{"id":520745,"date":"2026-07-02T00:23:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T00:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/520745\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T00:23:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T00:23:20","slug":"tuchel-delights-in-shark-kanes-predatory-goal-instinct-after-vital-world-cup-double-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/520745\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuchel delights in \u2018shark\u2019 Kane\u2019s predatory goal instinct after vital World Cup double | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thomas Tuchel compared Harry Kane to a shark and said he was proud of England after they set up a last-16 tie against Mexico by \u00adfighting back from the brink<\/a> against the \u00adDemocratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Tuchel, who was staring at an early exit after Brian Cipenga opened the scoring in the seventh minute, was delighted with his side\u2019s refusal to give in against the DRC. England\u2019s revival meant they won a World Cup<\/a> game after conceding first for the first time since the 1966 final against West\u00a0Germany.<\/p>\n

Kane lead the fightback with two late goals. He equalised in the 75th minute and scored the winner with four minutes left to ensure England<\/a> face Mexico in the Azteca Stadium at 1am BST(Sunday 8pm EDT) on Monday. The England captain has five goals from four appearances and is battling with Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 and Erling Haaland to win the Golden\u00a0Boot.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re all sharks,\u201d Tuchel said. \u201cIf they smell blood, they come and\u00a0score.\u201d<\/p>\n

England\u2019s head coach, who altered the flow of the game with some effective substitutions, felt his side deserved praise for staying calm after going 1-0 down. \u201cThings stayed \u00addifficult,\u201d he said. \u201cBut this team did not accept a defeat. It makes me very proud because they did what was necessary. They showed up and we got a deserved win, even if it was a late one.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stat about no comebacks since the 1966 final was pointed out to Tuchel. \u201cThat\u2019s a good sign,\u201d he said. \u201cIt just shows you the level of determination and the level of belief and also the level of focus. And it fits into my narrative that I didn\u2019t feel the weight on their shoulders. We played with exactly the right attitude and we trusted our spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anthony Gordon created both goals after coming on for Marcus Rashford just after the hour mark. Tuchel also appeared to deliver crucial messages during the \u00adsecond hydration break. Eberechi Eze replaced Djed Spence, with Declan Rice moving to right-back, and Kane equalised five minutes later.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe message was always the same,\u201d Tuchel said. \u201cKeep on \u00adknocking, knocking, knocking. Keep believing. Keep on doing what we do. Don\u2019t give in \u2013 you don\u2019t give in. That\u2019s what this team is about. It\u2019s so good to get this feeling on the sideline as a coach.<\/p>\n

Harry Kane profile<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile you\u2019re trying to support and help, you get this feeling that players are free, players are not \u00adanxious. We didn\u2019t play with fear. We played with determination and then we just didn\u2019t accept it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a bit more of a connection from Ebs because he played wide on the right and helped Bukayo Saka to have this connection. And Declan finished as a full-back, so we had the inswing with a dangerous cross.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter 60, 70 minutes we come with fresh legs and then you just try to help and support and find \u00adsolutions from the bench. But I felt it [was] easy today. We didn\u2019t need to unlock something tactically. Every time they spoke to me, they were invested, they were clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

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England\u2019s next challenge will be to deal with the altitude at the Azteca, which is approximately 2,200 metres above sea level. Tuchel, who fell asleep before a rampant Mexico beat Ecuador 2-0<\/a> in the last-32 early on Wednesday, anticipates another tough test.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is maybe one of the most \u00adbeautiful fixtures, most exciting fixtures you can have,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd there will be a lot of obstacles waiting for us. The altitude will be a big \u00addisadvantage because we cannot physically adapt to it. In four days, it\u2019s just \u00adimpossible.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore obstacles may come, but we are ready for that. We need it. Maybe we have the ideal platform now to genuinely believe that we are ready for that.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I am very happy. Let\u2019s see how much this cost us. We didn\u2019t play overtime, which is a good thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have an early trip home. We have a brilliant facility. The most important thing is that we recover because we will travel early to get the travelling out of the way. The players are used to that rhythm. They love this rhythm.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thomas Tuchel compared Harry Kane to a shark and said he was proud of England after they set…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-520745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}