Trevoh Chalobah Was in Times Square When His World Cup Call Finally Came Through

The text came through while Trevoh Chalobah was somewhere in Times Square. Thomas Tuchel had been trying to reach him, but between the noise and the crowds and the general chaos of midtown Manhattan, the message sat there for a bit. By the time Chalobah got back to his hotel and saw that Tuchel wanted to FaceTime, his vacation was essentially over.

“My heart just dropped,” Chalobah said. “When I saw the message, he asked if I was free to call, and I said yes. We spoke on FaceTime and he broke the news to me. I was just over the moon.”

Chalobah was England’s 27th man — the emergency replacement after Newcastle fullback Tino Livramento was ruled out of the World Cup. That puts him on the plane. That puts him in the squad. That makes the detour through New York worth every bit of hassle with hotel refunds and last-minute logistics.

He called his agent at what had to be an ungodly hour back home. “I texted my agent and said, ‘wake up, wake up’,” Chalobah said. “He thought I was in trouble or something.”

Instead it was the opposite of trouble. The weird thing is that Tuchel had already delivered the bad news once: Chalobah didn’t make the initial 26-man cut. But the England manager left the door open a crack. “He said, ‘you’re close’,” Chalobah recalled. “I was disappointed that I didn’t make it but he did say, ‘stay ready’.”

How a New York vacation turned into a World Cup roster spot

Chalobah’s timing was almost comically perfect. He had picked New York in part because it’s where England will face Panama in the group stage — and maybe, if things break right, where they’d play a final. He kept training anyway, doing sessions with a personal trainer in the city. But he had given away his boots at the end of the season and had to scramble with his sponsors to fast-track a new pair.

Before New York, there was Monaco for the F1 race, then Cannes, then the flight out on a Saturday. He had planned to keep going west: Los Angeles was next. He’s still trying to figure out whether the California hotel is refundable. “I am still trying to get my money back,” he said with a smile.

He might eat that cost and not mind.

The tweet that predicted all of this

Back in 2018, when Chalobah was a teenager on loan at Ipswich in League One, he posted a photo of himself with the World Cup trophy and captioned it “one day.” Eight years later, that feels less like a kid being optimistic and more like a guy who saw something coming. “It has always been a dream and that day I decided to tweet it,” he said.

That dream might put him on the field against Ghana in Boston. He’s been getting sharp in unusual ways: a two-hour padel session with Ivan Toney and Ezri Konsa. Chalobah says he won. Konsa is also competing for minutes, but Tuchel has told Chalobah he sees him as a right-sided center back.

Tuchel has believed in him for years. He gave Chalobah his first appearances at both Chelsea and England. He tried to take him to Bayern Munich too. “We have that really fun, banterous relationship and I love it,” Chalobah said.

Not everyone has been that convinced. Chalobah spent time in Chelsea’s so-called bomb squad, where the club’s ownership viewed an academy product as pure profit under PSR rules. But he kept clawing back. He made 47 appearances last season. He hasn’t talked to Xabi Alonso yet about next season, but the fighting spirit should translate fine. “I love my career. I love what I’ve been through,” Chalobah said. “It’s all part of not just football, but going through life as a person; there are always going to be ups and downs, it’s never going to be smooth, but for me, I’ve loved every minute.”

This World Cup call? He called it the No. 1 moment of his career so far. Partly because of the disappointment that came right before it. “I think that is the beautiful thing about it,” he said. “When you didn’t expect it and to get a call like that shows that when you think all is lost or it’s not going to happen, that tweet I had came true.”