Reports claim<\/a> that Thomas Tuchel considered bringing the 21-year-old in for a half-fit Declan Rice after the first group game only to be unenthused by his performance in training. Despite a raft of opportunities thereafter to call Mainoo in from the cold, the German manager turned down each and every one.<\/p>\n The semi-competitive setting of the Bronze Final could have been the perfect opportunity for Mainoo to see the light of day. Tuchel was clearly in the mood for rotation, dropping both Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham<\/a> in a team of seven changes. But Mainoo couldn\u2019t overcome his injury to even make the list of substitutes.<\/p>\n \u2018Disillusioned\u2019\u2014Mainoo\u2019s World Cup Nightmare Ends With a Whimper Kobbie Mainoo (center) didn\u2019t play a single minute this summer. | Shaun Botterill\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Mainoo has kept silent throughout the competition, solemnly trudging through every postmatch mixed zone with his hood up and headphones in, often one of the first sitting on the coach ready to go back to the team hotel.<\/p>\n The United academy graduate was part of the traveling party which arrived at the Miami venue on Saturday but his failure to even make the bench is simply the latest bleak twist in an underwhelming summer. Mainoo has become \u201cincreasingly disillusioned\u201d across the past month and a half, Sky Sports News<\/a> report. With each week making it all the more readily apparent where he ranked in the pecking order, the word \u201cdemoralized\u201d was also thrown around.<\/p>\n This grim outlook serves as the exact antithesis to Jordan Henderson. Mainoo couldn\u2019t make the bench with his unspecified injury, but the Brentford midfielder was sitting among the substitutes despite suffering from a broken arm<\/a>\u2014an ailment Henderson sustained while celebrating too vociferously after England\u2019s victory over Mexico.<\/p>\n![\"Kobbie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/01kxrkmjztkp7nkdgb9r.jpg\" "\\"Kobbie")
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