‘Not just another football match’ – Tuchel on the England-Argentina rivalry ahead of World Cup semi-final | OneFootball

Thomas Tuchel has admitted that ‘you cannot just say it’s just another football match’ ahead of England’s World Cup semi-final against Argentina.

The game in Atlanta will be the first meeting between England and Argentina in more than 20 years. Given the history between the two nations, many are expecting Wednesday’s semi-final to be a highly charged encounter.

It is 40 years on from Diego Maradona’s iconic performance and ‘Hand of God’ goal, and 28 years since their last World Cup knockout meeting and David Beckham’s infamous red card. Now the two countries will face off again for a place in the World Cup final.

“You cannot just say it’s just another football match,” admitted Tuchel. “But as a coach we do exactly that.

“We don’t speak about the historic moments, we don’t speak about the iconic moments. It is big enough and the tension is big enough.

“The magnitude of the match is just what it is.

“I would say it’s irrelevant but I’m not sure. I think the players from both countries are very aware.

“It’s a big rivalry,” continued the England boss. “It’s two big football nations. Everyone who follows football, every football fan knows what this brings.

“We expect an intense match, an emotional match. I expect a match with a lot of momentum swings.

“We don’t use it as a fuel. We know why we’re here, we know what we want. We were never shy of saying it, of dreaming it. We arrive very hungry in the semi-finals.

“We respect our opponents but we don’t dip into historical events and make it bigger than it is.”

England have the opportunity to reach the World Cup final for the first time since their famous triumph in 1966. They knocked out Argentina en route to the final that year.

“I don’t feel a burden,” insisted Tuchel. “We feel the tension and I will be nervous, of course. But I feel no burden.

“The two shirts are just iconic. The historic matches are iconic, there are iconic moments.

“There is absolute beauty in the magnitude of the match, in the magnitude of the occasion.

“Every team in the world is beatable. So is Argentina, so are we, and we will try our best tomorrow.”