Ahead of the UEFA Nations League match between England and Spain, Thomas Tuchel, England's head coach, gave an interview to ITV in which he discussed the World Cup final defeat and third-place finish, as well as the absence of Palmer, the recall of Ngoumou, and Kane's performance. Here is the first part of that exclusive interview.

Part two of the exclusive interview

Thomas Tuchel: It's difficult for England to develop a distinctive playing style. I'm not looking back at the World Cup anymore

What are you focusing on now?

I'm focused on training and preparing for the match against Spain. I'm giving 100%, even though some people want to talk about the World Cup or Euro. Right now, my focus is on Spain and the 24 or 25 players we've called up.

What was the atmosphere like when the team reunited? Obviously, many players were with you in the United States for the World Cup.

I sensed a different atmosphere, and I think we have to accept that. The mood among the players is different. This camp includes 15 players who were with us seven weeks ago. They might be thinking: "Wow, after seven weeks, we're back together for another two and a half weeks."

This is their first extended camp period, and now they have to leave home again and stay together for another two and a half weeks, which is quite demanding. Additionally, there are nine players who didn't participate in the World Cup, and they still feel disappointed and sad about that. But some, or hopefully all of them, are eager to prove themselves and join us. So I think everyone's mood and starting point is different. But ultimately, that doesn't matter. We're entering a new competition, a new phase. We need to focus correctly and be ready to beat Spain.

After the recent World Cup, is the England national team better positioned to win the next major tournament?

Yes, because we've built something together. We trust each other and share experiences. So there's a foundation for continuous development. This is a new beginning, but at the same time, it's not everything, because I think we have every reason to believe in the process we've been through.

Of course, we need to improve this process and make it better constantly. That's where our commitment lies.

How do you think the players who participated in the World Cup view that tournament?

Of course, they won't see it as a failure. We're all familiar with looking at our bronze medal and refusing to call it a success. That's what we always believed, and what our training has instilled in us: for ourselves, we accept nothing less than winning the championship.

I think in Olympic Games and World Cups, the situation is slightly different. A medal means something. Building confidence within the team and then passing that confidence to the fans means something. We need to see the bigger picture too.

But at the same time, I still feel that our goal hasn't been fully achieved. There's a voice and a feeling inside me that prevents me from being completely happy, or calling it success, or complete success. That feeling is what drives us. We live with this contradiction.

If you had to choose the most profound memory from this summer, what would it be?

For me, it's the moment the final whistle blew at the Azteca Stadium.

That's the match fans talk to you about most often, isn't it?

I think so. They talk about where they watched the game, how long they waited, that the match was in the middle of the night, and things like that. But for me, the final whistle encapsulates everything that led to that match: arriving in Mexico, the training experience at the base camp the day before, the quality of training, the quiet moments when players and staff gathered before the match, the atmosphere in the stadium, and the match itself. All of that converged in that moment.

Now, thinking about the final, what's your most intense emotion?

I'm still sad and very disappointed. Of course, that feeling will never truly disappear. That's how it is in high-level competition. We have to live with that feeling.

That feeling will only go away when England reaches that point again and overcomes that hurdle, right?

We'll never be in exactly the same situation again. That's what makes it unique. You can't prepare in advance for a World Cup final against Argentina in Atlanta. That was a unique moment, and the path the match took was unique too. All the factors that led to that match were specific to that opportunity alone.

In sport, the only thing you can do is move forward. Prepare anew, step out of your comfort zone, review your thoughts and actions, and get back on stage to do it all again. When Euro comes around, we'll be even better prepared because now we'll play in the UEFA Nations League A, and we'll face teams we might encounter at Euro.

But you can't prepare in advance for the level of performance Argentina showed in the World Cup. You can't prepare in advance for the pride, physical intensity, and meaning of the World Cup for a team like Argentina. The same goes for a World Cup final against Argentina.

The reason I ask is that after the match against Argentina, Harry Kane said: "In one sense, we've been in this situation before. We went 1-0 up, and after that, all we could think about was holding onto that lead, even though we talked about doing the opposite throughout the tournament." He's experienced going 1-0 up in a World Cup final and a Euro final, but the team ultimately couldn't overcome that hurdle.

Yes, we have to acknowledge what we've achieved, and at the same time, we have to recognize and accept that we failed to overcome that hurdle again. When I say "we," that includes me. So we must learn from this, accept criticism, examine ourselves, gather this experience, and apply it in the next major competition. However, the important competition ahead of us is the Nations League match.

We will always respond. Besides, I think every situation is different. Even though it might look similar to Harry, every match has its own preparation process and story. Sometimes comparing these situations can lead us astray.

Harry pointed out that these moments share one thing: the team's mentality. Will helping the team build the mentality to handle such situations be one of your priorities?

I'm a football coach, so I'll try to build mentality through football training, team meetings, and how we interact with each other every day. That's my approach. I like the mentality of this team, and I like the mentality we showed at the World Cup. I never felt fear. I wasn't anxious, whether during preparation before matches, in the dressing room, or during the matches themselves.

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