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England coach Thomas Tuchel has praised his team’s relentless work ethic and belief in their 2-1 win over DR Congo in the FIFA World Cup 2026 round of 32.
The Three Lions went behind inside the opening seven minutes thanks to Brian Cipenga’s strike, but a Harry Kane brace means the England will play Mexico in the last 16.
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Tuchel made some bold moves in the second half, bringing on Anthony Gordon, Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze, which proved brilliant.
After the game, Tuchel commended the squad’s high-level energy, positive team spirit, and refusal to panic.
“We would have liked it [to be less stressful], but if everyone gets what he likes, then everyone gets an early goal, and another goal, and an easy afternoon,’ the German tactician told BBC.
“That’s not how it is. You have to deal with the situations as they come.
“After the first water break, there were three, four, five, big chances we had, I think a penalty situation maybe in our favour, and we kept knocking.
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“Kept knocking, knocking, knocking to crack that rock and to make it happen.
“Their goalkeeper had unbelievable saves, so it got more and more difficult, but the reaction and the belief was one-of-a-kind, and they were ready to keep doing what was necessary to do, and we found a way to win. Well deserved, by the way.”
1 Comment
Tuchel, Kane saved his tushy today!
English fans would have had him for breakfast tomorrow morning. They would have used him to make beef stroganoff. Dem for chop am raw sef. No time to cook him.
But what a game! Both sides just kept going at it. The DRC goalie played the game of his life.
And when the going got tough for England, the big man comes through.
Against CIV, Norway’s big man Haaland saved the day for them.
Argies big man Messi has been taking care of business.
Mbappe the French big man is carrying France.
Today, the English big man Kane showed up big time.
See what Wissa has done for DRC in this tournament. Big man doings.
Salah doing it for Egypt, an ageing Mahrez doing it for Algeria, Hakimi leading Morocco into battle.
If na Nigeria now, our so called big men disappear in big games. You look for them, but you will not see them. If the game is big, it there is much at stake, our big players go poof. They vanish from sight.
It begs the question. Do we really have big players, or are we delusional? If these guys were big, they would show themselves in big games. In 8+ years, “big” players have failed to qualify for 2 world cups. Even when Africa was given 9 slots, and got a 10th representative via playoffs, Nigeria and our “big” men were nowhere to be found. Big men for mouth. No be by mouth, na by doings on the pitch!
Perhaps we should focus more on the team, instead of deceiving ourselves that we have big players.