for an in-house friendly alongside Ollie Watkins and Nico O’Reilly.
