When you are preparing for a World Cup semifinal against the greatest player to ever live, there is little room for distractions.
After decades of torment when it comes to major tournaments involving its men’s football team, England fans are rightly jumpy at the slightest hint of discomfort.
The Three Lions have put together a sterling tournament so far, having recorded back-to-back stirring knockout wins over Mexico in Mexico and then Norway.
Each win has been followed up by the players and the fans singing Oasis’s Wonderwall in unison. It is the type of stuff that the football gods no doubt look favourably over.
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Videos from England’s inner sanctum have also shown a united front, refreshing for a national team that so often has been a picture of anxiety, a set of players completely overburdened under the weight of expectation.
There was partying and dancing inside the locker room following the win over Mexico, as Declan Rice and veteran John Stones played a mini-prank on their manager Thomas Tuchel before the beat drop.
The vibes, as the kids say, have been immaculate.
Then came the discomfort England’s long-tortured fans had dreaded.
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In a post-game interview with ITV, Tuchel told the interviewer Gabriel Clarke that he was “not happy with the performance”.
Moments later, Clarke, now interviewing Jude Bellingham after his brace against Norway, relayed Tuchel’s comments to England’s number 10, who didn’t want a bar of it.
“Yeah well, whatever,” he said.
“It’s difficult out there. It’s a tough shift. All the players are putting in a very tough shift, so my thoughts and appreciation goes to the players who [are] out there putting in a great shift.”
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Conveniently or inconveniently, depending on your viewpoint, Clarke notably left out the fact that in the same interview, Tuchel waxed lyrical about his team’s mentality.
Bellingham’s answer spread like wildfire, so much so that by the time he spoke to reporters in the mixed zone a little later, he was asked again, and duly doubled down. Suddenly, English football had its latest drama.
“Maybe he doesn’t know what it’s like to play in those kids of conditions against Erling Haaland, [Martin] Ødegaard, [Antonio] Nusa, [Alexander] Sørloth,” Bellingham said.
“That’s not an easy team to play against. I think we’ve tried to create a positive environment and we should continue that going into the final four. I can’t speak highly enough of the lads.
Jude Bellingham (centre) preferred to focus on the positive environment around the England camp, rather than Tuchel’s comments. (Reuters: Paul Childs)
“You’re not going to win every game popping the ball and making a thousand passes, sometimes you have to win dirty and we’ve done that again tonight.”
England captain Harry Kane later tried to hose down the whole controversy at his media conference, but it was too late … the cat was out of the bag.
The combination of a major trophy drought which now spans 60 years and the attention surrounding the team means England is as prone as any team at the World Cup to get distracted.
Often, the media surrounding the team isn’t shy about adding to the pressure, and then crushing the players when they invariably do not meet the sky-high standards set upon them.
“It’s just pressure that’s going to come into the dressing room,” former England striker Ian Wright said on The Overlap’s Stick to Football when discussing the comments from both Tuchel and Bellingham.
England’s semifinal opponent is none other than Lionel Messi (pictured) and the reigning World Cup champions, Argentina. (Getty Images: Jussi Eskola)
“We should be thinking about [Argentina] because they’re going to be a massive problem for us with respect to the way they play, and Messi, without talking about the manager and Jude and what’s going on.
“We don’t need it. I think Thomas Tuchel didn’t need to say it like that. Say it to them in the dressing room like Harry [Kane] told us he did. I just don’t think it’s a good move.
“He’s got a top player who’s now elevated himself to a place of, ‘Don’t talk to me like that, bro.’ We’re going to see what happens now.”
There was uproar from some parts of the English media when Tuchel, a German, was hired to be the England manager after Gareth Southgate’s exit.
According to former England defender Gary Neville, Tuchel’s harsh assessment on his team’s performance is an example of why he was hired.
“There’s an element of Thomas Tuchel’s interview when he was staring down Gabriel where you thought he looks like a bit of a psychopath,”
he said.
“I think the managers that are successful, I genuinely believe they’re psychopaths. They are not right.
“Over the years with the England managers, what they’ve always had the view of is, ‘They’re not my players, I only get lent those players for a few days every month, so I can’t upset them because I haven’t actually got the time to make it back up, so I’ve got to keep them happy.’
“He doesn’t care, and I think that’s the reason he’s got the power and the strength. That’s why they signed him, to disrupt.”
Tuchel has indeed shown he isn’t afraid to upset the apple cart in his time as England manager.
He did so by leaving the likes of Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Trent Alexander-Arnold out of his squad, moves that so far appear to have been inspired choices.
Bellingham has thrived in the freedom afforded by not having to fit around Foden and Palmer, and has finally seen his Real Madrid goalscoring feats translate to England.
Players have come off the bench and made key contributions. The vibes are so good that Jordan Henderson was prepared to take the pitch just days after breaking his arm in a calamitous celebration attempt at the Azteca.
The good news is that Tuchel’s crop also appears to have more intestinal fortitude than any of their predecessors.
This is the type of drama that might have caused England teams of yesteryear to unravel, but Tuchel’s squad has shown a propensity to thrive in the uncomfortable.
As this World Cup has gone on, this England team has had an aura of being different to those previous teams that have fallen short.
Now the England manager has provided his team another chance to prove just how different they really are.
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