England begin their World Cup campaign against Croatia tomorrow, with Thomas Tuchel starting the tournament under the weight of a question that has hung over the team for decades: can this group finally end a 60-year wait for a major international men’s trophy?
The search around when is the World Cup final is being driven by the same thing that has made England a story before a ball has been kicked. Tuchel was appointed at the end of 2024 to take them on this path, and he has made clear that anything less than the semi-finals would be a failure. That is the scale of the job now. England are expected to go deep, not merely survive the group stage.
There is evidence behind that optimism. England had a perfect record in qualifying, and the side still has Declan Rice and Harry Kane, two players who have been described as among the best in the world for the last few years. If England win Group L, the bracket opens toward Mexico in Mexico City and Brazil in Miami, before the kind of late-round tests that define a World Cup campaign. One writer has them reaching the final week of the tournament, another sees them getting as far as the quarter-finals even if they fall to Argentina or Portugal in the Atlanta semi-final.
But the confidence is not universal, and that is where the story tightens. Cole Palmer and Phil Foden have been left at home, and Trent Alexander-Arnold and Adam Wharton were also omitted, leaving some to wonder whether England have enough creativity in the final third to match the size of the expectation around them. Tuchel’s selection has given the squad a harder edge, but it has also created the sort of argument that follows every England side into a World Cup: whether discipline is enough when the game turns on a single sharp pass.
England warmed up with a win over Costa Rica, which will matter less than what happens when the tournament starts for real. Tuchel is not being judged on the opener alone. He is being judged on whether this squad can carry the pressure of a nation that keeps asking the same question, and whether the answer arrives in World Cup final week or stops short long before that.
