England entrusted, on Wednesday, the keys to its national team to the German Thomas Tuchel, third foreign coach in the history of the “Three Lions”, responsible for making a talented but never titled generation into a winning machine. oiled.
Tuchel says he is ready to take on the challenge of ending the Three Lions’ decades-long wait to win a major trophy for the first time since the 1996 World Cup on home soil.
He will begin his 18-month contract on January 1, 2025, with the Englishman Anthony Barry as his assistant and, in his sights, qualification for the 2026 World Cup organized in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
“Now I have to be up to the task. I know that the federation is missing some trophies and, of course, I want to contribute to making this happen,” Tuchel said during the press conference of his presentation to Wembley.
“Fundamentally, we wanted to hire a coaching team that would give us the best possible chance of winning a major tournament, and we are confident they will achieve that,” commented Football Association (FA) chief executive Mark Bullingham .
During the recruitment process, “Thomas was very impressive and stood out for his vast expertise and dynamism,” added the manager, who interviewed ten candidates.
The 51-year-old technician succeeds Gareth Southgate, who left in July after an eight-year reign (2016-2024) punctuated by two successive lost finals at the Euro.
In the meantime, the interim role has been entrusted to Lee Carsley, the Espoirs coach, who will return to his post after the two Nations League matches in November.
With Tuchel, the country of origin of football offers itself a successful coach, of international stature, experienced in the media exercise and recognized for his ability to help his players progress, particularly the youngest, within tight deadlines.
It also looks like a bet: the former coach of Mainz and Dortmund, new to the role of coach, never stayed long in the posh clubs he frequented, whether PSG, Chelsea or Bayern Munich .
This did not prevent him from amassing trophies, especially in England, with the prestigious Champions League blown away in 2021 under the nose of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
With the Chelsea “Blues”, which he managed between January 2021 and September 2022, Tuchel wrote a short-lived success story but which left its mark across the Channel.
He had offered himself a rather unexpected rebound in London a few weeks after being fired by PSG, which he had nevertheless reached for the first time in its history in the C1 final.
With Southgate, the team in the white jersey stabilized in the heights of European football, but it stumbled twice on the last step, in the final against Italy in 2021 at Wembley, then three years later in Berlin facing a collectively superior Spain.
The phlegmatic Englishman was strongly criticized at home for the game considered too conservative by his team, not very flamboyant despite an abundance of goods, on the field and the bench: Jude Bellingham, Declan Rice, Kobbie Mainoo, Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Captain Harry Kane…
A coach from across the Channel will perhaps be less susceptible to constant and sometimes excessive pressure, even if this choice has attracted criticism.
Tuchel is only the third foreigner to occupy this position after the Swede Sven-Goran Eriksson (2001-2006) and the Italian Fabio Capello (2007-2012).
The coach joked that he was “sorry” about having a German passport, but he hopes to “convince” the skeptics through his future results.
The recipe in any case worked with the Dutch Sarina Wiegman, coach of the women’s team, European champion in 2022 and vice-world champion in 2023.
The influential tabloid The Sun, reputed to be ideologically close to the conservatives, chose scathing humor to welcome Tuchel: “Fussball kommt nach hause” appeared on its front page on Wednesday, the German translation of the famous “Football’s Coming Home” (“football is coming home”) sung at the stadium by the English supporters.
