{"id":53620,"date":"2026-03-23T07:23:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T07:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=53620"},"modified":"2026-03-23T07:23:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T07:23:10","slug":"c3rzr1xd4w1oat_mediumrssat_campaignrss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/03\/23\/c3rzr1xd4w1oat_mediumrssat_campaignrss\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking wildcards, leaving out stars &#8211; the art of World Cup squad building"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">That was undoubtedly one of the key reasons for Glenn Hoddle leaving Paul Gascoigne out of his England squad at the same tournament.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">There was no doubting Gazza&#8217;s ability, but if he was not going to be in the starting XI, then he could become a distraction as a squad player &#8211; even if he did not cause a fuss himself, the media clamour for the midfielder to play would.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Gazza is not the only big name to suffer that fate. France boss Didier Deschamps said it could be &#8220;felt in the squad&#8221; that Samir Nasri was not happy when he was not a starter after leaving the midfielder out in 2014, highlighting the process managers need to go through when making their final selection.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Maintaining squad harmony is key for any tournament selection when players are in camps that could stretch for weeks on end, even more so at this summer&#8217;s World Cup with more countries making for an even longer schedule.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It comes by not only avoiding the selection of bad apples among the pack, but also including others who create a positive atmosphere.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Tuchel has spoken about the need to create a &#8220;brotherhood&#8221; among England&#8217;s squad this summer, and pointed to the character and energy the likes of Jordan Henderson and Dan Burn offer the group beyond their playing abilities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Whereas Henderson&#8217;s continued selection, in particular, has been questioned, it is easily explainable by considering his role in creating a high-performance environment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">A sense of consistency is important to maintain that, so players know what to expect when they arrive for international camps and allow a squad hierarchy to form, despite not spending much time together. Chopping and changing this close to the tournament is not a good sign.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I always had around 16 or 17 players who were the same in each squad, so it was just a matter of adding a few players,&#8221; explained former Switzerland head coach Ottmar Hitzfeld in the book, How to Win the World Cup: Secrets and Insights from International Football&#8217;s Top Managers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;You can&#8217;t change national teams too much, you need a core group of players. If a player has a small crisis in club football, you have to keep in mind that his national team is a different team in a different environment and they can play well with you again.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#wildcards #leaving #stars #art #World #Cup #squad #building<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>That was undoubtedly one of the key reasons for Glenn Hoddle leaving Paul Gascoigne out of his England squad at&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53620"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53622,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53620\/revisions\/53622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}