England manager Thomas Tuchel has defended his decision to start Morgan Rogers ahead of Jude Bellingham in England’s latest 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier.
The Three Lions beat Serbia 2-0 with goals coming from Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze in the 28th and 90th minute respectively.
Following his return to the national team after an injury layoff, Real Madrid star midfielder Bellingham was expected to start against Serbia.
However, Tuchel maintained Aston Villa attacking midfielder Rogers in his starting line-up after Rogers excelled in games in the last international window and Tuchel backed his decision to start Bellingham off the bench.
“They compete at the moment for the same position and they’re still friends. They are very respectful with each other and like each other. Morgan deserved to stay on the pitch because he had three fantastic performances.”
“It would be unfair for Jude to try figure everything out because we changed our way of pressing in the last two camps. Declan [Rice], Morgan [Rogers] and Harry [Kane] did it already in three-four matches together. I figured they could adapt a bit quicker” Tuchel said to the BBC.
Bellingham replaced Rogers in the 65th minute against Serbia.
