England defender John Stones has been eliminated from the forthcoming FIFA World Cup 2026 qualification matches against Andorra and Serbia because of injury. Manager Thomas Tuchel announced on Friday that the Manchester City superstar had pulled out of the team after not being able to recover from muscular problems. Stones, who has 83 caps for the national team, has not been seen on the national team since October, and his much-awaited comeback under Tuchel has now come to an abrupt end.
"Sadly, John Stones just departed," Tuchel informed journalists before the Andorra match. "He arrived with small problems, muscle problems, to camp and didn't make further progress as we believed and hoped he would. So, he departed camp this morning because we will not put the risk. Everyone else is at hand."
England will entertain Andorra at Villa Park on Saturday before a make-or-break away tie with Serbia in Belgrade on Tuesday. The qualifying matches are important to England's bid to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
Tuchel confirmed Harry Kane, the captain, will captain the side against Andorra. "Yes, he starts. There is no balance, the competition is on and it is World Cup season," Tuchel explained, highlighting the need to put out the best possible team in a quick, high-intensity qualifying campaign.
England toiled in their last game against Andorra, eking out a close 1-0 victory in June. Tuchel recognized the tactical puzzle facing them, anticipating both teams to deploy defensive formations.
"We will play in both games a deep block and a 5-4-1 certainly in the first game. The difficulty is to beat it early and aggressively, and to play with more rhythm than we played in the first game," Tuchel said.
England are grouped in Group K with Andorra, Serbia, Latvia, and Albania. Only the group champions will qualify directly for the World Cup. Without Stones, Tuchel will have no choice but to bank on defensive options as England work to keep their qualification dreams alive.
