THOMAS TUCHEL claims England will be underdogs at the World Cup finals.
And the Three Lions manager, preparing for the friendly with Wales at Wembley, insisted he will not be “collecting talent” when picking his teams with Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish all controversially missing out on this squad.
Tuchel, who will be without skipper Harry Kane due to a foot injury, believes England will not be the favourites next summer because of previous failures.
The German boss said: “If you’ve never won Wimbledon, you are maybe one of the favourites but you are not the favourite.
“There is Brazil, there is Argentina, Spain and France. It doesn’t mean we have no chance. We want to go all the way, 100 per cent, but the role has to be clear.
“We need to arrive as the best team. We will arrive as underdogs at the World Cup because we haven’t won it for decades and we will play against teams who have repeatedly won it during that time.
“I don’t see why we should burden ourselves that we are the big favourites. When did we last win it? Let’s go step by step and it just buys into the other step. Once we arrive we want to win.”
Despite Tuchel’s comments, England will still be one of the bookies’ favourites because of the amount of money that will have been placed on a Three Lions victory.
England face the Welsh on the back of a stunning 5-0 win in Serbia last month.
Asked about his decision to not pick Bellingham, Foden or Grealish, he said: “For this moment, we stick with our choice and the radical statement is that we don’t collect the most talented players, we collect the guys who have the glue and cohesion to be the best team.
“I just watched a documentary of the New England Patriots and saw a quote that ‘we don’t collect the most talented players, we build a team’.
“I cannot agree more, so that’s what we’re trying to do. So, we are not collecting the most talented players, we are trying to build a team. Teams win trophies, no one else.”
Tuchel confirmed he was aware of Steven Gerrard’s interview with Rio Ferdinand when he said that England’s golden generation were “egotistical losers”.
The former Chelsea boss said: “I think the rivalry between clubs was huge at the moment and they obviously couldn’t find a way to buy into a bigger purpose, a bigger goal. And yes, it was a big, big opportunity wasted.”
Kane will be missing after suffering an injury for Bayern Munich but he could still feature in Tuesday’s World Cup qualifier away to Latvia.
Tuchel said: “He couldn’t train the whole three days. He couldn’t even kick a ball. It is likely it will be back in training on Saturday.
“Harry is extraordinary in what he is doing so why wouldn’t we rely on him when he is on the pitch? Of course we try to find a way to win without him, 100 per cent. He is one of the very best number nines in the world.
“We have clear options like Marcus Rashford and Ollie Watkins is the obvious one. Marcus can play as a nine and I think Jarrod Bowen can play as a nine.
“And then we have ones with a bit more fantasy or creativity like a Phil Foden or Morgan Rogers, maybe even a Jude Bellingham could do it against a particular opponent. So we have a lot of options. We have Delap who is injured.”
Looking forward to the clash against Bellamy’s Welsh team, he said: “Hopefully it will have the character of a derby. I can imagine what Bellamy tells his players.
“They will want to prove and point and make the most of their role as an underdog and he will be aware of how good they can be.”
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