Cole’s defence of Tuchel is really a defence of clarity. International tournaments are not fantasy football. Managers do not pick the most popular list; they pick the group they believe can carry out a plan under pressure.
“Tivemos todo esse barulho sobre a convocação. Ninguém escolheria os mesmos 26 jogadores, e todo mundo tem uma opinião,” Cole said. He is right on that much. Every England squad comes with a public trial attached, but knockout football usually rewards cohesion more than reputation.
If Tuchel has chosen profiles rather than headlines, he will feel he has given himself a better chance of getting through the hardest moments of the tournament.
Cole’s other point may prove even more important once the action starts. Set pieces often decide tight tournament matches, and he believes ’s approach to contact in the box could make them even more decisive.
“A Fifa disse que vai ser rigorosa, que vai marcar essas coisas,” Cole said. That matters. If grappling, shirt-pulling and blocking are punished more quickly, delivery, movement and timing become even more valuable. If referees allow chaos, then the best teams at turning dead balls into street fights may still prosper.
Other reports have already highlighted how sensitive penalty-box decisions remain in the modern game, underlining Cole’s wider point that officiating consistency can shape entire matches.
Cole wants the conversation moved on from absentees to execution, and that is where England’s tournament will be judged. The next storyline is obvious: whether Tuchel’s chosen group can make his idea work when the margins get thin and one corner, one free-kick or one refereeing call changes everything.