England manager Thomas Tuchel will name his first squad since the World Cup on Friday as the national team prepares for its new cycle with four Nations League ties against Spain, Czechia and Croatia, two months on from the defeat that still defines his tenure. Tuchel has been back around Premier League grounds this season, and one interaction with a colleague inside a VIP enclosure captured his mood. "People are killing me," the England manager said. It is two months since England's 2-1 World Cup semi-final defeat by Argentina in the United States, and the emotion tied up in it continues to swirl. A section of the fanbase lays the blame for the surrender of a 1-0 lead with five minutes to go at Tuchel's door. On the other side sits an appreciation of how his team fought to reach the semi-finals for only the fourth time in England's history, and of a best World Cup finish since 1966 after the third-place playoff win over France. ## The FA's Faith, and the Night It Nearly Broke Tuchel can draw strength from the Football Association's faith in him. The clearest illustration: the FA would not have wanted to dismiss him had England lost to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the last 32 — a game that went down as one of the most stressful in England's memory, with the team 1-0 down with 15 minutes to go and even Tuchel wondering whether it was the end of his tournament, before Harry Kane's two goals drove the comeback. The FA loved how Tuchel's in-game changes made the difference at other stages of the World Cup, and the team spirit he oversaw — the brotherhood among his players, which Tuchel has spoken about a good deal, was real and not something for the cameras. Quite simply, the Guardian reports, the FA stands full square behind Tuchel and considers the notion that he ought to have resigned or been sacked after a semi-final finish absurd. ## The Substitution That Will Not Go Away The Argentina defeat nonetheless turned on a clinical decision. England started to sink back long before the second-half hydration break when Tuchel introduced defender Ezri Konsa for winger Anthony Gordon and went to a five-man defence. England were well into grim survival football, and Tuchel could do nothing to change the flow or get his players on the ball. To Tuchel, reinforcing the defence felt like the percentage call, maybe the least bad option. It failed, and when it failed, the optics were horrible. There is also physical context: England were spent after playing at altitude against Mexico with 10 men and for 120 minutes against Norway in Miami in 40-degree heat. ## A Cycle Built to Prepare for 2028 The new campaign is designed around growth. It was damaging, the Guardian notes, for England to be in a soft Group B last time; the hope is that the Nations League will better prepare the team for the Euro 2028 finals, where England will be co-hosts alongside Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland — a hosting role the FA pushed hard to secure. The opener against Spain at Wembley next Saturday is England's first meeting with Spain since the Euro 2024 final defeat. Tuchel contends with the probable absence of four World Cup players through injury: John Stones, Dan Burn, Djed Spence and Jordan Henderson. Tino Livramento, Levi Colwill, Jarrad Branthwaite and Lewis Hall are pushing for recalls in defence, while Kobbie Mainoo fights to keep his place after a washout of a World Cup, and Cole Palmer and Phil Foden hope for recalls in the No 10 positions. The midfield and attack decisions may prove just as consequential. Alex Scott and Myles Lewis-Skelly are hoping for recalls, Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke have not restarted well at Arsenal, and there is fresh energy around Josh King and Rio Ngumoha, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Liam Delap also in the conversation. All eyes will be on Tuchel at the announcement — his tone as much as anything, since being overly defensive did not work out the last time. Tuchel's stated mission at the World Cup was to put a second star on the shirt, and he fell short; the Guardian asks whether his death-or-glory rhetoric made the end worse, while noting it was surely preferable to aiming lower. The deeper question is whether the country can move on. The England job has been described as impossible precisely because of the overbearing levels of expectation, how hard it is to dodge the recriminations after defeat, and how the reactions make it more difficult for the team moving forward — a vicious circle that will be broken one way. Whether Tuchel's explanations for his moves during the Argentina defeat can be accepted feels like an important starting point for the campaign ahead; a positive start against Spain might at least let the healing begin.