
Thomas Tuchel feels Club World Cup absence gives Liverpool and Arsenal advantage
Thomas Tuchel believes the demands of the Club World Cup on Manchester City and Chelsea will hand Liverpool and Arsenal a 'huge advantage' in next season's Premier League title race.
The England head coach is trying to stay relaxed about any potential impact FIFA's new competition, which starts on Saturday, will have on his players, and his stated ambition to put a second star on the England shirt by winning next summer's World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
However, the German is convinced the tournament will be pivotal for who wins the English league title next year, and will put the more rested Reds and Gunners in pole position.
'I think (the Club World Cup) will have a huge impact and it will give Liverpool and Arsenal a huge advantage in the next season to not be there,' Tuchel said.
'I think it will be a very nice experience for the players who are there to play this tournament for the first time, so I have mixed feelings about it.
'I decided not to worry too much, because why should I? It is a given, and no-one knows what will be the outcome of it or the effect.
'We will deal with the effect when the effect comes and let's see.'
Nine of Tuchel's group for last Saturday's World Cup qualifier against Andorra and Tuesday night's friendly against Senegal are heading to the Club World Cup, but he insisted: 'There is not one player who says 'by the way, I would like to be on the bench and save myself for the Club World Cup'. They are hungry to play.
'The games are not the problem, it is just the amount of time that it occupies from the players, and they need a proper rest somewhere in this calendar which they hardly get.'
One of those nine is Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane, who is set to captain England again at the City Ground in Nottingham. Twenty-four members of the squad trained at St George's Park on Monday, with Jude Bellingham absent due to his attendance at a family funeral. He was due to return to the camp later in the day.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Herald Scotland
29 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Tuesday's briefing: Bellamy defiant after Wales loss as Scotland bounce back
England look to shrug off their struggle to sink minnows Andorra with head coach Thomas Tuchel aware there is plenty of room for improvement ahead of their clash with Senegal. Bellamy's pride in Lions ⏰ FT | 🇧🇪 4-3 🏴 An enthralling encounter comes to an end in Brussels. 💻 — Wales 🏴 (@Cymru) June 9, 2025 Craig Bellamy refused to be downhearted after tasting defeat for the first time as Wales boss after an extraordinary seven-goal thriller in Belgium. Wales clawed back from 3-0 down to draw level in a match blighted by lengthy VAR checks before Kevin De Bruyne broke the visitors' hearts by sealing a late 4-3 win for the hosts. The defeat meant Wales were knocked off the top of World Cup qualifying group J by North Macedonia, following their 1-0 win in Kazakhstan. But Bellamy said: 'There's a lot of life in this group and today I saw a lot of life in this team. We aren't going anywhere. 'I will have a couple of weeks now of recharging, but I'm beyond proud and really excited about the future.' Clarke's delight as Scots get back on track Che Adams was a hat-trick hero for Scotland in Liechtenstein (Steve Welsh/PA) Scotland head coach Steve Clarke was satisfied with the way his side bounced back from their 3-1 defeat to Iceland at Hampden Park as they strolled to a 4-0 friendly win in Liechtenstein. Having only scored once in his 19 previous internationals, Che Adams hit a hat-trick and George Adams grabbed his first international goal to restore a mood of optimism in the Scotland camp. 'Our players had a little bit of anger in the performance at the start of the game – they knew that they'd let themselves down in the previous match,' said Clarke. 'So, to start well and get the early goal makes it more comfortable and it's nice to build on that with another three goals. Teams maybe win here but not too many come and score four goals.' Tuchel wants England improvement Thomas Tuchel watched England labour to beat Andorra (Bradley Collyer/PA) Thomas Tuchel has conceded England still have plenty of improvements to make as they prepare to face Senegal in a friendly at Wembley. The new head coach was far from pleased with the way his side laboured to a 1-0 win against minnows Andorra in their World Cup qualifier at the weekend. Ahead of their clash with the African side, Tuchel said: 'We need to improve, for sure. We need to improve in connections, in support, in interactions in the group. 'I feel we are too isolated on the pitch. We have not clicked yet. I don't see it has clicked between the players. 'We haven't done that yet, but it's also not the moment to look only on the negative side. We have a lot of positives to take away in training and in the sessions I see a lot of it, and it will obviously take a little bit to translate it to the pitch.' Spurs close in on Frank Thomas Frank is set to become Tottenham's new manager (Bradley Collyer/PA) Tottenham are closing in on making Brentford boss Thomas Frank their next head coach, the PA news agency understands. Spurs sacked Ange Postecoglou on Friday, despite Europa League success, and quickly set their sights on Frank – who has gained admirers for his work over an impressive seven-year period at the west London club. After positive discussions over the weekend, there is a growing confidence that Frank – whose contract contains a release clause reported to be in the region of £10million – will be the man to replace Postecoglou. What's on today? England face Senegal in a Wembley friendly as Thomas Tuchel continues to survey his options for their continuing World Cup qualifying campaign. The Republic of Ireland are in friendly action in Luxembourg while Northern Ireland host Scotland's recent conquerors Iceland at Windsor Park.

