World Cup 2026: Why has England midfielder Kobbie Mainoo failed to play a single minute for Thomas Tuchel’s side this summer? | Football News

Kobbie Mainoo has cut a pretty forlorn-looking figure at this World Cup. 

He is one of only three outfield players who has not featured at all in the tournament. Ivan Toney and Trevoh Chalobah are the others, and they probably better understand their lot.

Chalobah was a late replacement for the injured Tino Livramento and so always knew he was the back-up defender. For most matches, he has had John Stones in waiting on the bench ahead of him.

Toney was told by Tuchel that he is a ‘finisher’ – a player unlikely to start unless there is an injury to Harry Kane.

Kane has been fully fit and fired six goals in the tournament. And we have not yet gone to a penalty shoot-out, so no need for a last-minute Toney appearance.

But for Mainoo there is an air of disappointment and, it seems, some disillusionment. For every one of England’s six matches, he has been the first to leave the dressing room after a game, and always the first onto the team bus.

On every occasion I have seen him, he has been walking on his own, not with a team-mate. Let us be clear, he has not been sulking. But he has looked a little lost.

The Manchester United midfielder was 18 years old when he started for England in the Euro 2024 final and he could have been forgiven for thinking a glorious international future was ahead of him.

It probably still will be. But the reality is he has not played a single minute of football in the USA and Mexico this summer.

That is especially surprising when you consider Jordan Henderson’s tournament was over the moment he broke his wrist in the post-Mexico celebrations, and when you look at the alternative midfielders Thomas Tuchel has used ahead of Mainoo.

Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson are clearly England’s favoured two and they’ve been dominant throughout the tournament. Since his move to Manchester City was completed mid-tournament, Anderson has gone from strength to strength, and he had his best game of the tournament against Norway in the quarter-final.

Rice is England’s vice-captain and one of the first names on the team sheet when he’s fit. He has been battling illness and injury throughout this World Cup, but never enough to keep him off the pitch for any substantive period.

Until Norway.

Because of the Mexican stomach bug that confined Rice to his bed for three days before the game, he was only able to stomach 45 minutes in the Miami hot house.

Mainoo must have fancied his chances. But Tuchel instead chose to play two players outside their strongest position.

First, in came Eberechi Eze for Rice. Tuchel said he wanted to go more attacking and so brought the Arsenal man on to try to make England more progressive, pass between the lines and improve their penetration.

Mainoo would argue, with some justification, that his energy and passing skills could have been very useful for England in the second half in Miami, just as the heat was sapping the effectiveness of many of his team-mates.

Then Reece James arrived in midfield midway through the second half, even though he has been battling a hamstring injury. Tuchel has often turned to James as one of his favoured defensive-midfield options, even though his defined role in the England squad – as it often is for Chelsea – is as a right-back.

Next, Ezri Konsa – playing as a stand-in right-back – needed to come off because of cramp. James was switched back to defence and again, Mainoo’s eyes must have lit up.

But again he was overlooked. Morgan Rogers came on in midfield and Eze went to the left wing.

However tough that series of events was for Mainoo, it is hard to argue with Tuchel’s reasoning for picking James and Eze ahead of him in the circumstances.

That is a shame for one of England’s brightest young talents but it continue to be inevitable as Tuchel chases the ultimate prize.