World Cup: England have ‘not peaked yet’, says Tuchel before semifinal
England face Argentina in Wednesday’s semifinal, hoping to reach the World Cup final for the first time since 1966. Manager Thomas Tuchel said he did
England face Argentina in Wednesday’s semifinal, hoping to reach the World Cup final for the first time since 1966. Manager Thomas Tuchel said he did not feel burdened by the weight of history as he bids to lead England to a first World Cup final in 60 years by beating Argentina on Wednesday. The Three Lions have been led at the 2026 tournament by Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane, who have each scored six goals. Remarkably, Wednesday’s semifinal will be the first time Lionel Messi faces England, at the grand old age of 39, despite the historic significance of the fixture. Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich boss Tuchel said he did not feel extra pressure as he spoke to reporters in Atlanta on Tuesday. “I don’t feel a burden. We feel the tension and will be nervous, but that is normal,” Tuchel said. “What I like is that I feel the players are really competitive, hungry and excited to play this match.
“The two shirts are just iconic. There are historic matches, iconic moments, and everyone recognises the shirts and players straight away.” England have not won a major trophy since their 1966 World Cup triumph on home soil. England and Argentina have previously clashed five times at World Cups, most notably the 1986 quarterfinal when Diego Maradona scored his infamous “Hand of God” goal in a 2-1 win. Twelve years later, Argentina won on penalties after David Beckham was sent off for kicking Diego Simeone. “I think the players of both countries are very aware of what it means to them – if a fixture provides so many iconic moments, then you cannot say it is just another football match, but as a coach we do exactly that, focus on what we can influence.” The German said he would not use the rivalry between the two teams as “fuel” to fire his men. “We know why we are here, we know what we want, we were never shy of expecting that from ourselves, and of saying it or of dreaming it,” he added.
“We are in the semifinals, and we arrive very hungry.” The England boss said his entire squad trained on the eve of the game and that Declan Rice was fit to play after recovering from illness. Jarell Quansah remains suspended, following his red card in England’s last 16 win over Mexico. ‘Big obstacle’ Tuchel explained that he had “no words” to describe magical Messi, who has scored eight goals so far and is second behind Kylian Mbappe in the Golden Boot race. “You can see the cohesion, you can see that they are experienced in tournament football,” Tuchel said. “They have the same core group of players who have been together a long time, and they have a very experienced and very, very good head coach, he added, referring to Lionel Scaloni. “We know how big the obstacle is, but we are ready for it.” Argentina have laboured to reach the semifinals, although England’s path through the knockout rounds has not been smooth either, with tough matches against the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mexico and Norway.
The BriefWire