England coach Tuchel provides recipe to handle WC semifinals stress

How does England coach Thomas Tuchel handle the pressure of a run to the semifinals of the World Cup?

Simple. A bike, a parking lot and an ice cream. Tuchel said ahead of England’s World Cup semifinal against Lionel Messi’s Argentina that he relaxes by reconnecting with his inner child. “Sometimes you just go on a bike and then you just need a big parking lot, an ice cream in your hand for 15 minutes on a bike and then you feel like you’re 15 years old,” Tuchel said Tuesday. “You enjoy your evening on a warm, summer evening for 15 minutes with the ice cream and you reconnect to the beauty of that feeling that we all have inside of us and that’s sometimes all it needs.” German coach Tuchel was hired in 2024 and charged with the responsibility of leading England to its first trophy since winning the World Cup in 1966.

He is one win away to leading the team to only its second World Cup final. England plays defending champion Argentina in Atlanta on Wednesday and it would be understandable if Tuchel was feeling the pressure — especially coming up against Messi and resuming one of the fiercest rivals in soccer between the Three Lions and Argentina.

While he said the tournament had been draining due to traveling to Mexico and playing at altitude and also a “roller coaster” due to comeback wins against Congo and Norway, Tuchel also said the experience had been energizing. “I can tell you that it fuels me and it makes me feel alive,” he said. “I love it so much that it gives me energy every day.”

Tuchel, a serial trophy winner with Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich, said he was grateful for the opportunity to coach at a World Cup. As for ending England’s 60-year trophy drought? “I don’t feel the burden,” he said.  “You feel the tension and I will be nervous and of course that is normal. But I feel no burden.”