Wilshere: Tuchel factor can help England win the World Cup

Jack Wilshere has experienced the burden of expectation that comes with representing England at a World Cup. He felt it envelop the squad as they crashed to a group-stage exit in Brazil in 2014.

It is worth listening, then, when the former midfielder, who has since transitioned into management with Luton Town, says this squad is different. Wilshere is convinced the class of 2026 can handle the pressure and deliver the trophy for the first time since 1966.

It starts, he says, with the head coach. Thomas Tuchel, a Champions League-winner with Chelsea, has of course brought elite managerial acumen to the role. But Wilshere highlights another point of difference from Gareth Southgate and Roy Hodgson.

"There were a lot of question marks when Thomas got the job. People were saying, 'Oh, the English manager should be English'.

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"I think Gareth Southgate did a fantastic job of bringing everyone together. But actually, if you're an English person, you feel that same pressure. I think back to my experiences of the World Cup. There is pressure, there is an expectation that you really do feel.

"But now you've got someone who doesn't feel that."

Wilshere believes England's opening group game against Croatia, when Tuchel's half-time team talk inspired a storming 4-2 victory following an edgy first-half performance, demonstrated the value of the German's detachment from the English football psyche.

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"In the first half we had some nice moments, some good periods, but we didn't look that comfortable or that confident in ourselves.

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"Then in the second half, I think you saw a different team, where you had a manager who had gone in at half-time and said, 'Yeah, I understand all that, but this is how we're going to win that game, forget all that expectation, forget all that pressure'.

"And we've definitely got players that can execute it.

"There will be tougher tests, for sure. Tougher tests in opposition, and tougher tests in conditions. I think a lot of it will come down to how we deal with those conditions.

"But we have, in my opinion, one of the best teams, physically, that we've had in a number of years, and I saw things the other night that I probably haven't ever seen from an England team.

"So, yeah, I'm confident we can go all the way this time."

September 2008: Makes Arsenal debut aged 16 years and 256 days

August 2010: Wins first England cap aged 18 years and 222 days

May 2014: Included in Roy Hodgson's 2014 World Cup squad

May 2015: Helps Arsenal win second consecutive FA Cup

July 2022: Announces retirement aged 30 following injuries

July 2022: Joins Arsenal as U18 head coach