Every side with ambitions of lifting a World Cup eventually reaches the point where promise has to become proof. For Thomas Tuchel’s England, that moment has arrived.
Scraping by can no longer be enough. Neither can simply finding a way through. Tonight, beneath the roof of Atlanta’s World Cup Stadium, England need to look, play and carry themselves like a team capable of going all the way.
The grind of the group stage is now behind them. At times, especially when set against the drama unfolding elsewhere, it felt flat and heavy going — but it is finished. What comes next is a chance to seize momentum, and England must reveal their real level because the challenge only becomes steeper from here.
England need to discover their identity tonight before the tournament moves beyond them. Tuchel’s squad must take their cue from Jude Bellingham and begin performing with the authority expected of players widely regarded as global stars.
This is the point at which the pre-tournament belief, expectation and optimism must be justified. If England think they can wait until a last-16 tie in the altitude and intensity of Mexico City this weekend to suddenly find another level, they may be badly misjudging the moment. The improvement has to come now.
England must now prove they deserve to be considered World Cup contenders after an underwhelming group-stage campaign
Thomas Tuchel hoped his England team would intimidate opponents this summer, but that fear factor has yet to truly appear
So far, England have had conditions largely in their favour. The meeting with Croatia in Dallas was staged indoors in air-conditioned comfort, while Boston and New Jersey felt more like Manchester in early spring. Tonight, they are indoors once more. But if England are serious about making an impact on this tournament, the World Cup is about to become the severe physical, mental and emotional examination everyone warned it would be.
A last 16 match at 7,300ft in Mexico. A quarter-final in Miami where the real-feel temperature was 37 degrees Celsius when Scotland took on Brazil. If England are still standing after all that then then they may have a chance.
So, yes, this is where this World Cup starts and England need a spark, a performance to light a fire in our hearts and set their World Cup alight.
Sometimes it only takes one game, one triumph. Back in Moscow in 2018, it came with a shootout defeat of Colombia in the last 16, England’s first knockout victory for 12 years. At Euro 2020, a win over Germany propelled Gareth Southgate’s team forward towards a Wembley final. In Qatar, they outplayed a good Senegal team 3-0 in the first elimination round and could well have beaten eventual finalists France a week later.
As for the Euros in Germany, the less said about that the better. A moment of individual genius from Bellingham saved us against Slovakia. We simply cannot rely on him and Harry Kane every time.
It’s OK to start a tournament slowly. Only three World Cup winners in 23 editions have had a 100 per cent record in the group stages. But at some stage a big step forward has to come. A statement of intent has to be made. For a team’s own self-belief and self-respect as much as anything.
In Houston on Monday, five-time champions Brazil showed us the way with a second-half performance of sheer majesty and authority to wrest a brilliant game back from Japan. Players stepped up. Casemiro, Vinicius Junior, Bruno Guimaraes. So did the coach Carlo Ancelotti with a system tweak and smart and decisive substitutions. Tuchel take note.
Brazil suddenly looked like Brazil and will now feel like a completely different outfit for their last 16 game in New Jersey against Norway this Sunday. They have made their big move and now England must make theirs.
The Three Lions face a DR Congo side brimming with Premier League talent in Atlanta
This has been a tournament which has seen the favourites entertain, now it’s time for England to do the same
We have embraced Tuchel as our national coach. We have admired his charm, his clear love for the job and indeed the courage of some of his big decisions. We have given him some leeway, too, over calls made around Trent Alexander Arnold, Harry Maguire and Cole Palmer. There has been trust.
But now the England manager needs to back that up. He needs to repay the faith placed in him by the FA and the football public and earn some of the money that came with a new contract he was given in the spring simply for qualifying for World Cup 2026 in the first place.
So far Tuchel’s rhetoric has been of the ‘keep calm’ variety. He said after the Panama win on Saturday that he wanted to see smiles on the team plane back to Kansas that reflected England’s position at the top of Group L. That’s all understandable. Nobody wins a World Cup in the opening fortnight. Equally, he cannot ignore the problems that have been apparent since this tournament started with that exciting but quite perplexing first half against Croatia.
In an early speech to his players at St Georges’ Park last year, he said he wanted them to be a team that opponents feared when they saw them in the tunnel. The FA liked that footage so much they put it on their own website.
So far in America, Tuchel’s England have been nothing like that. They have been meek and mild. England have not looked secure without the ball, have not managed to carry a threat from the wide positions that are supposed to be the squad’s strength and have too often looked utterly devoid of ideas when presented with opponents happy to sit deep in front of them.
These are problems that have sprung from nowhere and are Tuchel’s to solve now. If he doesn’t manage it then England will be home before Wimbledon is over. He says the opposition have been tough thus far. That is a view that needs placing in the context of the fact that Brazil and Argentina sit in our half of the draw.
This is a tournament that has seen the big guns arriving ready to play and to entertain. France, Argentina, Brazil and even the likes of Holland and Norway have knocked on the door of the party carrying bottles of champagne. England have been the guest clutching the car keys, offering an apology and asking for a soft drink.
It must change and it must change today. It’s time for Tuchel to show us the version of England he has spent 18 months telling us to expect.
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