KANSAS CITY — For a nation that can boast Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Tony Adams and Sol Campbell as their recent central defensive alumni, this World Cup’s English centre-back contingent are arguably as weak a group as any coach has had at his disposal in living memory.
It always felt like a question of Marc Guehi plus one other in the middle, with Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa tipped to get the nod for Wednesday’s opener against Croatia, mainly on the basis he has played regularly this season, such is the level the bar has dropped to in the heart of defence.
Not one to stick with conventional thinking, Thomas Tuchel is instead set to make the controversial choice and build his backline around John Stones, who has 11 Premier League starts across the last two seasons. There is, however, like with his left-field squad selection, method behind the German’s apparent madness.
Thomas Tuchel has shown he is not afraid to make big decisions (Photo: Getty)Stones and Guehi are similar defenders, both of whom like to bring the ball out from the back, acting as a de facto additional midfielder. What separates last season’s club teammates is that Stones has a record of doing it on the biggest stages.
Tuchel is a huge Stones fan and has reiterated all along that lack of game time – the 32-year-old has one league start since October in City’s final day defeat to Villa – will not prevent him from selecting Stones from the start.
Stones’s experience on the pitch and years being modelled into an unrelenting winner by another senior member of the John Stones fan club, Pep Guardiola, make him a potent weapon in tournament football. As a senior player, he is part of the leadership group and he embraces expectation.
“I believe that we are going to win. And it has to be belief, it can’t be a hope. We all hope something good is going to happen but when you believe it you feel it,” he said this week.
“I said from March, when we qualified, we have that belief and we have things to look back on to warrant that.”
Stones finds himself without a club after leaving Manchester City (Photo: Getty)There are plenty of naysayers who are growing concerned about an out-of-practice Stones being front and centre in Tuchel’s planning. In that only start in six months against Villa, the departing centre-back was at fault for both the visitors’ goals.
City have also had quite the celebratory end to the season, with Guardiola, Stones and Bernardo Silva all sent off into the sunset to great fanfare.
While Stones and his England teammates are very much in business mode now, getting up to speed after so much frivolity may take even longer.
Experience is a must in Tuchel’s blueprint and with Konsa, Guehi, Reece James and Nico O’Reilly all playing in their first World Cup, Stones’ know-how, harnessed by Guardiola, is likely to see him thrust forward once more.
Overcoming setbacks and adversity is nothing new for Stones either, who was so far down the pecking order midway through his City stay he struggled to get a seat on team buses.
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Kevin Garside: ITV’s Lee Dixon is sucking the joy out of the World Cup Daniel Storey: My day with Iran fans ‘behind enemy lines’ at the World CupTime and again, as everyone else wrote him off, Guardiola turned to his most trusted lieutenant, the Barnsley Beckenbauer. Stones’ performance, out of position in midfield, to inspire City to their treble-clinching Champions League success in Istanbul three years ago is regarded as one of the greatest individual performances from any Guardiola charge, including those famous La Masia graduates.
“I’m so grateful to live these years with a person like John,” Guardiola said recently of Stones as City reluctantly let him go, as a result of his injury woes.
Tuchel will be feeling equally gushing if the risk of deploying a rusty Stones this summer pays off.
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