Thomas Tuchel Reflects on England's World Cup Victory

Thomas Tuchel still thinks about the grass.

Not the tactics board, not the substitutions, not even the noise in Mexico City. The grass. The England manager admits he wishes he had torn up a handful and eaten it after that wild, 3-2 World Cup win over hosts Mexico with 10 men last summer – just to keep a piece of the night inside him forever.

“I texted a friend after the match and I just wrote, I regret that I didn't eat some grass after the match to keep something from this in my body forever,” Tuchel told former England striker Daniel Sturridge in an interview for the Football Association. “That was the feeling. That was the moment.”

It was one of England’s great away performances, a last-16 epic that crackled from first whistle to last. The tournament would eventually end in semi-final heartbreak, but that night in Mexico City has already taken on a different status in Tuchel’s mind. A reference point. A bond.

A broken arm and an unbreakable bond

If anyone needed proof of how much it meant, Tuchel points to one image.

“This game had so much of what you could wish for,” he said. “If you needed any proof of what it meant to these players and how they were with each other, it was the moment when Jordan fell over and broke his arm.”

Jordan Henderson landed awkwardly as he vaulted an advertising hoarding in the chaos of the celebrations and fractured his arm. The reaction around him struck Tuchel as powerfully as the result itself.

“Within a second, the players were there. Every single player was there stopping the celebrations, building a shield, protecting Jordan – not going nowhere, in full empathy. It was just so special.”

In Tuchel’s eyes, that was the night England stopped being a collection of internationals and became his team.

“It created a huge bond to these players,” he said. “It feels like they are my players now. This is the beauty of it.

“You have success and you have painful moments together, but you have so much time together and then you create a natural bond. So I'm happy to see them. I'm happy to challenge them, happy to push them, and very proud to be a part of that.”

From Mexico to Euro 2028

Tuchel wants that spirit to carry England through the next cycle. The next target is clear: qualify for Euro 2028 and then make a home tournament, co-hosted by England, feel like an opportunity rather than a burden.

He believes the World Cup run in the US – 10 games, eight wins, one draw and one “painful loss” – has given his squad a platform.

“I'm very excited. I think we got another step closer and I think we're there,” he said. “It's very difficult to prepare for a World Cup in the US, but I think it's possible to prepare for a Euros and we prepare in Nations League Tier One.

“The target is to have another 10 matches. We had 10 matches in the US – eight wins, one draw, one painful loss. That is something to build on.

“We all have the right to hold our heads high and go with courage and positivity into the next challenges. We have four matches in Nations League coming up, and that's where the focus is.”

Those challenges arrive quickly. England host world champions Spain in the Uefa Nations League later this month, a heavyweight test to restart the engine after the emotional high and low of the World Cup. Trips to Croatia and home-and-away meetings with the Czech Republic follow in a packed international break.

Tuchel will name his squad on Friday. The grass in Mexico is long gone, but the standard it set is not.