England head coach Thomas Tuchel has complained he could not see his players singing the national anthem because of a scrum of photographers blocking his view – and has urged Fifa to intervene.
Tuchel led England to a 4-2 win over Croatia in their opening World Cup game at the AT+T Stadium in Arlington on Wednesday, with Harry Kane scoring twice and Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford scoring the third and fourth goals respectively.
He was unhappy that for his first tournament finals match in charge of England, he could not see his players during the rendition of God Save The King.
“I have to tell you something, I am begging FIFA to change the position of the photographers in the national anthem because I could not see my team in the national anthem,” he said.
“I was waiting for this moment. It was a very, very special moment today and I was standing in front of a wall of 50 photographers, half a metre away, and I could not see one single player. It ruined a little bit my experience.
“It is very emotional. When I was young and when I started coaching, this was too big to dream of this kind of occasion.”
“I don’t know anything about club football,” emails Mariana “… But I do enjoy watching the international competitions because of all the reasons you and your colleagues have written about in the last few days … I can’t listen to the German commentators at all, which is why I have been LOVING The Guardian’s MBM on the games for quite some years now, so thank you!
“I do have to nag about something: I – like many non-club-level-watchers – enjoy watching the underdogs play (loved Cup Verde against Spain!), mainly because of the fun, and spirit, and sometimes even humility they bring. Which is why it’s really difficult for me to watch the superstars go down at every touch, as the English players did yesterday. (I’m looking at you, Bellingham.)
“I just don’t enjoy it. What’s that all about? It completely disrupts the flow of the game, and is embarrassing to watch … I would even argue that the Croatian players seem to be able to get off their bottoms without making a fuss every time. And I’m not just saying that because they have been my team since 2006, I swear (watching Japan v Croatia at 16, in my home country, simply was a blast).
Anyway, congratulations on your team’s success yesterday. Even though Kane had fumbled the penalty, and the incomparable pink kraken Livakovic should have been player of the match, and Bellingham went down every chance he got.”
Thanks for the email, Mariana. All sounds fair.