England manager Thomas Tuchel has praised the mental fortitude and maturity of his squad, declaring that the Three Lions have officially turned the page on their painful World Cup exit and are channeling that frustration into a fresh cycle. After a 3-2 defeat to world champions Spain, the Three Lions have bounced back with two comfortable wins over the Czech Republic, either side of a 7-0 thrashing of Croatia, to close in on the quarter-finals.
Reflecting on the emotional toll of the summer tournament, where England bowed out under agonizing circumstances, Tuchel admitted that rebuilding morale was priority number one when he took over the reins. The German tactician expressed immense satisfaction with how quickly the players have bounced back and refocused. “I think it’s necessary to move on. I think I can only repeat that we didn’t go out on the group stage.
Sometimes it feels like that, but we didn’t,” said the former Chelsea boss on Tuesday. “There was a bit of criticism and scepticism around, (but) I said we don’t start new. I believe we don’t have to start completely new because we can build on what we built together and we played some high-level competitive football in the World Cup,” Tuchel continued.
“Now we move to the next step and it’s always important to take the next step. But the commitment of the players and the attitude of the players from the first day in camp was on a very high level and I’m happy that we can prove it in all four matches.”