England manager Thomas Tuchel bullish on 2026 World Cup aim

New England head coach Thomas Tuchel has said he will not shy away from publicly stating his aim is to win the 2026 World Cup and believes only “nuances” and “details” have stopped the side ending their long wait for silverware.

Gareth Southgate came closer than any manager since Sir Alf Ramsey to delivering England’s first men’s trophy since 1966, guiding the team to back-to-back Euros finals.

Southgate stepped down after losing the Euro 2024 showpiece to Spain in July and the Football Association (FA) responded by appointing under-21 manager Lee Carsley on an interim basis before pivoting to a proven winner in Tuchel.

Sources have told ESPN that Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola was among the 10 candidates FA chief executive Mark Bullingham revealed on Wednesday that they had spoken to during the process.

However, they ultimately chose Tuchel, who has won 11 major honours at club level including the 2021 Champions League with Chelsea.

The 51-year-old will start his 18-month contract on Jan. 1 — meaning he will get just one tournament cycle as things stand — and when asked if it was win or bust for him with England, Tuchel said: “I don’t know, it depends. I know what you’re saying. No, it’s not a gamble, but we speak it out now very clearly why we are here and what we want to achieve.

“We are not shy of it. We are absolutely open about it. It does not help the more often we speak about it, but it should be out there and then we can set the standards and set the values and principles because then we have to live up to them for 18 months.

“Let’s judge it when we have done it. If we decide it was a failure, then we will not continue. If we decide it was not a failure, then we will continue. Let’s see. No one can predict the future.

“It feels absolutely right for me to do so, it feels clear and it feels easy for me to explain. When it’s easy to explain, it’s normally good.

“We are playing with players for the best league and the biggest competition in the world. We have a group of young hungry players. We are desperate to win a title, so we have all the ingredients, so I think we should try to implement this into our style of play.

“I think we should play an attacking style of football and we should try to emphasise a physical side of the game because this is what English football is all about and this is what excites our supporters, and this is what suits the players.”

Southgate led England to the 2018 World Cup semifinals where they were beaten in extra-time by Croatia. They lost the Euro 2020 final on penalties before exiting the World Cup two years later with a narrow 2-1 defeat to France in which Harry Kane missed a late penalty that would have tied the score.

Spain edged another tight game 2-1 in Berlin and when asked to explain what England were missing, Tuchel said: “I think it’s just nuances, it’s just details. If you lose on penalties in a final, who would I be to say I know what you did wrong when you were there.

“You were there. We or they have been in two finals I think. Semifinals and quarterfinals. Lost each of them very, very close, each of them could have gone either way. The genuine belief is that we are there, that we are ready.”

Bullingham also defended the appointment of a foreign-born manager — the third in England’s history — despite the FA making the development of homegrown players and managers at St. George’s Park central to their mission.

Citing the arrival of English coach Anthony Barry as Tuchel’s assistant, Bullingham said: “If you look at St. George’s Park overall, I think it has been a really good success. Our pathway is really strong, both from a coaches and players point of view. There are a lot of fantastic young coaches around and obviously Anthony is one of those.

“I think any federation in the world that is looking to hire a senior manager, clearly you would love to have five to 10 domestic candidates who are coaching clubs in your domestic league, challenging and winning honours in your domestic league and European football. We are not quite in that place at the moment.”

Tuchel confirmed he will be living in England and explained why he will not take charge immediately with Carsley remaining in post for next month’s UEFA Nations League games against Greece and Republic of Ireland.

“It was important for me to narrow it down into a project and not lose the focus, to start in another competition, the Nations League, then go into qualification and the tournament,” he said.

“I wanted to have a clean start and a bit of time to recharge fully and start in January and start the first camp in March.”