Thomas Tuchel says the World Cup ‘starts again’ for England in the knockout stage
· Yahoo Sports
England manager Thomas Tuchel says the World Cup will ‘start again’ now England have reached the knockout stage, and topped Group L.
England beat Panama 2-0 in their final group game, but it was not plain sailing. The Three Lions deserved to win, but have had ups and downs in the group stage.
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Asked about the game, Tuchel said: “We did what was needed. It was what we expected. Tough match, against a physical opponent, difficult to score. We were the only team to create this amount of chances and score twice against them.
“We were very aggressive. We had to be very careful with the counter attack. Because they’re strong, we did well overall and deserved to win, but it was a hard piece of work.”
Jude Bellingham scored and registered an assist, and was the player of the match. On his performance, Tuchel said: “Good performance again. We’re happy that he’s in this kind of shape, but everyone did what they needed to do. Jude was a big part of it.”
England are yet to know for sure who they will face in the round of 32, but the German said: “The tournament starts again now, in the knockouts.
“Now we collect our strengths and collect our energy, and we build on what we have. The team’s spirit, belief. And we will step up. The bigger the games get, the better we will get.”