{"id":6699,"date":"2026-07-15T02:05:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T02:05:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=6699"},"modified":"2026-07-15T02:05:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T02:05:57","slug":"how-ice-cream-helps-england-coach-thomas-tuchel-unwind-as-world-cup-history-beckons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=6699","title":{"rendered":"How Ice Cream Helps England Coach Thomas Tuchel Unwind As World Cup History Beckons"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            POPULAR SEARCHES\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            BROWSE BY\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14><strong>ATLANTA STADIUM \u2014<\/strong> By the time Thomas Tuchel began speaking, there wasn\u2019t an empty seat in the room. There wasn\u2019t a square foot of floor space, either. It wouldn\u2019t even be accurate to call Tuchel\u2019s press conference even a standing-room-only affair, as a line of reporters and camera crews snaked all the way out the door.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Yet there was Tuchel, England\u2019s German coach, smiling and looking relaxed as anyone could less than 24 hours before the biggest moment of a career that already included a UEFA Champions League crown. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>What\u2019s his secret? Ice cream, it turns out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>On Wednesday, Tuchel will lead the best Three Lions squad in decades into the semifinals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup against Lionel Messi and defending champions Argentina.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>The stakes are enormous for both nations but especially the English, who haven\u2019t reached the title game since winning their one and only World Cup 60 years ago this month.<\/p>\n<p><span>(Photo by Eddie Keogh &#8211; The FA\/The FA via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Figuratively speaking. Tuchel and his players have stared death during this knockout stage. They went down a goal to DR Congo in the round of 32 and to Norway in last weekend\u2019s quarterfinal. They went down a man in the thin air of Mexico City against the tournament co-host El Tri. They survived and advanced each time. Between those emotionally draining elimination games, Tuchel has done everything possible to keep his players loose, giving them time to unwind and recover at the team\u2019s base camp in Kansas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>How does he do the same for himself, the former Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund boss was asked shortly after England\u2019s delegation landed in Georgia\u2019s stately capital.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>&#8220;Sometimes you just go on a bike and then you just need a big parking lot and an ice cream in your hands for 15 minutes,&#8221; a smiling Tuchel said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>&#8220;Then you feel like [you\u2019re ]15 years old \u2014 15 not 50,&#8221; added the 52-year-old, as some of those in attendance chuckled. &#8220;You feel like 12 or 13 or 15 years old and you enjoy your evening \u2014 a warm summer evening for 15 minutes with an ice cream.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span>(Photo by Martin Rickett\/PA Images via Getty Images)<\/span> <!--&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>The admission was an endearing one from the famously intense Tuchel, who caught some heat following his team\u2019s gutsy fight-back against Norway for criticizing afterward England\u2019s performance from a pure soccer perspective, though he gushed about his players\u2019 heart and never-say-die will to win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Tuchel\u2019s words appeared to catch Player of the Match Jude Bellingham off-guard in the moment, leading to speculation that the coach had annoyed one his top players and, potentially, others, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Center back Marc Gu\u00e9hi did his best to correct the record on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>\"I think the manager's done a great job,\" said Gu\u00e9hi\u00a0 \"He's created a squad where there's a big togetherness and a real belief in what we're doing at the moment, and everyone's behind him. We're glad to have him.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>The feeling is mutual. \"They simply don't give in,\" Tuchel said of his squad. \"his is the key attribute of our team, which makes me very proud.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>(Photo by Eddie Keogh - The FA\/The FA via Getty Images)<\/span> --><\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Will it be enough to see off Messi &amp; Co.? If it is and England punches its ticket to face Spain \u2014 which beat France on Tuesday in the other semi in Dallas \u2014 Tuchel will be just one more victory away from history. Not only would he become the only coach alive to lead England back to the biggest match in sports, he\u2019d also have the chance to become the first foreign manager to win a World Cup. No country, men\u2019s or women\u2019s, has ever hoisted the trophy under a coach who wasn\u2019t a citizen of that nation \u2014 not that Tuchel is thinking about that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>&#8220;Never,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It just doesn&#8217;t work like this for me. I don&#8217;t set these goals.\u00a0 I just love what I do, and I&#8217;m grateful for the opportunity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>&#8220;I just try to be the best coach possible every single day,&#8221; he added. &#8220;I have to influence what I can, and that&#8217;s where my energy goes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>That and on the occasional frozen dessert.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY ATLANTA STADIUM \u2014 By the time Thomas Tuchel began speaking, there wasn\u2019t an empty seat in the room. There wasn\u2019t a square foot of floor space, either. It wouldn\u2019t even be accurate to call Tuchel\u2019s press conference even a standing-room-only affair, as a line of reporters and camera crews snaked all [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}