How Thomas Tuchel transformed England in 15 minutes
18.06.26, 17:00 Updated 18.06.26, 13:53 3 Minute Read
Robert Taylor
Why get a German to coach the England team? Why pay millions for an “elite” operator? If ever those decisions needed justifying, half-time in Dallas provided it. Because what Tuchel said, and how he said it, changed the game.
Let’s not kid ourselves, England were shaky in that first half. Nervy, tentative, vulnerable. Chaotic, Anthony Barry called it. The shirt, the history and the decades of hurt all, still, weighed heavily. Kane even missed a penalty before being reprieved. Twice we led, twice we were pegged back. To obsessive fans like me, accustomed to decades of crushed hopes, it looked horrifyingly familiar – a team so fearful of defeat that they looked too frozen to win. England all over. Same old, same old.
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Robert Taylor Author of Tears for England, Robert combines wit, honesty and lived experience. A writer shaped by England’s highs and lows, he offers thoughtful, grounded insight into the national team.