Thomas Tuchel believes England are building a “precious brotherhood” and warned that dropouts will not be accepted before the World Cup.
England have already secured their place in next summer’s finals before playing two qualifiers this week, starting with Serbia at Wembley on Thursday before signing their contract of the year against Albania in Tirana.
This camp comes a year after Harry Kane publicly expressed his disappointment after nine players withdrew from interim coach Lee Carsley’s squad for Nations League matches against Greece and the Republic of Ireland.
At the time, Keane said it was a “difficult period of the season and perhaps a bit taken advantage of” as some players appeared to be prioritizing club over country. In this context, footage of Kane addressing the group in the dressing room after the 5-0 win over Serbia last month, saying “We are qualified but we will give our best in November – everyone is back and everyone is ready to go” seemed particularly telling.
Tuchel was announced as Gareth Southgate’s permanent successor in October 2024 but he did not start the role until January, so when asked if he was seeking to avoid a repeat of last year’s withdrawals, the England coach said on Wednesday: “Not intentionally but what we are trying to build is a strong bond, an energy, a group, a team, a brotherhood that everyone wants to join.”
“And also to build a competition that everyone knows, if I withdraw at the wrong moment, or from a 50-50 situation, the door can be closed because someone else takes my shirt, someone else takes my place.”
“And not even as a threat, but the opposite: everyone is keen to come, everyone loves the camp, loves performing for the country, and this is the last step of elite football which is to represent an elite country like England in a World Cup qualifying match or the World Cup itself.
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“It’s the pinnacle and that’s how it should feel. I think we’re on the (right) path. Everyone wanted to be part of the camps. Everyone is desperate to come.
“Nobody is giving us any signals that this might be the right time to rest because we’ve already qualified and we’re not going to accept that either, so it’s an energy that feeds itself. This is the moment we’re in.”
Asked how important team spirit is, Tuchel replied: “Very precious. It’s the absolute key for me, before tactics, before individuals and anything else. That’s the key: everyone loves being in camp, loves playing for England and enjoys it.” Although England were guaranteed qualification with two matches to play, Tuchel insisted that now was not the right time to rotate.
He said, “I did not feel that we were experimenting in the last two camps and would not start in this camp.” “We take it seriously, this is a home World Cup qualifier. We want to build and keep going.”
