Thomas Tuchel isn’t wasting any time resetting expectations. After England ground out a 2-0 win over Panama to finish top of Group L, the manager made it clear: the tournament they’ve been playing so far? That was just the warm-up act.
“The World Cup starts again now,” Tuchel said. “In the knockout stage.”
It wasn’t pretty against Panama. England controlled possession, created chances, and Jude Bellingham delivered one of those performances that makes you wonder if he’s even human. A goal, an assist, man of the match. The usual. But Tuchel wasn’t in the mood to sugarcoat the slog. Panama came to scrap, and they did. Physical, compact, hard to break down. England needed patience more than flair.
“We did what was needed,” Tuchel said. “It was what we expected. Tough match, against a physical opponent, difficult to score. We were the only team to create this amount of chances and score twice against them. We were very aggressive. We had to be very careful with the counter attack. Because they’re strong, we did well overall and deserved to win, but it was a hard piece of work.”
Hard piece of work is one way to put it. England had moments where they looked a little disjointed in the group stage. A decent win here, a shaky spell there. Not dominant, not struggling either. Just sort of present. But Tuchel seems to think that inconsistency gets wiped clean now.
“Now we collect our strengths and collect our energy, and we build on what we have,” he said. “The team’s spirit, belief. And we will step up. The bigger the games get, the better we will get.”
Bellingham carrying the load
Jude Bellingham is playing like a guy who didn’t get the memo that this is supposed to be a team sport. He’s been England’s most dangerous player by a wide margin. Tuchel acknowledged it without overdoing the praise — a coach’s way of keeping the spotlight diffuse.
“Good performance again. We’re happy that he’s in this kind of shape, but everyone did what they needed to do. Jude was a big part of it.”
True. But watching him, you get the sense he could be the difference between England going home early and playing deep into July.
Who England draws in the round of 32 is still up in the air. The bracket’s not locked yet. But Tuchel’s message is already set: whatever happened in the group doesn’t matter anymore. The real tournament starts now.
No pressure or anything.
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