THERE can be no excuses for Thomas Tuchel when England’s World Cup gets underway in Dallas tomorrow.
No get-out. No leeway.
There are no excuses for Thomas Tuchel now with England Credit: Getty Images
Tuchel’s England takes on Croatia on Wednesday Credit: The FA via Getty Images
job is simple. It’s semi- finals, at least, or failure.
A big ask? Maybe.
But that’s what you get paid the big bucks for.
After all, was condemned by far too many for the sin of raising expectations.
Unlike many of his predecessors, Southgate banished the fear from the Three Lions, what Fabio Capello described as “the weight of the shirt”.
Where turned up at tournaments nervously waiting for calamity to come crashing down, they now expect to go deep.
Since 2018 it reads: semi-final, final, quarter-final, final.
Maybe no win — but still a run that no England manager has ever come close to matching.
And that is Southgate’s greatest legacy.
And one that means Tuchel, hired to take the last step that was beyond Southgate, now has to lead his men across the gap.
The German cannot argue that he lacks the tools, either.
If there are weaknesses in the England squad, if he lacks inspiration off the bench, that is down to the manager.
It was Tuchel who chose to omit Trent Alexander- Arnold and Harry Maguire. To leave Adam Wharton and Morgan Gibbs-White behind. To and Phil Foden.
Nobody else. Just the manager.
In Germany two years ago, England reached the final, falling short against Spain in Berlin.
Not by virtue of the quality of their performances across the tournament. They were decidedly average, at best. And frequently significantly worse than that.
In-form Morgan Gibbs-White was left at home Credit: CameraSport via Getty Images
Gareth Southgate consoles Marc Guehi after defeat against Spain Credit: NurPhoto via Getty Images
But by the quality of their performers, the players who show, in the Prem, Bundesliga, LaLiga and Champions League, just what “elite level” means.
Yet in Euro 2024, Southgate’s two best players, and Jude Bellingham, were sub-par versions of themselves.
Still capable of moments — such as Bellingham’s late overhead-kick leveller against Slovakia and Kane’s headed winner in the same game and nerveless penalty in the semi-final with Holland — but reduced, by fitness and fatigue, to lessened incarnations.
Here in the US, it looks and feels different.
Kane is the ultimate striking cheat code. If any player is a one-goal advantage before kick-off, it is .
Prime Kane is a marvel. Not just the goals, the passes, the threat but also — and it often gets overlooked — his value as the near-post first defender at set-pieces as well.
As for Bellingham, whatever the twists and turns of his relationship with Tuchel, there appears to be a glint in his eye, a lust for glory as well as a sense of destiny.
Bellingham seems like he has arrived in the USA with a huge point to prove, a score to settle. Excellent news for England.
Jude Bellingham appears focused and ready to go Credit: Getty Images
Luka Modric, at 41, is still Croatia’s talisman Credit: Getty Images
Now it is the proving ground for Tuchel and his team. Tomorrow’s game at the home of the Dallas Cowboys is the perfect stage.
Croatia will offer physical resolve in the form of Manchester City’s Josko Gvardiol and Luka Vuskovic, 19, now back at Spurs after loan spells in Belgium and Germany.
But Luka Modric, , turns 41 in September. England should look to run his legs off.
At the delayed Euro 2020, an opening group win over the Croats banished any ghosts from the 2018 World Cup semi-final loss — and gave England belief they could go all the way to the final.
More of the same in the Dallas Stadium and Tuchel’s men will have a similar sense of composure and purpose.
They looked ready as they dominated Costa Rica in an Orlando friendly — but this is where it actually counts.
Tuchel needs to get it right from here on.
Auditions are over. The audience are taking their seats. No room for stage fright. Now or never.
NATIONAL ANTHEMS
ENGLAND chiefs are sticking to the “classics” when it comes to official warm-up anthems at the World Cup.
All 48 competing nations get to choose tunes played out before kick-off.
Thomas Tuchel’s players will complete their final preparations to songs Three Lions, Sweet Caroline, Vindaloo and Freed from Desire.
At least that will feel a bit more like home. But they can’t avoid the official Fifa soundtrack either.
Fans travelling in the US, Canada and Mexico will be by the middle of next month.
Fat Les hit Vindaloo feature’s on England’s warm-up playlist Credit: GRAB
HISTORY’S HEROES
THE world’s greatest players are now in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
Whatever happens, they won’t meet the tragic ends that saw so many of the best pre-War players slaughtered, their names forgotten by many, merely because of their religion.
Which is why David Bolchover’s haunting and emotional recording of the 11 great Jewish players who met their horrific fates during the Holocaust is so important.
His book Digging Deep recounts how the likes of Polish ‘playboy’ Zygmunt Steuermann, Hungarian Jozsef Braun, the ‘Hebrew Ronaldo’, and Germany’s Julius Hirsch, gassed to death at Auschwitz, went from stars of their era to victims of history’s darkest evil.
It is beyond time for their names to be brought into the light again.
KNICKS WIN
RETURNING to Manhattan after Brazil’s draw with Morocco was a descent into a Hellscape — like Gotham meets Bedlam.
NY Knicks fans celebrate in Times Square Credit: Getty Images
Part joy and part exuberance but also part menace and threat, the streets around Times Square were overwhelmed by the blue and orange colours of .
But now the glorified netball is over, maybe our friends and neighbours on this side of the pond can focus on the sporting event that is genuinely important.
SCOT TO BELIEVE
AS we feared, there are already mismatches at the World Cup.
John McGinn celebrates his winning goal for Scotland against Haiti Credit: Alamy Live News.
Some minnows on the back foot for most of games, hoping one strike out of nothing will nick a goal.
They are outclassed, out-shot and out-run.
But despite that, against such odds, Scotland beat Haiti. Who doesn’t like a fairytale?
RADUCANU ON THE RISE
FALLING short in the Queen’s final could be for the best for Emma Raducanu.
After her three years of misery, actually winning the biggest grass court warm-up for Wimbledon may have raised expectations a little too much.
Instead, moved up 11 places to rocket back up to No 31 in the world, plus £136,000 or so in prize money.
And maybe she has restored some critical faith in her own body as well.
Emma Raducanu’s return to form sparks Wimbledon hope Credit: Adam Davy/PA Wire
HAMILTON’S BACK
GREAT to see Lewis Hamilton back on top in Barcelona.
Britain’s greatest F1 driver has questioned his future in the sport since his move to Ferrari.
But will have helped his frustrations — and it’s Silverstone next month.
Lewis Hamilton was back on top in Barcelona Credit: ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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