England boss Thomas Tuchel has plenty of pressure on his shoulders ahead of the 2026 World Cup as he bids to win a first trophy for the Three Lions since 1966 in the United States
Thomas Tuchel has been warned England will face the toughest ever World Cup next summer. England boss Tuchel is already going to great lengths to ensure his players are ready for the extreme weather conditions, heat and time difference for the United States.
But former Canada boss John Herdman, who has worked across America, says nothing can ever prepare England for what they will face – and they might as well get used to it.
The Club World Cup has already provided a taste of what is to come next summer with several matches – including at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey – being delayed because of weather warnings and storms.
Borussia Dortmund ’s substitutes watched the first half of one of their games from the dressing room because of the scorching temperatures in Cincinnati.
Herdman, 49, who was born in Consett, County Durham, took Canada to a World Cup, worked in MLS with Toronto FC and had seven years in charge of Canada’s women’s team.
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His unique perspective offers memories of playing in 100 degree heat one day, getting flooded out of a hotel the next before regularly getting stuck on the tarmac at airports because of constant travelling.
That has left him firmly believing that there is a real danger of sometimes “overthinking” things when a change in the weather can undo the best laid plans and he says England may just be better off “embracing” the challenge rather than worry it.
Tuchel has already lined up a pre-tournament training camp in Miami next summer while the German coach is also going to the Club World Cup to check out potential training bases in Kansas, Dallas and Miami.
Herdman said: “Having been part of these preparations in the past, you have to prepare the players to have resilience but sometimes you want that chaos so you can actually embrace it. I agree in getting the extra one percent right. Do everything you can to prepare. But also be ready to be stuck on the tarmac and be ready to have a laugh about it.
“If you’ve had to move hotels because of a flood or the training camp has been hit with a tornado, then don’t give the players an escape route or give them an excuse. Get better at dealing with the chaos. You can go in early, get a pre-training camp and have all the best intentions but sometimes that backfires if the players just get sick of being away for so long.
“Or you could go in late, tell the players what you’re doing and why you’re doing it so you don’t allow it to become a problem over time. There’s two schools of thought. And I’m not sure either is right or wrong but, if you ask me, you have to embrace it, don’t overthink it and maybe that’s the right way in what will be very difficult, challenging conditions no matter how much preparation you do.
“If you think back to the last World Cup in 2022, players got spoiled there because they were all five minutes from the stadium, the training base was nearby and it was all in one city. This World Cup is going to be massively challenging and having worked in North America I’ve had some experiences that I’d like to share with as many people as I can.
“We started off in the Rose Bowl at 36 degrees of heat and then two days later we were in Denver with a tornado warning. Then you hit Charlotte with a 90 degree heat and another time before a key game you get flooded and have to evacuate the hotel at three in the morning.
“We had that game in Denver against Mexico in the Gold Cup, you had sirens with a weather warning and you’re not getting back on the field when a tornado starts and you sit on the tarmac for five hours.
“Then you hit Charlotte with 90 degree heat, another time a day before a key game there was a storm at 3am in the morning, the hotel was flooded and we had to move to a different hotel. This World Cup will see such a shift across one Continent and you can prepare as much as you like but I think the trick might be to embrace it rather than over-organise it.
“The teams that rock up with the right mindset might have such a big advantage. The training in the heat every day after a while the guys just don’t enjoy it.”
Herdman has been back in the United Kingdom for a rare trip home as he figures out his next career move after more than 20 years working abroad, first in New Zealand then managing the Canadian women’s team and then the men. His last job was with Toronto FC. Now he wants to get back in with the right move and England appeals as he is ready to come back despite him being very happy with his family in Vancouver.
He said: “It’s been 20 years of unbelievable ups and I don’t think there’s many coaches who have been to a World Cup for men and a World Cup for women. The next job has to be for me and the coach that I am who tends to work with an underdog and hopefully do some pretty cool stuff along the way. I’ve got to be ready to make a move. I’m from the UK and moving back to the UK and getting a job there would appeal if it’s the right one.”
His job with Canada also meant he worked with highly-rated striker Jonathan David who is a free agent this summer and has been heavily linked with Premier League clubs.
Herdman said: “The time spent with Jonathan was unique because he’d just turned 18, I can say that I’d never worked with a player with that psychology and mindset as he had at his age.
“What I mean by that is that he just had an ability to stay calm whether that’s on the pitch, off the pitch and I called him the Ice Man because he was so cool. Normally you get a kid who is so laid back. But that’s not being introverted, it’s just his personality and that helps him reach the ceiling wherever he goes.
“I hope that he gets a move to a top five team and I’d love to see him get a move to one of the top five English teams because he’s such an exciting player who has got so much potential and I’d love to see him in the Premier League because I think he’d be brilliant.”
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