The Football Association was not shy in trumpeting its ambition when appointing Thomas Tuchel in October 2024.English football’s governing body said it was aiming for this Sunday’s World Cup final in New Jersey — hence it wanted an elite manager, someone who had won things, someone to give them the best chance of winning their first World Cup for 60 years.Its first target was Pep Guardiola, with whom there was a verbal agreement, before he decided to renew with Manchester City. That led it to Tuchel, a Champions League winner in his own right, instead.But England will not be in New Jersey this weekend. They will be playing the third-placed play-off game against France, an obligation they had to fulfill against Belgium during Southgate’s first World Cup eight years ago.Back then. there was a sense of novelty about it, a new experience for players who had been on an adventure together. This time, it is a burden on a group who were very clear about their ambitions for this summer’s tournament. And it is perhaps because of those ambitions, and the failure to meet them, that so many connected to England have been so frustrated with Wednesday night’s timid exit to Argentina. Tuchel was not appointed to carve out a new space for the England team, or to build something to last for years. He was appointed to win the World Cup."One of the most disgraceful halves of English football history" Duncan AlexanderAnd there was genuine confidence he would. Many players were convinced by it and Jake Reid, the president of Sporting Kansas City — the MLS team based near England’s training camp, who provided opposition in a mid-tournament friendly — told The Athletic that Tuchel and senior FA staff were even planning to get commemorative tattoos if England’s 60-year wait for a major trophy was ended. Was that a joke? Possibly, but the belief was real.Tuchel is safe in his job. There were clauses in place in his lucrative FA contract that could have seen both parties end their partnership had England exited before the quarter-finals. But despite the manner of the defeat to Argentina, which has been a source of widespread consternation in England, and the fact that Guardiola — now available after his departure from City — would presumably still be interested in the post having previously agreed to take it, he seems certain to carry on.The Athletic talked to multiple sources with knowledge of England’s campaign, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their positions, to understand how a World Cup that promised so much fell short in agonisingly familiar circumstances.The mission, as Tuchel always said, was to “put a second star” on the England shirt. When he explained this at his first meeting with the players at St George’s Park in March 2025, the players were wowed by his confidence and aura.But Tuchel knew that simply having good players would never be enough. They wanted to build what they called ‘Team England’ — not just with a clear playing identity but bonded together by a higher purpose. They wanted to build a ‘brotherhood’.This meant that from the September 2025 camp onwards, almost the most important thing was the commitment of the players to each other, and the cause. About “killing our egos”, as Anthony Gordon put it when he spoke after victory over Mexico in the last 16, and “putting ourselves beneath the end goal”.So after England beat Andorra in September, Tuchel was so impressed by how Gordon, Morgan Rogers and Ezri Konsa trained afterwards, they were drafted into the team for the game in Belgrade. That 5-0 win against Serbia became the standard: not just for how England pressed and countered, but for the unity shown from the whole squad. How the substitutes cheered on the team during the game snd then the sprints they did long after the final whistle, in the fading light on a bumpy pitch as his assistant Anthony Barry watched on from the shadows.When Tuchel decided to stick with the same squad, rather than recalling Jude Bellingham, the following month, he was bombarded with questions. He repeatedly insisted that he was not here to “collect talent”, but to “build a team”, a Bill Belichick phrase he had picked up from a New England Patriots documentary. And he said that he must “walk the talk”, a phrase that Tuchel kept returning to.England trained hard in Miami and Kansas City (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)So when Tuchel made his 50 phone calls in the last week of May, telling his long-list who was in and who was out, he was very clear with what he wanted. Players who bought into the ‘brotherhood’ and who would travel well for a campaign that could stretch to seven weeks. Players who had a clear role in his 4-2-3-1 system, whether as one of his core 15 starters or his “special operations unit” who would change games from the bench, and who must be happy with their lot, unlikely to start games.This meant no Phil Foden or Cole Palmer, who lost out because the other No 10s — Bellingham, Rogers and Eberechi Eze — had played better. No Trent Alexander-Arnold, who had barely featured under Tuchel. No Harry Maguire, much to his and his family’s fury. And, most crucially in the end, no Adam Wharton or Morgan Gibbs-White, two of the best English midfielders in the Premier League in recent years.It was an England squad built on commitment, both in terms of athletic capacity and team ethic. It was short on technical game-changers and on right-backs. Behind Elliot Anderson and Declan Rice, who had an exhausting season with Arsenal, the only back-up central midfielders were Jordan Henderson and Kobbie Mainoo. Henderson’s role was clear but Mainoo had never played a single competitive minute for Tuchel, and he still hasn’t.These were the risks Tuchel was willing to take.England’s search for a World Cup base camp started with drawing a latitudinal line across a map of the United States. The FA knew that this would be the hottest World Cup since USA 94. It wanted somewhere that would be sufficiently warm to prepare the squad for playing in the heat, but not so hot as to be impossible to train. So, ideally, in that central band of the United States.Then there was the matter of convenience. The FA did not want any long back flights across the continent after games. It might look easier to base themselves on the east coast but what if they came second in the group and had to play in Los Angeles? The risk-averse option