Football
England begin their World Cup Group L campaign against Croatia on Wednesday; Tino Livramento has been replaced by Trevoh Chalobah after suffering a calf injury; Follow England vs Croatia on the Sky Sports app from 7pm
Football Correspondent @RobDorsettSky
Tuesday 16 June 2026 16:32, UK
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England’s World Cup campaign has suffered an early setback as Tino Livramento’s tournament is over after suffering a calf injury, with Trevoh Chalobah replacing him.
The 23-year-old Newcastle defender missed the final five weeks of the season with a thigh injury but made the squad after recovering in time. However, this new injury means Chelsea defender Chalobah, who was on England’s stand-by list, will join up with the squad.
It’s thought the Newcastle full-back picked up the calf injury in training, while away from the cameras, and although the injury is not too serious, the decision has been taken that he won’t play any part in the tournament.
The Magpies added that Livramento will continue his rehabilitation with them.
FA staff have moved quickly to bring in a replacement, with the FIFA cut-off for doing so fast approaching.
World Cup rules say a player can be replaced in a squad for a genuine injury, so long as it is before a point 24 hours before their opening match. England play Croatia in Dallas tomorrow.
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However, that replacement can only be a player who was included in a nation’s provisional 55-man squad which had to be submitted to FIFA weeks before the final list of 26.
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If Livramento had picked up his injury a day or two later, England would have been forced to go through this World Cup with 25 players in their squad.
Chalobah has been holidaying in the US, and is well known and admired by Tuchel from when he was Chelsea manager.
Livramento is the third player to be replaced at this World Cup so far because of injury. Myles Lewis-Skelly, Lewis Hall and Luke Shaw were other alternative options included in the provisional 55-man squad.
Sky Sports’ News’ Rob Dorsett at the England training base:
“There will be a lot of England fans and pundits saying ‘why not Trent Alexander-Arnold?’ – that’s a question Tuchel will be asked.
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“It’s my understanding there are two reasons why it wouldn’t be Alexander-Arnold – firstly, we don’t know where he is. Could the England logistics teams get him here in time before the deadline?
“Also, Tuchel has left some big names out of this squad, Cole Palmer, Harry Maguire and Phil Foden. He didn’t want to bring them if they weren’t going to be guaranteed game time. So the England manager may have had concerns about bringing in a superstar like Alexander-Arnold if he was going to spend time sitting on the bench.”
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Sky Sports’ News’ Rob Dorsett at the England training base:
“Harry Maguire is also in the US, working for the media, but Tuchel decided not to bring him as a replacement.
“It’s thought the relationship between the two is far from perfect after a tense phone call when Tuchel originally omitted the Manchester United defender from the World Cup squad. Maguire has said the England boss couldn’t give him an excuse for his omission and Maguire said he did “give him a few words” in response.
“Maguire also said he would have been happy to have played just a single minute in the tournament.
“But I’ve been told Maguire’s decision to preempt the official squad announcement and put his own statement out about his non-inclusion was not well-received by Tuchel.”
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