MANCHESTER, England — England manager Thomas Tuchel shouldn’t need a reminder about 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 will name his latest squad Friday ahead of World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Albania. In that sense, Foden’s two goals at the Etihad Stadium were well-timed. Left out of the last three national team squads because of a combination of injury, mental fatigue and loss of form, the 25-year-old doesn’t have lot of time to make sure he’s on the plane for next summer’s World Cup in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Against Dortmund, he showed exactly why he should be at the tournament.
Tuchel has an array of attacking players to pick from, and there remains a possibility that some big names will be left out. When Foden plays like this, it seems impossible that he would be one of them.
“Thomas is so smart and wise and knows exactly what the national team needs, and I think Thomas knows Phil perfectly,” City manager Pep Guardiola said. “There’s no person in this country, no one around the world, that doesn’t know his quality and ability.
“But England is so lucky to have a mountain of good players. In this position there are a lot, and that’s why Phil has to push himself to be better and better and better, and when he is called [to England], say, ‘OK, I’m going to show how good I am.'”
This was the very best of Foden — busy, energetic and dangerous, even in the tightest of spaces. Only certain players have the confidence to ask for the ball when surrounded by opposition defenders. Fewer still are able to craft something out of what can sometimes look like an impossible situation. Foden, given a central role by Guardiola, did it twice against Dortmund as he recorded the first UEFA Champions League brace of his career.
Guardiola said afterward that in the first 10 minutes, his team “didn’t know where they were.” It all changed once they got Foden on the ball.
Midway through the first half, Foden collected an innocuous-looking pass from Tijjani Reijnders. The visitors in yellow shirts — supported furiously all night by their band of traveling fans — looked relatively well set. But with three delicate touches, Foden was able to turn, poke the ball out of his feet and sweep a left-footed finish into the bottom corner. It came almost out of nothing, the type of goal that leaves blank-faced players looking at each other, trying in vain to work out how it happened.
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Foden’s second was perhaps even better. Again he took a simple pass just outside the penalty area and turned it into a goal. Covered by three Dortmund defenders, he dinked his way through and for a second time found the corner of the net with his left foot.
Ramy Bensebaini, the Dortmund No. 5, was so short of ideas about how to stop him that he resorted to pushing Foden in the back at the moment Foden chose to shoot. It didn’t matter, and the ball still fizzed past the sprawling Dortmund goalkeeper, Gregor Kobel. By the time Bensebaini regained his footing, Foden was racing off to celebrate with the City substitutes who had gathered by the corner flag.
“You know how many times over how many years we have seen this type of goal from Phil,” Guardiola said. “We missed him a lot last season, even this season. I think he’s going to help us a lot. He’s confident to score this type of goal, that is not to shoot strong, it’s just put the ball close to the post. It’s like a pass to the net. And in that, Phil is fantastic.
“This season, he’s back. When Phil is at that level, when 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, definitely.”
Foden will feel he has done as much as he can to force his way back into the England squad. Now it’s up to Tuchel. So far during his reign, the German has been keen to stress the importance of the group over individuals. It’s one of the reasons he hasn’t been in a rush to re-call Jude Bellingham, who along with Foden was left out of the October internationals.
As Tuchel plots a path to World Cup glory, there remains a question about how he fits Foden, Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer, Harry Kane and the rest into the same team. Former England manager Gareth Southgate faced the same problem ahead of Euro 2024. Foden ended up stuck out on the left wing despite being crowned the Premier League’s best player only weeks earlier. There’s an argument that Foden still hasn’t rediscovered his best form since that tournament in Germany, when he arrived as the nation’s big hope and left looking like the odd one out.
The World Cup is the next chance for England to win their first trophy in 60 years. Foden’s performance against Dortmund was a timely nudge to Tuchel that he has to be there.