ENGLAND TUCHEL SO CLOSE TO

MAKING WORLD CUP WOULD FULFIL DREAM BOSS THOMAS HAD AS A 17-YEAR-OLD

- BY JOHN CROSS

THOMAS TUCHEL has been dreaming about starring in a “magical” World Cup since he was a teenager.

The England manager has led the Three Lions to the brink of qualification for the United States next summer and already has thoughts of winning the trophy.

It has brought back childhood memories of playing in the back garden while he was watching England at Italia 90.

Tuchel recalled turning his collar up to look like former England winger Chris Waddle and remembering Paul Gascoigne and the epic semifinal penalty heartbreak against his own West Germany, who went on to lift the trophy.

"I was watching like crazy," said Tuchel of the 1990 World Cup in Italy.

"I was Chris Waddle with the collar up in my garden and I was Paul Gascoigne, and I was all these kinds of guys."