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New England head coach Thomas Tuchel intended to sound like a “gentleman” Gareth Southgate and immediate predecessor Lee Carsley before starting in the qualifying campaign for the 2026 World Cup.
The German signed a contract for 18 months Football Association which begins on January 1, and Tuchel is well aware that his mission is to add a second World Cup star to the England shirt.
Friday’s qualifying draw pitted his team against Serbia, Albania, Latvia and Andorra, with the group winners securing automatic places in the finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Tuchel is a highly respected club coach but he is new to the international arena and has confirmed he plans to make time to speak to Southgate, who stepped down in the summer after leading England to a second successive Euro final.
“He is a gentleman,” Tuchel said Sky Sports News.
“We met before when I was at Chelsea and it was a pleasure to talk to him, so why not (meet him again)?”
He will also hold talks at St George’s Park next month with Carsley, who has taken temporary charge for England’s Nations League campaign in the autumn.
“We will be working from January in Saint George and I hope that it will become very regular for us to meet and quite normal for us to meet,” he added.
“Of course we will exchange (ideas) because I am interested in his point of view on (selection of the team for) the games, on the potential in the group and how he felt about the group and the experiences.
“He is the under-21 coach, so he will be very, very close to me and we have plenty of time from January.”
England will begin their qualification campaign against Albania on March 21 and have won all their matches against their Group K opponents so far.
However, Tuchel told BBC Radio 5 Live that his side were not expected to top the group, adding that they would have to be “serious” and “determined”.
The draw pitted Scotland against Greece, who must also face in the League of Nations doubleheader promotion and relegation play-offs in March, plus the defeated team in the Nations League quarter-finals Portugal v Denmark and Belarus.
Asked about the prospects of playing the same opponents four times in one year, the head coach Steve Clarke he told BBC Radio 5 Live: “We can treat both a bit differently.
“I think we’re going to get to know each other very well, so maybe you’ll find that (by) the World Cup qualifiers, we usually know each other a little bit better and maybe (they’ll be) tight games. But you never know in football, it’s very difficult to judge how it will be.”
One unknown for Scotland will be the venue of the “away” match against Belarus. They have been banned from playing at home since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, which they supported. Northern Ireland played them in Hungary in October.
Clarke are looking to get into the qualifiers, with all six matches in the four-team group crammed into the September, October and November windows.
Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill has welcomed the fact that his side’s campaign will not start until the autumn, when they take on Germany or Italy, plus Slovakia and Luxembourg.
“Groups of four teams suit us as a smaller nation and it gives us a lot of time to prepare,” he told the BBC.
“The games in June are difficult for us because we have so many players playing in the EFL and their season ends so early, May 5 or 6, and you are asking a lot of (players) to play in international tournaments sometimes on June 10 or 11. So not having that challenge is a good thing for us.
“We always tend to play our best football in September, October, November, as the Nations League showed, so we will be ready for the games in September.”
Wales coach Craig Bellamy he was happy to be placed in a group of five alongside regular recent foes Belgium, plus North Macedonia, Kazakhstan and Liechtenstein.
“It’s driving competition very quickly, so that’s really positive,” he said.
“It’s a good group but we’ll have to do our homework really well and hopefully try to attack it and finish top of the group.”
Wales beat Belgium to reach the semi-finals of Euro 2016, but failed to win any of their next four matches.
The Republic of Ireland have not qualified for a grand final since the same tournament and will face the winners of the Nations League quarter-final Portugal v Denmark, plus Hungary and Armenia.
Coach Heimir Hallgrimsson told FAI TV: “I don’t think there will be a runaway winner, which makes it more possible for us to qualify. I think it’s an even group.”
Sixteen European national teams will advance to the finals, in which 48 countries will compete for the first time.
The 12 group winners qualify automatically, while the other four places will be determined in a play-off to be held in March 2026.
Well