Tuchel vows to revive Wonderwall celebrations if England beat Spain at Wembley

Thomas Tuchel has promised England will revive their Wonderwall celebrations at Wembley if they beat world champions Spain on Saturday, as the Three Lions begin their Nations League campaign for the first time since their World Cup semi-final exit against Argentina.

The Oasis anthem became England’s unofficial tournament soundtrack in the United States this summer, with fans belting it out after every win. Tuchel is eager to recreate that atmosphere and believes a victory over Spain could set the tone for the rest of his tenure heading into Euro 2028.

“Do I think it will happen tomorrow? I think it will happen if we win,” Tuchel said. “It’s a big opportunity, and it’s a big occasion, it’s a beautiful match, in a new competition. Yes, of course, we will try and use the occasion to implement and to get the next win, and hopefully we play with a certain freedom that I felt that we played against France, for example.”

Tuchel also used his pre-match briefing to revisit his controversial comments about the Wembley atmosphere, having previously criticised the home crowd for failing to lift the team sufficiently during the Wales friendly. He stood by his view while acknowledging the difficulty of generating consistent noise in non-tournament football.

“I think the World Cup was outstanding in terms of atmosphere,” he said. “I think we had an amazing performance against Wales, and I was not so happy with the atmosphere, so everyone killed me for that. If you are 3-0 up after 15 minutes and the crowd gets going into every challenge, I tell you we have a chance to be 5 or 6 nil up. It helps so much.”

On selection, Tuchel indicated he intends to keep largely the same starting XI across the four games in ten days but confirmed he will rotate and use his bench. He suggested Harry Kane — four caps away from equalling Peter Shilton’s England record of 125 appearances — would be keen to start every fixture even if he does not see out the full 90 minutes in each one.