Thomas Tuchel: England must work as a team if they are to have World Cup chance

Thomas Tuchel says England will go to next summer’s World Cup as “underdogs” and have “no chance” of succeeding in North America unless they work as a team.

The back-to-back European Championship finalists are within touching distance of qualification for a tournament they are considered among the frontrunners to win.

Tuchel only has two further camps before naming his World Cup squad and raised eyebrows by omitting some big-name players for October’s friendly against Wales and qualifier in Latvia.

But the German head coach says it is all about constructing a team that is capable of becoming the first men’s side to win a major trophy since Sir Alf Ramsey’s heroes of 1966.

“We built a team with the guys who were available and they did so well, so we go again with them,” he said of this month’s squad selection.

“No-one said we can’t do the same with them or even better of maybe the same level with the others (that are not here).

“But for this moment we stick with our choice and the radical statement is that we don’t collect the most talented players. Definitely not.

“We try to collect the guys who in the end have the glue and cohesion to be the best team because we need to arrive with the best team.

“We will arrive as underdogs in 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 need to arrive as a team otherwise we have no chance.”

England have at least reached the quarter-finals of the last four tournaments but Tuchel believes they are underdogs “because of history, the climate and the circumstances”.

“If you’ve never won Wimbledon, you may be one of the favourites but you are not the favourite,” the England boss said.

“You can go and if you come close, OK, you are within the pool, but you are not the favourite. It is just how it is.

“There is Brazil, there is Argentina, Spain, France and they just did it recently.

“It doesn’t mean we have no chance and we know very well. First we will qualify and then we will know exactly why we go there.”

An underdog mentality helped England reach the World Cup semi-finals in 2018 in predecessor Gareth Southgate’s first tournament in charge and Tuchel believes that mindset could benefit them again.

“Yes, I think it helps us if we have our role clear once we arrive,” he said.

“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? When did we last time win it?

“Let’s go step by step and 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.”

Tuchel stressed “teams win trophies, no-one else” in a week when former captain Steven Gerrard admitted egos ran amok and sunk the hopes of England’s so-called ‘Golden Generation’.

“I heard about it,” Tuchel said. “I hear nothing else.

“When I hear people talking about their titles in international football or their missed chances I hear always the same song: we have been a team or we haven’t been a team. It is always the same song in international football.

“I also think it is the same headline in club football but even more if you stick together for 24/7 for a nine-day period, and then as long as possible in America, you have to be a group, you have to be a strong group.”