Thomas Tuchel Reflects on England's Epic Win in Mexico

Thomas Tuchel still thinks about the grass.

Not the tactics board, not the substitutions. The grass. The turf England tore up in Mexico City on the night they stunned the World Cup hosts with 10 men and walked away with a 3-2 win that will live with this generation.

“I texted a friend after the match and I just wrote, I regret that I didn't eat some grass after the match to keep something from this in my body forever,” the England manager told former Three Lions striker Daniel Sturridge in an interview for the Football Association. “That was the feeling. That was the moment.”

It was one of England’s greatest away performances, a last-16 epic in the thin air and noise of Mexico City. The tournament would end in semi-final heartbreak, but that night cut through the disappointment. For Tuchel, it did something deeper. It stitched him to this group.

A broken arm and an unbreakable bond

If anyone wanted proof of what that win meant, it arrived in a flash of chaos during the celebrations.

Jordan Henderson, sprinting towards the jubilant England end, tried to vault an advertising hoarding. He landed awkwardly. In the middle of the euphoria, he broke his arm.

Tuchel didn’t see a freak injury. He saw a squad’s instinct.

“This game had so much of what you could wish for,” he said. “If you needed any proof of what it meant to these players and how they were with each other, it was the moment when Jordan fell over and broke his arm.

“Within a second, the players were there. Every single player was there stopping the celebrations, building a shield, protecting Jordan – not going nowhere, in full empathy. It was just so special.”

The image stuck with him: England’s stars forming a human wall, celebrations paused, shoulders hunched around their injured teammate. No-one drifting away for selfies or solo glory. Everyone locked in.

From that point, Tuchel insists, something changed.

“It created a huge bond to these players,” he said. “It feels like they are my players now. This is the beauty of it.

“You have success and you have painful moments together, but you have so much time together and then you create a natural bond. So I'm happy to see them. I'm happy to challenge them, happy to push them, and very proud to be a part of that.”

From Mexico to Euro 2028

That night in Mexico is now the emotional fuel for the next climb: qualifying for Euro 2028, a tournament England will co-host.

Tuchel wants to carry that feeling – the grit of playing with 10 men, the unity around Henderson, the belief of beating the hosts on their own stage – into a new cycle. The World Cup in the United States is still on the horizon, but the next concrete target is closer and clearer.

“I'm very excited,” he said. “I think we got another step closer and I think we're there.

“It's very difficult to prepare for a World Cup in the US, but I think it's possible to prepare for a Euros and we prepare in Nations League Tier One.”

That Nations League campaign starts later this month and it is no gentle warm-up. England host world champions Spain, travel to Croatia, and face the Czech Republic home and away across the upcoming international break. Tuchel will name his squad on Friday, the next chapter of his England tenure beginning to take shape.

The numbers from the World Cup offer a platform. “The target is to have another 10 matches,” he said. “We had 10 matches in the US – eight wins, one draw, one painful loss. That is something to build on.

“We all have the right to hold our heads high and go with courage and positivity into the next challenges. We have four matches in Nations League coming up, and that's where the focus is.”

The grass in Mexico is long gone. The feeling, Tuchel insists, is not.