Thomas Tuchel responds to 2026 World Cup draw with message to players | OneFootball

Thomas Tuchel says it’s “most important” for England to go to the World Cup ready to face anyone and not worrying about pathway or potential opponents. The 52-year-old implored his side to seize the occasion “with hunger and with excitement and arrive as a team”.

England were drawn in a group with Croatia, Panama and Ghana for matches expected to primarily take place on the east coast, although the exact details will be confirmed at 5pm UK time on Saturday.

Tuchel admitted that some of the “surprise” was taken out of the draw due to the fact England were placed in the last group, L, leaving limited options by the time it came around.

While he spoke of the challenge of Croatia, however, the manager’s main message was for England to be willing to face anyone or anything.

“I think it’s most important that we arrive with hunger. We arrive with hunger and with excitement and arrive as a team.

“We don’t worry. We don’t worry about our opponents. We don’t worry about what can happen, what happens in the other group – maybe some favourites are in second position, and we then play them early in the tournament ... Just focus on what we can really influence, and that’s what we did and what the team did excellent in the last three camps.”

The World Cup draw took place in Washington DC (AP)

If England finish top of the group and get through the second round, any last-16 match will be in Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium, potentially against hosts Mexico themselves. Tuchel expressed excitement at that idea, not to mention a possible quarter-final against Brazil, but again reiterated the futility of thinking too far ahead.

“I will be excited to play in Mexico City, because I remember the World Cup there, and then I watched it as a teenager, and it was just like watching something from Mars or from another galaxy, but to be in there and then play a knockout game against Mexico?

“Someone said, ‘whoever wins the medal in New Jersey, they will absolutely deserve it at the toughest tournament’. What you just said [Mexico then Brazil] sounded like a pretty, pretty hard tournament.

“Anything can happen. We cannot get carried away now talking about Mexico or Brazil. We don’t know if we meet them. We don’t meet them for sure if we don’t perform in the group so we need to make sure that we are there and who else joins us, we cannot influence everyone.”

With England now awaiting where and exactly what time they will play, Tuchel spoke of the importance of the Football Association lobbying for the benefit of the supporters.

“Obviously, there are two concerns, and for the fans, I’m very sure [chief executive] Mark Bullingham will be doing what he can to lobby for the interests of our fans.

“I just hope that most fans as possible can make it. I understand how difficult that is, if a World Cup is in Mexico, Canada, and the US to only arrive here, and how much that costs, and then finding tickets and finding hotels and whatever. Maybe, they have to stay such a long time in the country. I think I understand that we start late, and then we play a pretty condensed schedule. So maybe that helps our fans to not have to spend so much time actually in the country, but I understand it will be a big, big challenge for them and a lot of costs, so hopefully we can find some compromise to have a lot of them in the stadium.”

Tuchel said he already had messages from his former Chelsea player, Mateo Kovacic, about England’s opening match against Croatia.

“Yes, of course, they’re difficult. They’re proud, they’re full of talent. I’m pretty sure I have already a message from Mateo Kovacic on my phone. But yeah, of course, we know them, they know us, it’s a big opening match, it could easily be a quarter-final or even later in the tournament but it is what it is. I’ve always we said don’t wish for things, we don’t want to avoid at all costs anything, so now we know to be prepared.”