MANCHESTER, England — England coach Thomas Tuchel shouldn’t need reminding how good Phil Foden is. But if he was watching Manchester City’s 4-1 win over Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, he got one anyway.
Tuchel is scheduled to announce his new squad on Friday before the World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Albania. In this sense, Foden’s two goals at the Etihad Stadium came at a good time. The 25-year-old has been left out of the last three national team squads due to a combination of injury, mental fatigue and loss of form, and does not have much time to ensure he is on board for next summer’s World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico. Against Dortmund, he showed exactly why he is in the tournament.
Tuchel has a host of attacking players to choose from, and there is still the possibility that some big names could be left out. When Foden plays like that, it seems impossible that he could be one of them.
City coach Pep Guardiola said: “Thomas is very smart and wise and knows exactly what the national team needs, and I think Thomas knows Phil perfectly.” “There is no person in this country, and no one in all parts of the world, who does not know his quality and ability.
He added, “But England is very lucky to have a mountain of good players. In this position there are many, and that is why Phil has to push himself to be better and better, and when he is called up (to England), he says: OK, I will show how good I am.”
This was Foden’s best – busy, lively and dangerous, even in the tightest of spaces. Only some players have the confidence to ask for the ball when surrounded by opposition defenders. And still fewer people are able to formulate something into what can sometimes seem like an impossible situation. Foden, given a central role by Guardiola, did so twice against Dortmund as he scored the first UEFA Champions League double of his career.
Guardiola said afterwards that in the first ten minutes his team “didn’t know where they were”. Everything changed once they got the ball from Foden.
Midway through the first half, Foden collected a pass from Tijani Reynders. The yellow-shirted visitors, who were supported by their traveling fans throughout the night, looked in relatively good condition. But through three precise touches, Foden was able to turn, take the ball off his feet and fire it with his left foot into the bottom corner. The goal came out of almost nothing, the kind of goal that leaves players blank-faced looking at each other, trying in vain to figure out how it happened.
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Perhaps Foden’s second goal would have been better. Once again, he took a simple pass outside the box and turned it into a goal. After being covered by three Dortmund defenders, he made his way and scored a second shot at the corner of the net with his left foot.
Dortmund’s No. 5, Ramy Bensebaini, was so lacking in ideas on how to stop him that he resorted to shoving Foden in the back the moment Foden chose to shoot. It didn’t matter, and the ball kept passing through Dortmund’s goalkeeper, Gregor Kupil. By the time Bensebaini regained his balance, Foden was off to celebrate with the City substitutes who had gathered at the corner flag.
“You know how many times we’ve seen that kind of goal from Phil over the number of years,” Guardiola said. “We missed him a lot last season, and even this season. I think he’ll help us a lot. He’s confident in scoring those kind of goals, and that doesn’t mean hitting it hard, it’s just getting the ball close to the post. It’s like a pass into the net. And in that, Phil is great.”
“He’s back this season. When Phil is at this level, when he’s playing between the lines, in the pockets, it doesn’t matter what happens. You don’t have to say much because he’s a special player, but we need his goals, for sure.”
Foden will feel he has done his best to return to the England squad. Now it’s up to Tuchel. So far during his rule, the German has been keen to emphasize the importance of the group over individuals. This is one of the reasons why he was not in a rush to recall Jude Bellingham, who was dropped along with Foden from international matches in October.
As Tuchel charts his path to World Cup glory, there remains the question of how to fit Foden, Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer, Harry Kane and the rest into the same team. Former England coach Gareth Southgate faced the same problem ahead of Euro 2024. Foden ended up on the left wing despite being crowned Premier League Player of the Year just weeks earlier. There is an argument that Foden has yet to rediscover his best form since that tournament in Germany, when he arrived as the country’s great hope and left looking like the odd one out.
The World Cup is England’s next chance to win their first title in 60 years. Foden’s performance against Dortmund was a timely boost to Tuchel’s belief that he should be there.
