Ben White arrived to a chorus of jeers from the England support at Wembley when Thomas Tuchel introduced him as a 68th minute substitute. Of course he did. There ought to be no second chances for the Arsenal defender in the eyes of plenty of those present. He let the country down when he walked out on the England squad during the 2022 World Cup and made himself unavailable for the next two years.
The real surprise was what happened next. It was one of those paper aeroplane Wembley friendlies, the fans making their own entertainment in the absence of very much on the pitch. It was listless stuff from Thomas Tuchel’s scratch lineup, the manager’s idea that fringe players could push their World Cup claims amounting to little. What did he actually learn? The only boost was his resting of his over-worked key players.
And yet on 81 minutes, there was a red letter moment for White. England had created nothing more than a headed chance for another substitute, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, in the 71st minute, which he fluffed. But now, after a corner was flicked on, there was White at the far post to tap home from all of six inches for this first England goal. The response of the crowd to the announcement of the goalscorer? Another round of boos.
There was more. England looked to be about to close out a scruffy win when Uruguay pushed in stoppage time and when the ball was worked inside to Federico Vinas, who had come on as a substitute, it was White who stretched in to foul him. Federico Valverde scored from the penaly spot. Uruguay might have been reduced to ten men when Manuel Ugarte appeared to be shown a second yellow card in the complaints about White’s goal. But they almost pinched victory at the very end and would have done so but for a dramatic Harry Maguire block.
Uruguay have bogey team status for England and it did seem to matter that this vintage of La Celeste had arrived under a cloud – specifically the one created by the embarrassing 5-1 defeat against the US in Tampa last November.
The numbers showed that England had only beaten Uruguay three times in 11 previous attempts and never in a competitive tie; memories of Luis Suárez’s goals at the 2014 World Cup were still there. Jordan Henderson, England’s captain here, played in that 2-1 defeat. Marcelo Bielsa could call upon a clutch of big names who play at major clubs – none more eye-catching than the captain, Federico Valverde.
Tuchel had gambled with his experimental line-up – even if the logic behind the audition for World Cup places was possible to see. He knew it would be a short training week; four sessions from Tuesday to Thursday, including the double one on Wednesday. It was not much time to shape a completely new starting XI. There was not a single survivor from the team that began the previous game against Albania in Tirana.
Bielsa directed operations from his customary seat – perched atop a water cooler in the technical area – and he was serenaded by fans of his former club, Leeds, who had made the journey down to Wembley. To them, Bielsa will always be a deity. Uruguay were 4-4-2 without the ball, Giorgian De Arrascaeta pushing high from midfield; they were compact, hard to penetrate. Their priority was to show some resilience after the US debacle.
The Wembley crowd were bored for pretty much all of the first half – more interested in origami than what their team was able to build. Which was nothing. The mood was subdued. England lacked tempo. Their patterns were formulaic. Uruguay kept them at arm’s length easily.
What was there to report from the first period? Precious little. James Garner, on his debut, won a few tackles. Dominic Solanke had a couple of deflected shots which were not close. Djed Spence made a decent block to keep out a shot. James Trafford got to a cross with a solid punch. There were inward sighs when seven additional minutes were signalled although mercifully no boos when they were up.
The reason for the large amount of stoppage time was the injury to Joaquin Piquerez. Noni Madueke went into him high and a little recklessly with his trailing leg as he tried to cross, scissoring the Uruguay left-back, too, which made for an ugly twist. Piquerez was taken off on a stretcher. Madueke, too, would not reach the interval, feeling a tackle in the 33rd minute and not lasting much longer. He had tried to make his moves, to use his speed and so did Marcus Rashford on the other wing. There were times when the latter got away from challenges. The end product was not there in the first half.
Phil Foden struggled to make an impression in the No 10 role but he was fortunate to escape a serious injury early in the second half when the Uruguay centre-half Ronald Araujo jumped into an ugly tackle on him. Araujo’s studs were up and there was excessive force about it, Foden feeling the impact on his left ankle.
Tuchel raged on the touchline; you could hear his cries up in the press box. Remarkably, neither the referee nor the video assistant referee took any action. Perhaps like were sleeping like plenty of others inside the stadium. It looked like a red card offence. Foden limped off shortly afterwards, Cole Palmer coming on in his place.
Tuchel had got Jarrod Bowen on for Madueke and Adam Wharton for Henderson at half-time. It continued to be an awfully tough watch. The game was locked and it became increasingly fractious, Valverde getting away with a late one on Tino Livramento.
Tuchel’s quadruple change on 68 minutes featured White and the boos. It was the prompt for plenty more.