With the third-place match of the 2026 World Cup being England‘s final appearance in the competition, John Stones is not in the starting lineup against France.
The reason Stones isn’t starting is because Thomas Tuchel has made a technical decision to choose a different pairing. For this match, the preference was to select faster defenders than him like Marc Guéhi and Ezri Konsa.
This left Stones on the bench despite being one of the most experienced defenders in the squad. Even after playing just 900 minutes with Manchester City, Stones had been reliable with 550 minutes in the competition while being present in every knockout-stage match.
