Thomas Tuchel Reflects on England's World Cup Journey

Thomas Tuchel still thinks about the grass.

Not the tactics board, not the substitutions. The grass. The very turf England tore up in Mexico City when they stunned the World Cup hosts 3-2 with 10 men in last summer’s last-16 epic.

In the chaos that followed, Tuchel didn’t grab a memento. No shirt, no netting, no clump of pitch. And that, he admits, still nags at him.

“I texted a friend after the match and I just wrote, I regret that I didn't eat some grass after the match to keep something from this in my body forever,” the England manager told former England striker Daniel Sturridge in an interview for the Football Association. “That was the feeling. That was the moment.”

Mexico, mayhem and a broken arm

England’s run would ultimately end in semi-final heartbreak, but that night in Mexico City has already slipped into the folklore of the national team. Down to 10 men, facing the hosts, and still finding a way to win. It wasn’t just the result. It was the way they lived every second of it together.

Tuchel points to one image above all others.

“This game had so much of what you could wish for,” he said. “If you needed any proof of what it meant to these players and how they were with each other, it was the moment when Jordan fell over and broke his arm.”

Jordan Henderson had vaulted an advertising hoarding in the delirium of the celebrations, landed awkwardly and suffered a broken arm. The joy stopped instantly.

“Within a second, the players were there,” Tuchel recalled. “Every single player was there stopping the celebrations, building a shield, protecting Jordan – not going nowhere, in full empathy. It was just so special.”

One second, wild celebration. The next, a ring of teammates around a fallen colleague. For Tuchel, that instinctive reaction told him everything about the group he is leading.

“It feels like they are my players now”

That night in Mexico did more than send England into the quarter-finals. It rewired the relationship between manager and squad.

“It created a huge bond to these players,” Tuchel said. “It feels like they are my players now. This is the beauty of it.

You have success and you have painful moments together, but you have so much time together and then you create a natural bond. So I'm happy to see them. I'm happy to challenge them, happy to push them, and very proud to be a part of that.”

The World Cup in the US brought eight wins, one draw and one “painful loss” across 10 matches. The semi-final exit still stings, but Tuchel sees a platform, not a scar.

“We all have the right to hold our heads high and go with courage and positivity into the next challenges,” he said.

Eyes on Euro 2028

Those challenges are coming fast. England return to action later this month with a heavyweight Nations League clash at home to world champions Spain. Trips to Croatia and home-and-away meetings with the Czech Republic follow in a packed international break, with Tuchel set to name his squad on Friday.

The short-term goal is clear: navigate Nations League Tier One. The long-term aim looms larger: qualify for Euro 2028 and then attack a tournament co-hosted by England.

“I'm very excited,” Tuchel said. “I think we got another step closer and I think we're there.

“It's very difficult to prepare for a World Cup in the US, but I think it's possible to prepare for a Euros and we prepare in Nations League Tier One.

The target is to have another 10 matches. We had 10 matches in the US – eight wins, one draw, one painful loss. That is something to build on.”

Ten more games. Another cycle of shared highs and lows. Another chance to deepen that bond he talks about so often.

The grass in Mexico is gone. The feeling he wanted to keep inside him is not. Now the question is simple: can England turn that memory into something even bigger on home soil in 2028?