Taking wildcards, leaving out stars - the art of World Cup squad building

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Thomas Tuchel has some tough decisions to make.

As he hosts the last international camp before naming his preliminary England squad for the World Cup, the German has to figure out which players he wants to take to North America - and which ones to leave at home.

He has spoken previously about working from a long list of 55 players for squad selection, and while several of those will already be out of contention in his mind, selecting a final list of 23 will not be easy. Especially as it's not a case of simply picking the most talented players.

"It'll be very important that we don't select just for talent, but also for what we need from a player," Tuchel said in January.

"What the social skills are of a player, is he a good team-mate? Can he support if his role is maybe the supporting role? So, this is where the focus is."

International managers have a long track record of getting this wrong when it comes to major tournaments. A squad packed with stars may look great on paper, but when they are forced to sit on the bench for their country instead of starting every match, it can cause friction.

For Tuchel, that dilemma is increasingly pertinent, as he tries to decide which of a host of talented attacking midfielders he should pick. The Three Lions are incredibly well-stocked in that area, but can he keep all of them happy if they are doing more training than playing?

Christian Ziege witnessed this in 1998 as part of a Germany squad brimming with talent, who were underwhelming before losing 3-0 to Croatia in the quarter-finals.

"We had so many leaders in that team, or at least too many players who thought they were leaders, who had to be in the first XI and had to play," said the former Bayern Munich and Tottenham defender.

"Sometimes it's about taking a decision that says 'OK, this is a fantastic player and he has so many abilities, but I think the other person is better than him'.

"Then you have to think if it's intelligent to take two players in the same position. If you leave one out, he's not happy. So the mood was not good in the team."

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