Thomas Tuchel says he has turned into “Tournament Thomas” and is enjoying the “best days” of his whole career. The England manager is in “competitive mode” and determined to deliver the World Cup for England this summer, insisting his players are ready to go all the way.
England's Strong Start
England got off to a flier by beating Croatia 4-2 in their opening Group match. They now face Ghana in Boston in their second group game, which could guarantee their path to the knockout stage. Midfielder Declan Rice highlighted how Tuchel has raised his game in the tournament, lifting England to new heights.
When asked whether he has become “Tournament Thomas,” Tuchel said: “I don't do anything extra, it just gives me a lot of energy to be at a World Cup, to have this tournament and be in competitive mode. I've had one of the best days and weeks of my coaching career until now. I am surrounded by world class players and fantastic personalities. It energises me and that's how it needs to be done.”
Tuchel's Coaching Philosophy
Tuchel, who has enjoyed a brilliant club career with Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea—winning the Champions League with the latter—believes England’s stars are ready to lift the World Cup. “The players keep themselves on edge,” he said. “The guys who did not get the minutes from the beginning are pushing but we make sure and we try to make sure in training exercises that everyone is pushing but that is the mentality. That is why I love the team anyway.”
He added: “Normally we need to hold them back and that was straight away the case. It was also important to acknowledge the physical impact and the physical input that we had. We needed time to recover from that and we needed to give the players time to recover from that mentally. Emotionally but also physically which we did. There was one-and-a-half days off. The build of the training session was yesterday to grow into this week and today was very tense and on a high level. It is our job to not be complacent and say ‘ok, everything is done now,’ the players know that hard work is needed and it will always be a mix but at the moment I cannot see any signs of complacency.”
Wonderwall as World Cup Anthem
England stars have adopted Oasis’ “Wonderwall” as their World Cup anthem, going old school with their music. The Football Association has installed a turntable to play vinyl at the team hotel, even though some younger players were not aware records existed. They have brought a selection of LPs and songs which they have all been playing at their base in Kansas City. After England’s win over Croatia, the song was played in the stadium, and captain Harry Kane said it was one of his favourite moments of his entire career.
Tuchel, who went to an Oasis gig at Wembley last year and sang along, hopes they will carry on singing it all summer. “Hopefully it becomes an anthem because that is exactly what a tournament like this is for, for the connection between fans and the team,” he said. “I am so glad because I think the fans saw and felt what I see and feel every day with this team. They felt the energy, they felt the team spirit, they felt the commitment. And from all this energy came the synergy after the match. It was a beautiful moment and it meant a lot to all of us. It meant a lot and hopefully we can recreate this in the next game.”
Tuchel has been reluctant to sing the national anthem “God Save The King” until he earns the right as England boss, but he already knows all the words to “Wonderwall” and loves singing along. “Of course. It is a brilliant song and if you stand in front of the wall, it is like an iconic song and easy enough for everyone to sing,” he added.
