Henry Winter’s World Cup Diary, Day 20
Click here to read World Soccer’s guide to the 2026 World Cup
Atlanta
“They’re all sharks.” I’d asked Thomas Tuchel whether these goalscoring greats, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Harry Kane, shared a quality. All are different, make different runs, move through the gears in different ways, but all have this killer instinct. “They’re all sharks. If they smell blood, they come and score.”
Maybe these predators drive each on in the hunger games. “These big guys at this World Cup, do they watch each other?” Tuchel continued. “And then they go, ‘not with me, then I score, then I do a hat-trick, then you go’. What is going on? Crazy!”
Crazy but fun and a classic. The race for the Golden Boot is led by Mbappe and Messi with six goals each, which would win it outright or shared in nine of the last 11 World Cups. Haaland and Kane are a goal behind. Ousmane Dembele and Vinicius Jr are on four.
Kane’s in good company. Mbappe and Messi enjoyed a good duel in Qatar, the race edged by the Frenchman 8-7. The pair were on 5-5 going into the final.
Kane won it in a relatively low-scoring Russia 2018, 6-4 over Antoine Griezmann and Romelu Lukaku. France ’98 had Davor Suker finishing just ahead of Gabriel Batistuta and Christian Vieri 6-5. Italia ’90 had a good race, with Toto Schillaci ending 6-5 up on Tomas Skuhravy with Gary Lineker and Roger Milla a goal back. Lineker took what was then the Golden Shoe 6-5 ahead of a distinguished trio of Emilio Butragueno, Careca and Diego Maradona in Mexico.
But this current chase for the Golden Boot is a race within the race to MetLife. Those who toiled under previous refereeing regimes will point to the brutal marking and tackling. Lineker, certainly, got a kicking at Italia ’90. Maradona was targeted; he was fouled 53 times at the 1986 World Cup, including by almost half the England outfield at the Azteca, including one particularly filthy scissors challenge by Terry Fenwick and then led with his elbow on the Argentina No 10. Strikers are rather more protected now. Even sharks. And England have one in Kane. “It’s good,” Tuchel added. “He’s our captain, he’s our leader. He decides matches with unbelievable finishes. I’m happy that he’s here.” England wouldn’t still be in the World Cup without Kane.
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Tuchel received some criticism for suggesting that parents write notes to teachers saying their children would miss school as they’d stayed up to watch England v Mexico at 1am on Monday morning. Many kids might fall asleep anyway, but parents could get it on catch-up and watch it early. Appreciating the seismic national and social nature of the game, some more enlightened schools will turn the game into an educational exercise. A Mexico geography or history lesson. A study of a player’s background. Some Spanish, even German words to learn. Make it a celebration, not an occasion for tension.
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Often lost in the emotional aftermath of a game is Tuchel’s analytical take on moments in a game. He’s one of the most open managers I’ve ever reported on for tactical insight. Headlines, and news agendas, demand stories not tactical subtleties so Tuchel’s appraisal is often overlooked. Take this comment about events in the 70th minute when he finally ended Djed Spence’s troubled spell at right-back. He brought on Eberechi Eze to support Bukayo Saka (who’d replaced Noni Madueke) on the right and shifted Declan Rice to right-back. It was all about improving the service from the right.
“We had a bit more of a connection from ‘Ebs’ because he played wider on the right and helped Bukayo to his connection. Declan finished as a full-back, so we had the in-swing suddenly from outfield with a dangerous cross and kept Declan on the field for all of our set-pieces. We moved Jude (Bellingham) to the half-left.”
Bellingham’s role was now to link with Anthony Gordon, who’d arrived for Marcus Rashford. Tuchel rotates his wingers, seeks a pacey hour from his starters and then brings another pair of fliers on. Madueke and Rashford were both disappointing. Saka still does not look fit. Gordon, so disappointing against Ghana, was far livelier here and deserves to start against Mexico at the Azteca.
“It was always clear that we would try to push with the wingers to start and finish off with fresh legs,” Tuchel added. “With Anthony and Bukayo, that was in my head long before, it was the plan and the players knew that this is the way we want them to play, all in on the wings and be intense.” It worked, especially from Gordon.
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Click here to read World Soccer’s guide to the 2026 World Cup