South Wales Argus
35 minutes ago
- South Wales Argus
Tuesday's briefing: Bellamy defiant after Wales loss as Scotland bounce back
Meanwhile, Tottenham continue to close in on Brentford's Thomas Frank as their new boss and appear willing to meet the latter's £10million release clause to get their man. England look to shrug off their struggle to sink minnows Andorra with head coach Thomas Tuchel aware there is plenty of room for improvement ahead of their clash with Senegal. Bellamy's pride in Lions ⏰ FT | 🇧🇪 4-3 🏴 An enthralling encounter comes to an end in Brussels. 💻 — Wales 🏴 (@Cymru) June 9, 2025 Craig Bellamy refused to be downhearted after tasting defeat for the first time as Wales boss after an extraordinary seven-goal thriller in Belgium. Wales clawed back from 3-0 down to draw level in a match blighted by lengthy VAR checks before Kevin De Bruyne broke the visitors' hearts by sealing a late 4-3 win for the hosts. The defeat meant Wales were knocked off the top of World Cup qualifying group J by North Macedonia, following their 1-0 win in Kazakhstan. But Bellamy said: 'There's a lot of life in this group and today I saw a lot of life in this team. We aren't going anywhere. 'I will have a couple of weeks now of recharging, but I'm beyond proud and really excited about the future.' Clarke's delight as Scots get back on track Che Adams was a hat-trick hero for Scotland in Liechtenstein (Steve Welsh/PA) Scotland head coach Steve Clarke was satisfied with the way his side bounced back from their 3-1 defeat to Iceland at Hampden Park as they strolled to a 4-0 friendly win in Liechtenstein. Having only scored once in his 19 previous internationals, Che Adams hit a hat-trick and George Adams grabbed his first international goal to restore a mood of optimism in the Scotland camp. 'Our players had a little bit of anger in the performance at the start of the game – they knew that they'd let themselves down in the previous match,' said Clarke. 'So, to start well and get the early goal makes it more comfortable and it's nice to build on that with another three goals. Teams maybe win here but not too many come and score four goals.' Tuchel wants England improvement Thomas Tuchel watched England labour to beat Andorra (Bradley Collyer/PA) Thomas Tuchel has conceded England still have plenty of improvements to make as they prepare to face Senegal in a friendly at Wembley. The new head coach was far from pleased with the way his side laboured to a 1-0 win against minnows Andorra in their World Cup qualifier at the weekend. Ahead of their clash with the African side, Tuchel said: 'We need to improve, for sure. We need to improve in connections, in support, in interactions in the group. 'I feel we are too isolated on the pitch. We have not clicked yet. I don't see it has clicked between the players. 'We haven't done that yet, but it's also not the moment to look only on the negative side. We have a lot of positives to take away in training and in the sessions I see a lot of it, and it will obviously take a little bit to translate it to the pitch.' Spurs close in on Frank Thomas Frank is set to become Tottenham's new manager (Bradley Collyer/PA) Tottenham are closing in on making Brentford boss Thomas Frank their next head coach, the PA news agency understands. Spurs sacked Ange Postecoglou on Friday, despite Europa League success, and quickly set their sights on Frank – who has gained admirers for his work over an impressive seven-year period at the west London club. After positive discussions over the weekend, there is a growing confidence that Frank – whose contract contains a release clause reported to be in the region of £10million – will be the man to replace Postecoglou. What's on today? England face Senegal in a Wembley friendly as Thomas Tuchel continues to survey his options for their continuing World Cup qualifying campaign. The Republic of Ireland are in friendly action in Luxembourg while Northern Ireland host Scotland's recent conquerors Iceland at Windsor Park.


Reuters
35 minutes ago
- Reuters
Weston McKennie defends USMNT teammates from criticism
June 10 - A day after Landon Donovan lambasted members of the U.S. men's national team who decided to skip this summer's friendlies and CONCACAF Gold Cup, midfielder Weston McKennie came to the defense of his teammates. Christian Pulisic, Antonee Robinson and Yunus Musah are among the USMNT mainstays who aren't with the team, ostensibly to rest after the European season. The national squad is also missing numerous other players due to injury or involvement in the upcoming Club World Cup, where McKennie is set to compete with Juventus. While lauding Cristiano Ronaldo for helping lead Portugal to the UEFA Nations League championship Sunday with a win over Spain, Donovan took a shot at the current USMNT absentees. "This is what it means to represent your country," Donovan said, speaking of Ronaldo, on the Fox broadcast. "This is what it means. And if you don't want to take this as a professional soccer player, as someone who gets the opportunity to wear that jersey and take it seriously and responsibly, then don't come in. This is what it means. "(Ronaldo is) 40 years old. He's played a long-ass season. He's tired. He's out there grinding. Hurt himself in the process, and I can't help but think about some of our guys on vacation, not wanting to play in the Gold Cup. It's pissing me off." The U.S. team just took a third consecutive loss, falling 2-1 to Turkey on Saturday in a friendly at East Hartford, Conn. McKennie was asked about Donovan's comments by USA Today Sports on Monday in Italy, where he is in training with Juventus. "Obviously, none of us take for granted playing for the national team," McKennie told USA Today. "None of us want to lose games. All of us want to compete." McKennie added about Donovan's remarks, "No names were named. Coming off a long season, a stressful season, obviously, some players feel a different way about it, and some players feel another way. But the comments are comments. Everyone has their own opinions, and that's life, and that's football. "Obviously, like I said before, none of us take for granted that we get to represent a national team because it's one of the biggest honors that we can have in the sport of football. ... "So, any chance that we get, we want to play. But obviously, if you don't feel like your body is in the right condition, and you don't feel like your body is in the best form or shape or whatever, to be able to do that at 100 percent, and you feel like you're risking injury, then it's better to let someone else go in that is completely 100 percent." Also on Monday, Mark Pulisic, Christian's father, posted on Instagram a ChatGPT summary of the time when Donovan took a sabbatical from playing in 2012-13 "because he was feeling both physically and mentally exhausted after years of intense competition and the pressure that comes with being a top athlete." Christian Pulisic "liked" his father's post. --Field Level Media