was to stay in the middle of the country, where most flights back from games last three hours.The FA wanted a hotel which it could make its own: a true base, rather than just booking out a few floors of a high-rise. Ideally, one near an airport. It found that in the tranquil southern suburbs of Kansas City, with adequate training facilities 20 minutes’ drive away.The priority was to make the hotel feel like a home for the England players in their five long weeks here. In the spacious lobby area, there was a record player where players could put on their favourite music. There was a dart board, a pool table and a table football table that had to be frantically sourced from a family in the local suburbs just as England arrived.In the outdoor space behind the building, there was a basketball court, a swimming pool (with underwater bikes to aid recovery), a jacuzzi and infrared saunas. There was a fire pit, surrounded by sofas and bean bags, where the players would play ‘Wolf’. Bellingham also introduced the card game Skyjo to the squad.Jordan Pickford plays darts at England’s training base (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)There were some more troubling moments. Items of kit were stolen prior to the squad’s arrival in Kansas City — including four pairs of boots, five pairs of shoes, three signed national team jerseys estimated to be worth $5,000, a World Cup ball, a speaker and a Lego set of a Nike Air shoe — before being recovered by local police. Later in the tournament, there was another security breach when a man walked into the media centre carrying a wrench before being escorted out by security.But overall, the feeling within the squad at their headquarters was positive. Tuchel knew that at Euro 2024, the camp was not always a happy one. He wanted to build something that every player bought into. It is why he picked players who he hoped would be good tourists, popular and selfless within the group, like Dan Burn and Jordan Henderson, and why he did not pick those who he felt would not buy into the group ethic.It is tempting after such a disappointing exit to look back for clues in the mood of the camp or the behaviour of the players. But this England camp, according to multiple sources familiar with the dynamics, was generally a happy, united place. The fact that England started with a win and had good momentum through the tournament certainly helped.Bellingham, who did not always look the happiest at Euro 2024, on or off the pitch, was fully bought into everything England did in the U.S., helped by the fact that his close friend Henderson was in the squad. Indeed, Henderson was a significant figure in the background, even after he broke his wrist falling over an advertising hoarding after the Mexico win. After being flown back to Kansas City for surgery — Sporting Kansas City owner Cliff Illig said at a press conference that the club “had to jump through a few hoops to make sure we could find him a plane and get him back” — he stayed with the squad for the rest of the tournament.It was a quiet and largely anonymous life out in the tranquil Midwest. Some players loved the fact they could explore the local area, knowing that they would not be mobbed by a crowd in the same way they would be at home. The only challenge was boredom. It is a long time away from home and players generally only got to see their families on designated days off, which were only possible when England had a longer gap from one game to the next.The biggest challenge was not for the 15 core players, but for those on the fringes. Many of them started off on board with their roles and making positive noises. But as the time ticked by — seven weeks away — it got harder. Not all of them found themselves becoming integral substitutes like Dan Burn did. And some of those players, according to sources, “started to feel as if they were making up the numbers”.The use of Mainoo has been a particularly big talking point. He struggled to hide his disappointment as the matches slipped past without him being called upon and his forlorn trudges through post-match mixed zones — he was often one of the first players back on the team bus — became an unhappy feature of England’s tournament.Kobbie Mainoo had a frustrating World Cup (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)One source connected to the squad wondered if Tuchel considered Mainoo a youngster who would be happy to simply be part of a World Cup squad; others felt the United player had simply not done enough to earn Tuchel’s trust. Either way, it was never clear what Tuchel’s plan was for the player. Instead, Mainoo saw defender Reece James played in midfield ahead of him towards the end of the tournament and failed to get minutes even when Rice was clearly struggling for fitness, despite a source close to the camp insisting he trained well.The problem was that these disaffected substitutes were the players Tuchel needed at the end. And when England needed fresh attacking energy against Argentina, they stayed on the bench.Harry Kane needed a big tournament. Even England’s all-time record goalscorer arrived having looked less than his best at Euro 2020, the 2022 World Cup and again at Euro 2024. It felt like he had more work left to do, one big step left to take.Kane had been telling people for months that he was in the form, and shape, of his life. He had scored 61 goals for Bayern Munich last season and lifted a second Bundesliga title.One of Kane’s most impressive attributes is his capacity to keep improving even this far into his career. That is as true off the pitch as on it. One of the stories of Tuchel’s tenure has been Kane’s growth as a captain, becoming more vocal behind the scenes than ever before, rather than just leading by example.Tuchel sensed in the September and October 2025 camps the growth of a new dynamic, one led by Kane and Rice, one that he wanted to foster. When England sealed qualification for this tournament, winning in Latvia last October, Kane gave a rousing speech, telling the younger players how special a World Cup is and how they had to maintain their hunger to get here.Kane took his responsibilities to the camp very seriously, not least when it came to trying to keep his team-mates entertained during the long trip away. Kane invited his good friend Ed Sheeran in to perform to the team. Tom Brady — another A-list friend of Kane — dropped in to say hello.