Thomas Tuchel wants England to be hungry for World Cup after drawing Croatia
England will also face Panama and Ghana in Group L.
Thomas Tuchel expects his England players to “arrive with hunger” at next summer’s World Cup finals despite landing a group with 2018 finalists Croatia.
The German was in Washington DC on Friday to see his team placed in Group L alongside Zlatko Dalic’s side – who also finished third at the 2022 finals in Qatar – plus Panama and Ghana.
Scotland’s first finals since 1998 will see them take on five-time champions Brazil, 2022 semi-finalists Morocco plus Haiti in Group C.
The Republic of Ireland will be up against co-hosts Mexico, plus South Korea and South Africa in Group A if they make it through the play-offs in March, while Wales or Northern Ireland know a place in Group B is up for grabs from their play-off path alongside co-hosts Canada, with Qatar and Switzerland the other teams in that pool.
England’s first match will be against Croatia in either Toronto or Dallas on June 17, Ghana in Boston or Toronto on June 23 and then finally Panama in New York/New Jersey or Philadelphia on June 27.
The venues and kick-off times will be finalised on Saturday, when Tuchel can start planning in earnest for the finals and choose a base camp.
The University of Kansas had been mooted as an option but that now looks likely to be ditched in favour of a more easterly base.
For now, Tuchel’s focus is on the matches ahead of him after a flawless qualification campaign.
“I think it’s most important that you arrive with hunger and with excitement and we arrive as a team and we don’t worry about our opponents, we don’t worry about what can happen in the other group,” he said.
“The team did excellent in the last three camps and this was the mindset and the energy we want to keep having in the squad. Hopefully everyone is available. It’s still such a long way to go, even if it feels now it’s going to start next week.”
Croatia beat England in the 2018 semi-finals and Tuchel expects a tough test again from them next summer.
“Of course, (Croatia) are difficult,” he said.
“They’re proud, they’re full of talent. I’m pretty sure I have already a message from Mateo Kovacic (who he coached at Chelsea) on my phone. But yeah, of course, we know them, they know us, it’s a big opening match, it could easily be a quarter-final or even later in the tournament, but it is what it is.
“I’ve always we said don’t wish for things, we don’t want to avoid at all costs anything, so now we know and now (we need) to be prepared.”
If England top their group, they would be on a path to face Mexico in Mexico City in the last 16 before a meeting with Brazil in the quarter-finals, if both those sides also top their groups.
“Someone said, ‘whoever wins the medal in New Jersey, they will absolutely deserve it at the toughest tournament’,” Tuchel added.
“What you just said (about playing Mexico then Brazil) sounded like a pretty, pretty hard tournament.
“I will be excited to play in Mexico City, because I remember the World Cup there (in 1986), and then I watched it as a teenager and it was just like watching something from Mars or from another galaxy, but to be in there and then play a knockout game against Mexico?”
England captain Harry Kane told social media channel Cleats following the draw: “Of course we’re going to try and win it, that’s always the aim with England, to try and be champions. We know there’s a lot of hard work that goes into it. It’s an exciting challenge to have.
“Croatia will be a tough game, we’ve played them quite a lot in recent years. They’ve always been even games and we’ve come out on top in a couple of them.”
Tuchel admitted plans the Football Association had for their base camp had now gone “out of the window” and added: “As soon as we know the schedule and the venues on Saturday, we will get our head around it and make some decisions.”
England will also learn the kick-off times for their matches on Saturday, with FIFA needing to balance protecting players from the worst of the heat in the North American summer while also trying to keep European television audiences happy.
