England manager Thomas Tuchel described his side as underdogs for next year’s World Cup, insisting the team must not burden itself with the weight of being labelled favourites as they look to end a 59-year wait for a major trophy.
England reached a World Cup semi-final and two European Championship finals under previous manager Gareth Southgate, but have not won the World Cup, or any other major trophy, since 1966.
“We will arrive as underdogs in the World Cup because we haven’t won it for decades, and we will play against teams who have repeatedly won it during that time,” Tuchel told reporters ahead of Thursday’s friendly match against Wales.
“If you’ve never won Wimbledon you are maybe one of the favourites but you are not the favourite… There is Brazil, there is Argentina, Spain, France and they just did it recently.
“It doesn’t mean we have no chance. First we will qualify and then we will know exactly why we go there. We want to go all the way but the role has to be clear.
“I don’t see why we should burden ourselves that we are the big favourites. When did we last win it? … We build a team that is ready to go step by step and no one wants hopefully to play against us.”
Tuchel retained the squad from last month’s Group K qualifying wins over Andorra and Serbia for the Wales friendly and a World Cup qualifier against Latvia, leaving out Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden.
“We are not collecting the most talented players, we are trying to build a team,” said the German, who replaced Southgate in January. “Teams win trophies, no one else.
We will try to bring the best players and the best squad with the best players but it can sometimes happen in the end that you don’t just collect the most talented players and hope it works out.“
Victory in Latvia on October 14 combined with a draw in the match between Serbia and Albania would guarantee England qualify for the World Cup as group winners.
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