Latest news with #ThreeLions'
Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
Thomas Tuchel uses clever England tactic to prepare players for 2026 World Cup
The 2026 World Cup is just over a year away and new England manager Thomas Tuchel is already looking for the marginal gains which could help end the Three Lions' 60-year wait for a trophy England will train in tents to prepare for the searing heat of the 2026 World Cup, manager Thomas Tuchel has confirmed. The tournament kicks off in just over a year's time and will be played across the United States, Canada and Mexico. Tuchel's squad are currently on a warm-weather training camp in Girona, Spain as they prepare to face Andorra in a qualifier on Saturday. The match will be played a Espanyol's home stadium in Barcelona, where it's expected to be 25 degrees come kick-off. It could be even warmer in north America next summer, with Mexico set to be the hottest host country. As part of the training camp in Girona, Tuchel and his coaching staff will assess how players cope with and recovery from extremely hot and humid conditions. Fitness tests will be carried out inside the tents, as they work on exercise bikes in temperatures similar to what they're likely to be playing in next June and July. Tuchel said that he expects his players to 'suffer' in the tournament's conditions and confirmed that he'll travel to the Club World Cup this summer in the USA to experience the conditions for himself. "It is important to see matches now in America, and in Miami at three in the afternoon," Tuchel explained. "I will see that. How it looks, and we need to understand how to cool the players down, to drink. What our options are. "Let's see because it is after the season, so it will be very similar. The actual experience is for the players, but I have done pre-season there in Orlando and I will be very surprised if we do not suffer. Suffering is one of the headlines for this World Cup." England still need to qualify for the World Cup and have made a perfect start under Tuchel. The Three Lions sit top of Group K after beating Albania and Latvia 2-0 and 3-0 respectively in March. After facing Andorra, the lowest-ranked team in their group, England will play Senegal in a friendly at City Ground in Nottingham next Tuesday. The fixture comes just five days before the start of the Club World Cup which many of Tuchel's stars are involved in. But they won't be released early by the FA. "The discussion was very open," Tuchel said last week. "Very quickly we also understood this is a very important camp for us with one year to go until the Word Cup. "Why send players if we want to cherish every day we have together. What signal would it send to the group to send players away? I was an advocate and I could see the reason for the players who go to the Club World Cup to maybe leave a little earlier, to maybe change the squad. "I can understand the argument from especially the clubs who would love to see the players get a rest but we have a strong argument for ourselves and our goals we want to reach. "We are building a group and a togetherness. We want to develop a camaraderie and it is only possible if we take every day seriously."
BBC News
24-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'Dull England show Tuchel's search for thrills will be no quick fix'
Thomas Tuchel wants England's brave new era to bring thrills and excitement, but he has swiftly discovered that if you have seen one England qualifier you have almost seen them has been firing off positive messages since delivering a damning verdict on England's Euro 2024 campaign under predecessor Gareth Southgate, which he claimed lacked intensity, identity and the routine 3-0 win over a Latvia side ranked 140th in the world, it was clear Tuchel's intended transformation will not be a quick fix - because this was more of the same labouring old England seen so often under Three Lions, as they have done so many times before, finally overcame gallant but limited opposition after struggling for long periods to make the most of their superiority, too often pedestrian and too often failing to transform good positions into was the traditional Wembley backdrop of paper aeroplanes - with the first hitting the turf after 14 minutes as opposed to 33 against Albania - the Mexican wave and the thousands of empty seats well before the final there were even the old frustrations that have surfaced before in this type of attritional fixture, with Jude Bellingham - who was already on a yellow card - fortunate referee Orel Grinfeld took a lenient view of his reckless second-half challenge on Raivis got there in the end, as they always do in these qualifiers, with Reece James illuminating his first international start since September 2022 with a superb free-kick seven minutes from half-time to break the unsurprisingly, barely left their half after the break, and England put the result beyond doubt with two goals in eight Harry Kane scored his 71st goal in 105 international appearances with a simple tap-in after 68 minutes and substitute Eberechi Eze added the hosts' third with a deflected very routine. All very England when it comes to qualifiers - as it should be against a country ranked between Burundi and the Dominican Republic on Fifa's list. This is not, it must be stressed, a criticism of Tuchel, whose tenure in its is simply a confirmation that providing the sort of thrill ride the German coach wants to serve up for England fans is easier said than done in these types of games with this team, and there is no quick fix to change Tuchel thought he could quickly blow away the cobwebs he believed had gathered on Southgate's England, then his first two games in charge will have been a sobering dose of has been little, so far, to distinguish Tuchel's team from the one that went before long periods this was a deadly dull England performance. Tuchel, in some respects, has made a rod for his own back with his deeply unflattering review of the Three Lions' efforts in Germany last summer and his talk of did do some of the things their new boss demanded. He wants more touches in the opposition box - and that figure more than doubled from his first game against Albania, increasing from 34 on Friday to 69 against put in 36 crosses on a night when they enjoyed 73.5% possession, but the end product was poor. Marcus Rashford improved slightly on his performance against Albania, but Jarrod Bowen could not make the desired impact as a replacement for struggling Phil sent in 21 of those crosses in the first half, the most in a game since they played Poland in October 2013 and delivered 25 - but their only goal game from James' a sign of England's complete domination, they had 569 successful passes in Latvia's half compared to the visitors' 26, and must be disappointed such overwhelming statistics resulted in relatively meagre wants to give England a fresh identity as they try to cross the psychological barrier from a nearly team to winners, but - as so often in the past - the acid test will only truly come when (it is hardly if) they qualify for the 2026 World should be a formality from a group that also contains Andorra and Serbia, so the first high-quality opponents England are likely to meet will be when they get to the World Cup. It is a situation they have been in before - and then been found wanting when it matters. This a problem for Tuchel to solve and one he will be well aware the 51-year-old will have enjoyed the spectacular strike from James, a player he greatly admires and who was a vital part of his Chelsea team that won the Champions League in second was also right up the head coach's street, with pace injected into play as a move reached the Latvia box by Declan Rice, whose drilled cross only needed a simple finish from his will cheer Tuchel is that he has plenty of raw materials to work for all the impetuosity that could - and should - have seen him sent off on Monday, is a generational talent, while Arsenal's Myles Lewis-Skelly once again demonstrated he is a natural at this was more good news from The Hawthorns where another Gunner, Ethan Nwaneri, excelled in a goalscoring performance for England Under-21s - and the return of a third Arsenal player, Bukayo Saka, will offer an added attacking task is to find the "X Factor", the missing ingredient, to get England's men over the line they have failed to cross since the 1966 World wins from two games is a satisfactory - and totally expected - opening to the Tuchel era, but now he must discover the missing link to enable him to deliver the exciting England side he has on the somewhat tedious evidence of his first two games, Tuchel will have plenty to exercise his mind between now and the next international camp in June.
