Thomas Tuchel was officially appointed as England boss in October, but his first working day in the office was January 1st 2025. Three months later, he is on the verge of his maiden game at the helm of Three Lions. The World Cup 2026 qualifying game against Albania will be his first match, but not only for him. When he revealed his first list of players seven days ago, he decided to call some footballers for the first time. Newcastle defender Dan Burn and Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly are in line for debuts after receiving their first call up for the games against Albania and Latvia. And both players revealed their first contact with the new boss.When your national team coach calls you, and you think it’s the plumber…Young Lewis-Skelly is a revelation in Arsenal‘s squad this season. After numerous injuries to his team mates, coach Mikel Arteta was forced the put the young midfielder into the left back spot and he impressed and never looked back. His good performances and the versatility shown in those games made Tuchel think twice and the German tactician eventually called the youngster to tell him he made it. But there was another call for Lewis-Skelly just before Tuchel dialed his number. The youngster saw an unknown caller on his phone‘s display and though it was Tuchel.“I put on my good voice. I’m getting ready and then the person that speaks says “we have your food, it’s outside“. It was Uber Eats for my mum“ he said while laughing Declan Rice added “You were hoping it was going to be a call-up“.Arsenal’s ‘Gunner Buddies’ and 12-year-long friendship that crushed Man CityThe other new player in the team also had a funny story to tell. Newcastle‘s Dan Burn had a FaceTime at 22h on Thursday night to tell Burn that he had made his first-ever England squad.“The manager FaceTimed me on Tuesday saying that they were debating whether they were calling us up and that they’d let us know Thursday. It got to six o’clock on Thursday night and I had not heard anything so I said to my wife, “nothing is going to happen.” Then I got a text saying ‘are you still awake’ at 10pm and I was like, ‘yes,’ straight away. I got a Facetime call and it was good news. I did struggle to sleep on Thursday night. First of all, he said I was very unprofessional for being in bed for 10 o’clock!’ So, I apologised for that! Then he said he has been ringing everyone that had not made the squad. He just said he needed to end the day on a good note“ said Burn.2026 WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS – EUROPEFriday20:00: (1.18) Cyprus (7.00) San Marino (16.0)22:45: (4.20) Andorra (3.20) Latvia (2.00)22:45: (1.15) England (9.50) Albania (19.0)22:45: (5.20) Malta (3.45) Finland (1.75)22:45: (1.20) Poland (6.75) Lithuania (14.0)22:45: (2.00) Romania (3.50) B&H (4.10)***odds are subject to change***
