Thomas Tuchel has admitted that his first experience of England's national anthem at the World Cup was 'ruined' after his side's 4-2 victory over Croatia. A double from Harry Kane, along with second-half goals from Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford, secured the win for England at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington on Wednesday.
However, Tuchel was left frustrated moments before kick-off as a crowd of photographers stood just a few metres from England's bench to capture the German's reaction during the national anthem. Tuchel, who has previously stated he may sing 'God Save the King' if England reach the World Cup final, was unhappy that he could not witness how his squad experienced the moment on the pitch.
Tuchel's plea to FIFA
'I have to tell you something, I am begging FIFA to change the position of the photographers in the national anthem because I could not see my team in the national anthem,' Tuchel said. 'I was waiting for this moment. It was a very, very special moment today and I was standing in front of a wall of 50 photographers, half a metre away, and I could not see one single player and it ruined a little bit my experience today.'
'It is very emotional. When I was young and when I started coaching, this was too big to dream of to have this kind of career,' he added.
Second-half response praised
Tuchel also praised his England players for their positive approach in the second half after Croatia had scored a second equaliser just before the break. 'I loved the second half. All of it. I loved the reaction to a very complicated first half,' Tuchel said. 'We played against a top opponent. I think we showed a bit of nerves. Maybe we wanted to overdo it, but we clearly overthought our decisions.'
'We encouraged them to go for it, to play with more courage, to be brave, to be ourselves and, like I said, I loved the reaction. We created a lot of chances, we had a lot of ball wins, we scored goals and overall I think we deserve to win.'
'There are still things to improve. I think this is also quite normal after a first match. You need to grow into a tournament. We got a tough draw to start against Croatia, so the positives are clearly the ones where we focus on now and enjoy the moment. We have enough days to adjust what needs to be improved.'
