Thomas Tuchel has bought into American military term which prepares for chaos

THOMAS TUCHEL has bought into the FA’s use of an American military term which prepares for chaos.

VUCA stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous — issues that are countered by Vision, Understanding, Clarity and Agility.

The acronym was used to describe the difficult geopolitical landscape following the Cold War and is now also common in corporate boardrooms — and the FA’s Wembley HQ.

Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous certainly describes life under Tuchel since England touched down in Florida on June 1.

The Three Lions go into this mouth-watering, potentially explosive last-16 clash with co-hosts Mexico on the back of a bizarre 48 hours which even saw the kick-off time in doubt due to the weather forecast.

Storms were also a feature of the first warm-up friendly against New Zealand in Tampa, Florida, with the match delayed by an hour.

An injury to Tino Livramento ended the Newcastle full-back’s World Cup before it even started.

Tuchel was rightly criticised after the mind-numbing 0-0 draw with Ghana in the second Group L game — which meant finishing top was not a certainty — while the 2-0 win over Panama was not exactly five-star.

And then there were fitness issues for Reece James and Jarell Quansah at right-back.

England struggled against DR Congo in Wednesday’s last-32 clash, with Jude Bellingham being told to calm down by James before the Real Madrid midfielder exchanged some words with Declan Rice.

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It has not exactly been plain sailing.

And now England go to the Azteca Stadium — which sits 2,240 metres above sea level — to lay the ghost of 1986.

The atmosphere will be bonkers, like nothing any of the players have experienced before.

Tuchel hopes it is “karma” that England will win where they were cheated by Diego Maradona’s World Cup Hand of God 40 years ago.

Equally, he wants the team to keep calm and carry on as they were frenzied in a disjointed first 23 minutes against DR Congo, which saw them lose their heads after conceding in the seventh minute.

Mexico delivered a rip-roaring first-half display against Ecuador in their knockout clash and scored twice in nine first-half minutes.

England arrived in Mexico City on Friday night local time — and were greeted with boos from some locals.

Expecting a tough start in the difficult conditions at altitude, Tuchel said: “It will feel very, very hard. That’s what other teams tell us, who went in there without acclimatising.

“People told us it is the first 15-20 minutes where you basically hit a wall.

“It gets better. And that’s why Mexico start their games like this.

“They just want to suffocate you. We have a plan, we will be fine.”

Tuchel also knows there cannot be a repeat of what happened early on against DR Congo in Atlanta.

He added: “We’re fully aware it took us basically a whole quarter to adapt in our press. And it leaves us in the wrong moment. So we know and we worked on it.

“We need to be more in sync, be more compact, check our shoulders and be smart and pick the right moments, when to go into the press.

“Our attacks were too fast. We need to understand that sometimes, the door is closed and it doesn’t help if you rush into it. Find another way.

“Also to recharge. Otherwise we just run our batteries down with a huge effort and not so much reward.”

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When he took over in January last year, Tuchel claimed England had a lack of identity at Euro 2024 — but his team have not performed any better here.

The highlight was one good half against Croatia in the 4-2 win and the dramatic end — thanks to captain Harry Kane — against DR Congo.

As for Mexico, it will be an absolute spectacle and 90 minutes to savour.
Tuchel admitted: “We know what it takes to calm a crowd down.

“Our players are fully aware it is an iconic moment.

“They will worship it and it will bring out the best in them, I’m sure.”