It got off to a disastrous start for the 1966 winners when DR Congo took the lead after just seven minutes. England had been hurtling towards a humiliating early exit before Kane, as he has done on many occasions before, popped up to save the day.
Things don’t get any easier for England in the last-16, as they’ve been paired against co-hosts Mexico. It is by far Tuchel’s toughest test since being appointed as England boss, with Mexico having lost just two competitive matches at the Azteca in the last 56 years.
As such, Tuchel has called on all England fans – regardless of age – to get behind the boys in the early hours of Monday morning. That includes schoolchildren, with the German saying: “Write an excuse for school and let them watch football. The World Cup is only every four years and we need everyone’s support, especially the children.”
England’s clash with Mexico is pencilled in for a 1am start in the UK, meaning many fans are at risk of missing the match, given it’s back to work for most the next morning. Should England progress through that, it will be another late start on the following Saturday for a quarter-final against either Brazil or Norway.
And Tuchel has challenged his players to step it up a gear ahead of the Mexico game, telling the BBC: “We would have liked it [to be less stressful], but if everyone gets what he likes, then everyone gets an early goal, and another goal, and an easy afternoon.
“That’s not how it is. You have to deal with the situations as they come. After the first water break, there were three, four, five, big chances we had, I think a penalty situation maybe in our favour, and we kept knocking.
“Kept knocking, knocking, knocking to crack that rock and to make it happen. Their goalkeeper had unbelievable saves, so it got more and more difficult, but the reaction and the belief was one-of-a-kind, and they were ready to keep doing what was necessary to do, and we found a way to win. Well deserved, by the way.”