England face Norway in the World Cup quarter-finals and victory in Miami would see them just 90 minutes away from only a second final in their history

Thomas Tuchel says he wants to bring the World Cup back home to the “motherland of football.”

Tuchel admits he has fallen in love with international football and is desperate to deliver the trophy as England prepare for their third consecutive World Cup quarter final.

England have not won a major trophy since 1966 and hired a German to finally get the job done after near-misses under former boss Gareth Southgate.

Tuchel is only too familiar with the song “It’s Coming Home” and gave a very passionate answer when he was asked to explain what it means to him.

It often goes over the heads of foreign football fans that the self-deprecating song was actually written in frustration rather than English arrogance.

But Tuchel is just desperate to deliver. When asked for his interpretation, Tuchel said: “Well it's the motherland of football, it's Wembley, it's the cathedral of world football, so this is why it should be 'coming home.’

“But we have some steps in between. We cannot get carried away, not to look too much further up front, and also we have to stop looking back now.

“That is what we agree with the team, we draw a line in the sand. It's no more Mexico. It's only about Norway. And that started today. We had enough time to digest.

“Football and the World Cup in itself is there to make a country, and make our fans dream and believe and excite them. This is what it's for. And we're on the best way to do that. And we want to take the next step.”

If ever there was an occasion where England might come across as arrogant then it could be against Norway. England are fourth in the FIFA rankings as compared to Norway who are in 19th.

But Norway cannot be underestimated as Erling Haaland and Co knocked out Brazil in the last round and Tuchel insists that is no surprise to him even if they are “riding the wave” in this World Cup.

Tuchel said: “That’s just what it is. They over perform. But I think internally they know very well how good they are, they know very well how many problems they can cause to any team in the world.

“They proved it. They eliminated a big, big, big nation on a big stage and I think from then on there is no such thing any more as favourites. It’s quarter finals, everyone plays to win the competition and everyone has the right to dream and fight for the win.

"I understand that it is a bit of a like lighter situation (for Norway) because they over performed already and they can ride this wave but we’re not thinking in this matter anyway.

“I don't feel our players playing with fear. I don't feel the weight of the shirt. We overcame a difficult group, we had good and difficult steps, in this in-between period.

“And now we go, no matter who's on the other side, no matter if we are favourites or not, or if the pressure's on, it's just what it is.”

Tuchel and his players have understandably been revelling in the afterglow of the win in Mexico which will be remembered as one of England’s greatest on foreign soil.

England were heroic, Jude Bellingham was sensational and Harry Kane led by example. But it is also fair to say that England have not exactly stamped their identity on this tournament.

Tuchel added: “What is the identity actually? And what do we mean with it when we say this word? And then I thought: I still see that we play with wingers, we play with high wingers, it’s a form of identity.

“We try to implement the high press. We have mentality … because the Premier League …. what is the identity of the Premier League? They have so many different styles.

“I know what you’re looking for but it’s difficult to create in a short moment of time so what we try to do is patterns, we play with high No 10s, we play with wingers, we play on the front foot, we play with in-swinging crosses. But the determination and team spirit is also an identity.

“I even still think now that we have to work on the sporting side of things. We need to play better. We need to spend more time in the opponent’s half. We struggle too much to overcome a high press of the opponent.

“And we need to be better in the deep build-up. We need to be better in the high press. More connected. So there is football stuff that we need to get right, to play a bit more like we did in Serbia, like we played against Costa Rica.

“That was our identity. It’s not so clearly obvious from a football point of view in this tournament. We struggle. It is not a matter of investment. For sure, not. It’s not a matter of commitment. It’s not a matter of that.

“We are thinking about the pass and then it is already half a second too late, the gap is not there any more. We are a bit over-protecting, over-thinking and we need to get rid of that.”

Meanwhile, Tuchel made a joke at his own expense while insisting England cannot avoid focusing on Haaland.

England boss Tuchel poked fun at German newspaper Bild when reminded he was crowned Coach of the Year after winning the Champions League with Chelsea in 2021.

After that success, Tuchel said he wanted to sign Haaland from Borussia Dortmund and later made an apology for his comments. Haaland joined Manchester City a year later.

“I always need to apologise,” smiled Tuchel. “They don’t get my humour! Anyway, were you surprised that Bild gave me an award?

“Yeah…there was no way out. Because if Jurgen Klopp won at the same time the Charity Shield they give it to him…”

Tuchel was in a mischievous mood which is maybe one way of taking his mind off having to deal with Norway danger man Haaland who has already scored seven goals in this World Cup.

The former Chelsea boss insists that Norway have other dangerous players but says the “full focus” of his defenders will be on trying to stop Haaland.

Tuchel added: “You can’t avoid focusing, for sure not. There is so much quality in these moments and you have to make decisions, how to defend it. He will always arrive on the second post.

“The whole world knows it – he loves to arrive on the second post so the question is when to make contact with him.

“It’s also a type of defender type of thing. Some defenders like to stay zonal and get the earlier jump, some defenders like to step back and start fighting with him on the ground physically – but then he pushes you maybe aside and gets a free header.

“If you stay zonal he jumps over you. So he has all the weapons once you arrive in the box. There are of course ways to make life hard for him when he starts accelerating and when they play long balls.

“Because Norway are not shy to play long balls in to (Alexander) Sorloth and he starts bullying people, that’s what he does. So it’s a team effort but of course the full focus of our central defenders will be on him (Haaland).”

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