‘England are underdogs at the World Cup’ claims Tuchel

The country which invented football has managed only one title so far. In 1966 England won the FIFA World Cup and even that victory over West Germany (4-2 after extra time) will be controversial forever, since debates are held over Geoff Hurst goal, which may (or may not) crossed the line. Since 1966, England had some fantastic squads and fantastic coaches but never again managed not only to win the World Cup, but not even to make it to the finals. In fact, England made it to the World Cup 15 times, failed to qualify for the competition twice and their best score outside the win in 1966 is only quarterfinals! They managed to do it six times, and the last one was at the last World Cup in Qatar 2022, when Gareth Soutghate was leading them.

England’s manager Thomas Tuchel has taken over since Southgate’s resignation and he is either a realistic man or he just wants to lower the pressure as much as possible.

“We will arrive as underdogs at the World Cup because we haven’t won it for decades and we will play against teams who have repeatedly won it during that time. So we have to arrive as a team or we will have no chance. I just watched a documentary of the New England Patriots and saw a quote that said: “We don't collect the most talented players, we build a team”. I cannot agree more, so that's what we're trying to do. Teams win trophies, no-one else. We collect the guys who have the glue and cohesion to be the best team. Because we need to arrive as the best team” said Tuchel.

Three Lions with only one of three giants' player: Chelsea + L'pool + United = 1!

Asked to explain a bit more why he thinks that the Three Lions will not be favorites, the German gave more detailed explanation.

“I don’t see why we should burden ourselves that we are the big favourites. If we don’t win it, it’s a disaster – why would we? Because of history, because of the climate, because of the circumstances. When did we last win it? Let’s go step by step and see if it just buys into the other step. We build a team that is ready to go step by step and play as a team and no-one wants hopefully to play against us. ‘If you’ve never won Wimbledon you are maybe one of the favourites but you are not the favourite. There is Brazil, there is Argentina, Spain, France and they just did it recently” said former Chelsea boss.

Tuchel has the floor: Still no Jude, Saka is back

The German carefully chose his words and emphasized the word ‘team’ many times. The reason? He left out some star players and he can use this word to justify himself from the aggressive English press, who are writing about Jude Bellingham’s absence for days, even thou the player has only recovered from an injury and wouldn’t surely start in the game against Wales.

“The last camp was only three and a half weeks ago. Teamwork, team spirit were at the highest level so far. That's why we decided to invite the same group into this camp, to make more stable what we started to build. Are there players out there who deserve to be with us? Yes, for sure. Is there a way back into the team through performance? 100 per cent. We think this is the best and most straightforward position. The competition is on to be in the squad and to make it onto the pitch. I understand your focus on Bellingham; he is a very special player, and for special players, there are special rules. But for this camp we decided to stick with out decision to invite the same team, that also applies to Jude. He always deserves to be in camp. There is also the situation that he hasn't gathered his full rhythm for Real Madrid. He hasn't finished one full match until now; he has only started one now. He is getting back to full strength. We had a phone call. There is no issue from that side, he just lacks rhythm” explained Tuchel a few days ago.

WC QUALIFIERS - EUROPE

Thursday

19.00: (1.53) Finland (4.00) Lithuania (6.75)

21.45: (1.01) Austria (20.0) San Marino (50.0)

21.45: (27.0) Belarus (8.00) Denmark (1.12)

21.45: (4.20) Cyprus (3.50) B&H (1.90)

21.45: (3.25) Czech R. (3.30) Croatia (2.40)

21.45: (3.40) Faroe I. (3.20) Montenegro (2.25)

21.45: (50.0) Malta (16.0) Netherlands (1.03)

21.45: (2.70) Scotland (3.10) Greece (2.75)