Thomas Tuchel has pictured the scene: the final whistle goes on England’s Nations League opener against Spain at Wembley on Saturday night, and the stadium sways to Wonderwall. For Tuchel, it would be a moment of communion and a reconnection with the Oasis classic that became the soundtrack to England’s World Cup campaign. Asked whether the song would play again afterwards, he said: “Do I think it will happen tomorrow? I think it will happen if we win.” The fixture is the first post-World Cup match for both teams and Wembley is sold out in anticipation.
But Tuchel knows the setting is not the same as a World Cup knockout tie. The emotions cannot pulse to the same levels, and he has first-hand experience of the Wembley crowd’s hard-to-please restlessness. He recalled England’s 3-0 victory over Wales there last October, when they were 3-0 up after 20 minutes and the atmosphere grew flat and quiet. “We had an amazing performance against Wales and I was not so happy with the atmosphere, so everyone killed me for that,” Tuchel said. “The stadium is the stadium, the crowd is the crowd. It can be sometimes [like this] in international football … not tournament football. It can be difficult. I want to just say we produced some top performances, especially against Wales, and it was still not what I thought is deserved for the players.”
It is a strange time for Tuchel. He wants to look forward, but he continues to feel more than the occasional tap on the shoulder about England’s World Cup semi-final defeat against Argentina, particularly the manner of it, and he believes the team’s achievement in reaching that stage has been obscured. His plan for the Nations League programme — in which England will also face Czechia home and away and Croatia away — was for continuity, building on the positives from the World Cup. He wants to go all the way in the competition, not only to win a trophy but to ensure England play high-quality opposition into June of next year, which would be ideal preparation for Euro 2028.
The dynamics have shifted because of injuries to a host of key players, many of whom set the standards in the dressing room at the World Cup and drove team spirit. Tuchel has only 15 of his players from the tournament available and has found himself talking about “mixed influences.” On one hand, those 15 are dealing with an elongated international window after an elongated World Cup and a difficult pre-season. On the other, there are players who are back after being upset to miss out on the World Cup, and they need to move on. Tuchel did not pull his punches about the nature of the window, in which England must play four matches inside 11 days — Saturday-Tuesday twice over, with international flights in between. “This cannot be right,” he said. Club managers are worried about injuries, and so is Tuchel. Even so, he does not want to rotate too heavily with his starting lineups. He said Harry Kane was “desperate to start all four and there is a chance he will.”
Then comes Spain, the world and European champions, a team that does what England seemingly cannot do when the pressure is on: cherish the ball, hold it like a comfort blanket and stifle resistance. Tuchel has dreamed of Wonderwall, but a more negative thought nags away. What would the Wembley crowd’s reaction be if Spain hogged 65% of possession, played twice as many passes as the opposition and allowed precious little in front of their goal? It was what happened in the World Cup final against Argentina, and it was what happened in the Euro 2024 final against England.
Tuchel admires Spain’s passing DNA and was especially effusive about their defending. He called them “masters in delaying” opposing attacks and talked up how they “push you to wide areas from where they can initiate their press.” It is just so hard to create against them. For Tuchel, the game is about his team showing they can impose their style against an elite-level team — the elite-level team of the moment. It is not about copying Spain or becoming like them on the ball. It is about England showing their high-intensity football, their physicality, their speed and directness, their ability to run with the ball and their press in the opposition half.
There is an argument that Tuchel needs a performance more than a victory, something to light the path ahead. He did not disagree. “Yes, of course, everyone does … performance gives you a better chance for results, 100%,” he said. “I’m the first one to say that we need to play better. Remember my interview after the Norway game [in the World Cup quarter-final]? I see the quality of our training and we are working on that translation on to the pitch. We are strictly looking only at the performance. We need to get it right. But I get what’s expected from us. We try to deliver.”
Tuchel also offered an insight into the meeting he had with the players on Tuesday — the first collective discussion since the World Cup — in which one theme was their disappointment at not showing who they truly were against Argentina. “I’m not so sure if I believe the narrative: ‘If we would have gone out attacking and attacking, then it would not hurt so much,’” Tuchel insisted. “I have done attacking and lost finals. I have done defending and lost important matches. It hurts like hell [either way]. I know what they mean, of course. I admire their honesty and desire. We try together when the next big pressure moment comes … to encourage everyone to go on the front foot and not to fall back and protect something. It is easier said than done because the high pressure comes in the high pressure moments.” Tuchel cannot escape those moments. Against Spain, he must put his best foot forward.