Thomas Tuchel stats bullish goal for England: To win World Cup in 2026

Thomas Tuchel, who has been appointed the new manager of England, will begin his position on January 1, 2025. The German told reporters on Wednesday that he will not shy away from stating his goal of winning the World Cup in 2026.

"We are not shy of it. We are absolutely open about it," Tuchel said. "It does not help the more often we speak about it, but it should be out there and then we can set the standards and set the values and principles because then we have to live up to them for 18 months."

The "Three Lions" won their only World Cup in 1966. They have never gone further than reaching the semifinals at the tournament since then, Tuchel's predecessor Gareth Southgate took the team to the last four in Russia in 2018 and the quarterfinals in Qatar in 2022. The team also reached the final at both the past two UEFA European Championships, but lost to Italy in 2021 and Spain this year.

Southgate stepped down in July before under-21 manager Lee Carsley took over on an interim basis. Then the Football Association (FA) picked Tuchel 10 candidates, including Manchester City's manager Pep Guardiola, according to ESPN.

As a manager, Tuchel spent his career with clubs before taking over England. He has won the DFB-Pokal with Borussia Dortmund, two Ligue 1 championships with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), one UEFA Champions League title with Chelsea and one Bundesliga trophy with Bayern Munich among other honors.

"We are playing with players for the best league and the biggest competition in the world. We have a group of young hungry players," Tuchel noted. "We are desperate to win a title, so we have all the ingredients, so I think we should try to implement this into our style of play. I think we should play an attacking style of football and we should try to emphasize a physical side of the game because this is what English football is all about and this is what excites our supporters, and this is what suits the players."