World Cup 2026: Thomas Tuchel did not deliver for England, but his time is not up – Alan Shearer
England’s run at the World Cup has been extremely disappointing, but there are still plenty of positives they can take from the tournament.
I co-commentated all their matches and my most memorable moment has to be their epic win over Mexico in the last 16 at the Azteca Stadium. It was the best match of the tournament, in the best stadium and with the best atmosphere.
I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed such unity and team spirit before. That’s why I described it as the best team performance I’ve ever seen from any England team in my life, especially away. This made me think that anything is possible from this team.
Overall, players can be proud of their efforts as they have gone through many challenging situations. When they fell short, it wasn’t because of a desire to try.
What’s next for England? Tuchel will take pretty much the same group of players into next year’s European qualifiers – but I would expect three or four changes to his next squad because that squad lacked balance and that’s not who I would have chosen.
One area of concern is the centre-forward position because Harry Kane turns 33 in a few weeks and I would ask him where our strikers are who are screaming to replace him.
But in general, I don’t look at the players Tuchel has and I think they are far from what we need.
Whatever happens in Saturday’s third-place play-off – which is ridiculous – England will finish this World Cup as they have finished every major tournament.
What I mean is that they will look back with disappointment and look forward with the same hope that things will be different next time.
Tuchel must believe this too, because most of Euro 2028 will be played on home soil and we saw how close we came to the matches we last hosted in 2021, reaching the final like two years ago.
Still I go there, dreaming of victory. That won’t change until we finally get over the line and all we know for sure is that we’ll be back to try again.
Alan Shearer was speaking to BBC Sport’s Chris Bevan
