England Meet Croatia Again At The 2026 World Cup, Tuchel: We're In The Tough Group

JAKARTA - England had to meet Croatia and Ghana in the 2026 World Cup preliminary round. From the results of the draw conducted at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington DC, United States, Saturday, December 6, 2025 in the morning WIB, manager Thomas Tuchel said Britain was in a tough group.

Croatia is definitely not a light opponent. The two teams last met in the 2018 World Cup semifinals.

At that time, England had already taken the lead through Kieran Trippier's goal when the game had only been running for five minutes. But Croatia was able to equalize and Mario Mandzukic scored a 2-1 winning goal in extra time.

Based on the draw, both teams are in Group L with Ghana and Panama. England, who took the lead in the group, played their first match against Croatia. Furthermore, The Three Lions faced Ghana and finally fought the Panamanian light team.

If you look at the FIFA rankings, it is predicted that England will have no trouble going through the preliminary round. But Tuchel said England was in a tough group.

The group was difficult and we started it with a game that wasn't easy. This group is difficult because it is with Croatia and Ghana who regularly play in the World Cup. The teams are very strong and proud to play for the country," Tuchel said as quoted by Evening Standard.

"On the other hand, I don't know much about Panama. But we will certainly look for information about them before the tournament starts," he replied.

Tuchel clearly does not underestimate Croatia, which has veteran Luka Modric, will play the last World Cup before hanging up his boots. In addition, there are still Manchester City duo, Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol. In front, Croatia still relies on Ivan Perisic who is currently playing at PSV Eindhoven.

Ghana itself is no less top than having a poor top line-up in the English Premier League. Midfielder Mohamed Kudus who plays at Tottenham Hotspur will become Ghana's motor.

In addition, Antoine Semenyo is the mainstay of Bournemouth's front line. Defending midfielder Thomas Partey previously defended Arsenal and then moved to Villarreal.

Ghana is led by Athletic Bilbao Inaki Williams who has defended Spain's national team. Meanwhile, his younger brother, Nico Williams, who also played in Bilbao chose to join Spain.

No one is underestimated. Croatia is still being taken into account. They chose the highest ranking among the teams considering entering Pot 2. Ghana is a team that has many talented players and is always surprising. They have a good history at the World Cup," said Tuchel.

"Panama also wants to make a surprise when they become underdogs. All opponents still have high respect and we show that," said Tuchel, who admitted that he had no experience in the World Cup preliminary matches because he did not handle the national team. But according to him, the draw at the World Cup is no different from in the Champions League.

"I myself only have a group stage experience in the Champions League format. We still respect each opponent and focus on winning every game to become group winners. Of course this is not easy but we have faith and have to prepare well," said former Bayern Munich coach and once led Chelsea to win the Champions League.