England is one of the last countries to debut at World Cup, playing against Croatia tonight (22:00 CEST, 21:00 BST), and will be Thomas Tuchel's big moment: after a year and a half of tuning his perfect squad, the German coach will try to bring the World Cup to England. A bit of a conflict of interests, maybe, but Tuchel is a professional. Still, he has decided he will not sing the UK's national anthem, God Save the King, until a potential final.
Tuchel was asked if he will sing the anthem, and he said, with a smile, that "not yet". "I think we are not there yet. At the very end maybe. I am still a bit shy. I don't want to offend people and don't want to have the focus on that now."
Tuchel was then asked if the lyrics are complicated, and he said it "is not that difficult", laughing, adding that he feels "like home" at England, despite the controversy of hiring foreign coaches in national teams.
England has had several foreign coaches, many playing at World Cups. Fabio Capello coached England in World Cup 2010, and the Italian did not sing the anthem. As The Sun points out, the only foreign England coach who sang the anthem was Sven-Göran Eriksson during World Cups 2002 and 2006, and he appeared to struggle with the lyrics.
Lee Carsley, born in Birmingham but with Irish roots, did not sing the anthem when he worked as interim coach following Southgate's exit in late 2024, and some asked for his sacking because of it...