ATLANTA — England manager Thomas Tuchel says his players are keeping their eyes on the present, not the past, as the team gears up for a high-stakes World Cup semi-final showdown against Argentina on Wednesday.
The match pits two of soccer’s most legendary nations against each other in a fixture that has delivered some of the most unforgettable moments in World Cup history. But Tuchel made clear that his team’s preparation has been about what lies ahead, not what came before.
“I would say it’s irrelevant, but I’m not sure about it,” Tuchel told reporters on the eve of the semi-final. “I think the players are very aware of both countries, what it means to them. If a fixture provides so many iconic moments, I think you cannot just say it’s just another football match.”
He added, “But as a coach, we do exactly that: focus on what we can influence. We don’t actually speak about the historic events. We don’t speak about the iconic moments. It’s in itself iconic enough, and attention is big enough.”
With the pressure mounting, Tuchel said his coaching staff is working to keep things as straightforward as possible for the players.
“The bigger the stage gets, the bigger the tension grows,” he said. “So hopefully, we can simplify the messages enough that they can execute it.”
England is chasing a spot in their first World Cup final in 60 years — the last time they lifted the trophy was on home soil. But Tuchel pushed back on the idea that the weight of that history has become a burden on the squad.
“I don’t feel a burden,” he said. “I will feel the nerves and the tension tomorrow. That just comes normal in these matches.”
What the German coach has noticed instead is a group of players ready and eager for the challenge.
“What I really like in the last days is that the players are very competitive, they are very excited, they are hungry to play this match,” he said. “The two shirts are just iconic. The historic matches are iconic. There are iconic moments, but everyone recognises these shirts. Straight away, everyone recognises the players. It is an absolute beauty in the magnitude of a match, in the magnitude of an occasion.”
Tuchel also dismissed the notion of making personal history as the first foreign coach to lead any nation to a World Cup title.
“It just doesn’t work like this for me,” he said. “I don’t have these kind of goals and don’t set these goals. I just love what I do, and I’m grateful for the opportunity.”
He spoke passionately about what the World Cup means beyond the sport itself.
“I think that’s essentially what the World Cup is for — to excite the country, to excite fans and to transmit energy and make people forget their worries, make people’s lives better for 90, 120 minutes and be united and represented by a team,” he said. “There’s so much to love about this England squad and I’m very glad that people feel it.”
While Tuchel expects an emotionally charged atmosphere on Wednesday, he stressed that England won’t be leaning on historical rivalry as a motivational tool.
“We know why we’re here. We know what we want,” he said. “We are in the semi-finals. We arrived very hungry in the semi-finals. We want to have the next win. We respect our opponent, but we don’t dip into historic events and we don’t make it bigger than it is. It’s a big football match, a big occasion.”
Argentina star Lionel Messi has been the dominant talking point in the buildup, and Tuchel offered praise for Argentina’s captain while making clear England intends to play its own game.
“Once Leo Messi has the ball, the movement starts, and just the technical execution of the delivery and of the supply of Messi is on the absolutely highest level,” Tuchel said. “So there’s a lot to take care of, but we are here to impose our style, to impose our strengths.”
