Thomas Tuchel has said his England World Cup squad is not "the 26 most talented players" but a team of "specialists" who should not shy away from their ambition of winning the tournament.
There were several high-profile omissions among Tuchel's final selection with Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Harry Maguire among those to miss out while Ivan Toney and Djed Spence received surprising call-ups.
Tuchel stayed loyal to a significant number of players who ensured England qualified for the finals by winning all eight matches without conceding a goal as he retained Noni Madueke, Dan Burn and Jordan Henderson -- the latter becoming the first player to represent England at seven tournaments.
"I think from day one we were very clear that we are trying to select and build the best possible team, which is not necessarily to select and collect the 26 most talented players," Tuchel told Friday's news conference.
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"Teams win championships, it is as simple as that. What we are trying to achieve in the summer can only be achieved as a team. With that in mind, we chose a very balanced squad.
"I can assure every fan in the country that we have 26, 100% committed players in camp with us who know their role, who are ready to buy into their role on and off the pitch and are ready and committed to the idea of team spirit and being unselfish.
"The squad has a significant number of players that will compete for starting minutes and starting places, that also gives us the chance to rotate on a high level and a significant number of players who carry the sportive responsibility on the highest level.
"We have a huge chunk of youthfulness in the squad. We have six players who have won titles with the under-21s. We have Kobbie [Mainoo], who is still young and has won titles, we have Nico O'Reilly on top who is young and already won his medals.
"We have specialists with us, specialists for all kinds of different scenarios: when we are leading, when we are chasing a game, chasing a result. We've always said we want to be a strong set-piece team, so we have specialists for that and we want to be a strong penalty team, we have specialists for that."
Tuchel admitted, however, that fatigue within the group was a concern.
Arsenal will play their 63rd match of a mammoth season in next weekend's Champions League Final against Paris Saint-Germain while Aston Villa won the Europa League and Crystal Palace take part in the Conference League Final next week.
Eight of Tuchel's 26-man squad are affected by those games.
"It just shows me that this league is the strongest league in the world, the most competitive league. It is just another proof for me," Tuchel said.
"And it shows on the negative effect of it, that our players will be tired after a long season. That's just how it is. It does not make it easier to go to three countries, a big change of climatic conditions and all that. But we are aware of it, we are very well prepared. We had the best support of Team GB, the full support of everyone at St George's Park, a lot of experts, a lot of people helped us with their knowledge and experience.
"That's why we go out quite early to adapt. Once the adrenaline and excitement kicks in, we will overcome and just accept the challenge. It will never be an excuse."
Pushed on whether tiredness was his biggest challenge to overcome, Tuchel added: "Yes and it goes then back to getting the load right in pre-camp, getting the load individually right for the players, getting the headspace and the attitude right, don't go too early into the tunnel, getting our rotation right in the selection of the teams because we want to stay a long time and we will take advantage of the full squad.
"The goal is to try to win it and not be shy about it, respect the game and the opponents and the amount and the obstacles that come with the tournament itself.
"We need a bit of luck, we need to have our selection right. We need to stay healthy, all the players need to stay healthy.
"Then, catch the momentum. Build the brotherhood, build the courage, play with hunger and take advantage of special moments hopefully."