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
🚨 Anthony Gordon withdraws from England squad through injury
England have confirmed that Anthony Gordon has withdrawn from their squad. Gordon suffered a hip injury during Friday's World Cup qualifying win over Albania with Thomas Tuchel admitting post-match that the prognosis "does not look good". The Newcastle United playmaker will now miss the Three Lions' encounter with Latvia on Monday after returning to his club to undergo assessment on the problem. "Anthony Gordon has withdrawn from Three Lions camp having sustained an injury during Friday night's 2-0 win over Albania," read a statement. "The forward has returned to Newcastle United for further assessment." Gordon has made 10 appearances for the national side since being drafted into the senior ranks just 12 months ago. 📸 GLYN KIRK - AFP or licensors
BBC News
20-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
England captain Kane feels he is 'taken for granted'
England captain Harry Kane says he is "taken for granted" and feels people have become "bored" of his goalscoring 31-year-old is the Three Lions' all-time top scorer and will look to add to his tally of 69 in Friday's opening World Cup qualifier against Albania at Wembley (19:45 GMT) in new boss Thomas Tuchel's first despite his impressive goal return for England, Kane has still attracted criticism in the German media for his performances for Bayern Munich, where he has scored 76 times in 82 appearances."It's like when [Cristiano] Ronaldo and [Lionel] Messi were throwing these crazy numbers out there and the next season they'd score 40 goals instead of 50. It was like they were having a bad season," Kane said."People take it for granted and maybe a little bit with England as well. I've scored 69 goals and when you score against Albania or Latvia, or these teams, people just expect it so it's not spoken about so much."If I was 25 now and doing what I'm doing, the excitement around me would maybe be a little bit different to what it is now. That's part of where we are with football. I've seen it with some other players as they get into their 30s."Maybe people just get a little bit bored of what you do, but I'm certainly not bored. I'm excited for these games and the games ahead." Kane has registered 21 goals in 24 Bundesliga appearances this term to help Bayern open up a six-point advantage at the top of the table. They also have a Champions League quarter-final to look forward to against Inter Milan. Yet the former Tottenham striker's impact has been questioned at times in Germany."It's hard. Sometimes it motivates me. Sometimes, to be honest I try to stay away from it as much as I can," Kane added."Probably, when I was young I listened to more than what I do now. Ultimately, I criticise myself more than anyone could do on the outside but... always use it as fuel to prove people wrong."In today's game, I feel like there's such a difference between a high and a low. You go from not scoring for a couple of games, to people saying he's not sharp enough... to scoring and you're a Ballon d'Or contender and it's like, the difference is too high and too low."I know what I've done in my career and I feel like I have a lot of respect from a lot of football people out there and I've achieved a lot in my career." Kane eyes Ballon d'Or Michael Owen was the last English player to win the Ballon d'Or in 2001. But Kane believes his transfer to Bayern in 2023 has provided him with the platform to earn the coveted prize awarded to the world's best player each year."Just being at a club like Bayern Munich has helped push me on even more, confidence-wise and responsibility-wise," he added."I feel like I've definitely got better, I've improved, and maybe the 'aura' of me as a player is a bit more respected than what it has been in the past, because you're playing in big games, big nights."I felt that last season as well, I scored over 40 goals, but obviously, I was never going to win the Ballon d'Or because we didn't win the team trophies."Those opportunities are there. That's probably what I mean in terms of being respected more worldwide, on the bigger stage. "For something like that, you have to win enough team trophies to be considered in that and probably score 40-odd goals, but that is a possibility this season."That is definitely something I would love to try to achieve."
BBC News
16-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Gibbs-White added to England squad
Nottingham Forest's Morgan Gibbs-White has been added to the England squad, after initially being left out of Thomas Tuchel's selection on will will now report to St. George's Park before the Three Lions' opening 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia at Wembley 25-year-old was part of England's Under-21 Euros winning team in 2023 and made the first of his two senior appearances last do you make of the news, Forest fans? Happy for his call-up or still frustrated he was overlooked at first?Let us know here.
