Why Harry Kane, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka aren’t playing for England tonight | Football

Harry Kane, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka are among the England stars not involved in tonight’s friendly match against Uruguay at Wembley.

All three are expected to part of Thomas Tuchel’s first-team as they chase World Cup glory in North America this summer.

The trio were included in the huge 35-man squad for tonight’s game and Tuesday’s meeting with Japan in the capital.

Tuchel has been keen to get a closer look at some of the fringe members of the squad or those who have been out of the international picture as of late – namely Manchester United pair Kobbie Mainoo and Harry Maguire.

But the England boss is also wary of the need for other members of the squad to rest up ahead of a gruelling few months.

Speaking this week, Tuchel clarified 11 of the players named were handed the first week of the international break off and will instead travel up to St George’s Park after the Uruguay game.

Players who have racked up thousands of minutes of football for their respective clubs this season were given some time off, including captain Kane who has played 3,195 minutes for Bayern Munich this season.

Arsenal duo Rice and Saka, who have racked up 3,462 and 2,869 minutes for their club respectively, were also in that group and are not in the squad for tonight’s game.

‘These guys have played 3,500 minutes, some 4,000 minutes [this season],’ Tuchel said.

‘More important than the pure number of minutes is some of these guys have played more minutes than the whole of last season.

‘All of these players have contributed in September, October and November.

‘They have credit with me. To give them a break mentally and physically, we will benefit from it.’

England players who are not involved against Uruguay tonight

Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Morgan Rogers, Anthony Gordon, Elliot Anderson, Nico O’Reilly, Marc Guéhi, Ezri Konsa, Dan Burn, Dean Henderson.

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