Operation Stop Messi
As England gear up for match of their lives, Tuchel tells of plan for...
Thomas Tuchel has warned Lionel Messi that England “will find a way” to stop him tonight.
Messi will face England for the first time in his career, with a World Cup final date against Spain, who last night beat France 2-0, at stake. Getting past Argentina will almost certainly involve stopping the 39-year-old adding to the eight goals he has already scored at the tournament.
England shut out Erling Haaland to get past Norway and Tuchel is considering sticking with the same back four for the first time in the tournament. And he says England have a plan for Messi in Atlanta. “We are totally aware that we cannot stop him all the time and for 100 per cent,” Tuchel said. “He’s a very different player from Erling Haaland, but we did very, very well in our way, in the way you maybe should play against Erling, so we will find a way now.
“It is the first time that I played with a team against him. It is just incredible, how he pulls it out every time, in so many different ways.
“He finds spaces, he finds moments and I think the big thing is the whole team buys into that idea. They buy into the idea to support him, to help him, and they are just ready when he bursts into action to make the difference. We will prepare for that, of course.
“Can you prepare for that and find the recipe, and focus too much on him? No, but we need to be brave, we need to be brave around him, we need to stop the support and we need to take care of all the movements that happen when he’s on the ball.”
Tuchel believes that Argentina’s players are ready to give everything to try to make sure Messi plays in what could be the last World Cup final of his career.
He also expects them to use the history between England and Argentina as additional fuel, but insisted his players could match their intensity and desire.
“I know some of the [Argentina] players, I coached some of the players,” Tuchel said. “I can sense it.
You can see it. They have this kind of edge. You can sense it when they’re going a goal down and when matches are tight. They’re a tough team to beat. They’re a tough group. They’re almost the same group as four years ago.
“You can see the cohesion, you can see the sacrifice that they put into it. They don’t panic when they’re behind. They believe in their style. And their style is a very emotional style. It was in Qatar and it is now. They have the same coach.
“And of course, history, they are also fuelled by that, they are fuelled by history, it means a lot to them. So this is what we basically expect and what we are up against. But we are also emotional. We have the grit, we have the mentality that it takes to go up against it. And we are ready for it.”
Returning to the subject of Argentina setting up to bring out the best in Messi, Tuchel added: “It’s a way to handle these kind of players. I think, from my experience with South American players, Brazilian players and Argentine players, they love this family feeling. They love the feeling of being a family, eating together, having barbecues together and just having these strong connections. That’s where they thrive and that’s what they build.
“So, I think it’s not artificial and you cannot recreate it maybe in a northern European environment because it’s just a totally different mindset.
“And that is basically the strengths, like they are ready to give everything for Leo Messi. Even if they are key players, big players in their clubs, it’s just how it is. They thrive from that. This is totally normal for them and makes them very, very strong.”
Asked directly whether he believed Messi was the greatest footballer of all time, Tuchel replied: “One of them. I’m not the right person to ask all these greatest questions. Because I think there are so many different layers in football in so many different positions. But he is right up there, for sure.”
Nico O’reilly, John Stones, Marc Guéhi and Ezri Konsa started against Norway and it is understood Tuchel is giving thought to sticking with them tonight.
Declan Rice is expected to start, having recovered sufficiently from illness. But it remains to be seen if he can complete 90 minutes and Tuchel may have to consider keeping Reece James fresh potentially to replace him during the game.
Rice was one of the 25 England players, excluding Jordan Henderson, who took part in the open section of the final training session in Kansas City yesterday before the squad flew to Atlanta.
James has been preferred as Rice’s replacement to Kobbie Mainoo in the centre of midfield and the Chelsea captain knows all about the threat carried by his club team-mate Enzo Fernández, who is expected to start for Argentina.
The other big decision facing Tuchel is who to start with on the right side of his attack.
Bukayo Saka impressed there after replacing Noni Madueke against Norway, but there have been doubts over his fitness for the entire tournament.