I spoke to England manager Thomas Tuchel to get his thoughts on his team’s draw.
💬 “Difficult group I guess. We have Panama, who we don’t know so much about at the moment but they are 30th in the world. This should by itself tell us it is not easy. We have Ghana who are regulars in the World Cups. They have Kudus and Semenyo, top players in the Premier League. I think overall it is a very difficult group.”
On England’s history with Croatia, who defeated them in the semifinals of the 2018 World Cup: “There is history with almost everyone if you manage to play so many tournaments like England. We play a lot of countries! It is a big big game for both of us.”
On the cities England could be playing in (Toronto, Dallas, Boston, New York/New Jersey, and Philadelphia) and heat being a potential challenge: “It is what it is. We must wait until tomorrow as it is still either/or. Then we find the solution for it. Not everything can be perfectly planned and we must wait for the facts. Now we know the opponents, later we know the locations, and then we need to come up with the best plan to be prepared.”