LONDON (AP) — England captain Harry Kane has praised Thomas Tuchel's methods ahead of the coach's first match in charge, hoping that his straightforward approach will help England finally win a second World Cup.
Tuchel, a former Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea coach who also supervised Kane on a daily basis when he was in charge of Bayern Munich, was appointed as Gareth Southgate's successor with the mission to win the 2026 World Cup.
Southgate did well but could not deliver England's first major trophy since the 1966 World Cup, leading England to the final of back-to-back European Championships and the semifinals of the 2018 World Cup.
“You can see (Tuchel’s) extremely proud to be here and excited to be here," Kane told a press conference Thursday. “And I think that’s exciting for the players as well, because we’re in this together. We have a big journey ahead, but what can be an amazing journey as well.”
England is hosting two World Cup qualifiers at Wembley Stadium — against Albania on Friday, and Latvia on Monday.
Kane and Tuchel worked together at Bayern last season when the England forward scored 44 goals. Kane said it's proof the German manager knows how to get the best out of him in the penalty area.
“There’s no real rules to how I play, he sees me as a number nine," Kane said. “I think he sees me as the guy to be in the box and score the goals. He’s already spoken a lot about getting as many balls as we can into the boxes as quickly as we can."
Tuchel won the Champions League with Chelsea, won back-to-back French league titles at PSG and the German title at Bayern.
“He’s very straight-talking, he knows what he wants and knows what he wants from his team,” Kane said.
After previously suggesting that England's shortcomings at the 2024 European Championship were due to a fear of losing, Tuchel said Thursday that he wants England “to play with the excitement, the hunger and the desire to win."
“Anything can happen in football. We know this,” Tuchel said. "But the focus is on winning, it’s on a higher number of touches in the opponent’s box, a higher amount of attacks, a higher amount of high ball recoveries. This is where the focus is.”
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The Associated Press