No Bellingham no problem... this showed Tuchel has a lot in reserve

THOMAS TUCHEL is a brilliant linguist but, occasionally, does not fully understand the nuances of some English words.

- BY ANDY DUNN

That is why the Three Lions boss did not anticipate the furore when he said his mother found some of Jude Bellingham's behaviour “repulsive”.

And perhaps Tuchel did not appreciate the connotations when he said his England team would go into the World Cup finals as “underdogs”.

In the strictest sense of the word, he is correct. According to the bookmakers, Spain are the favourites to lift the trophy, so that makes every other nation an underdog.

But the word suggests it would be a surprise if England won the tournament. And that is most definitely NOT the case.

If Tuchel’s team is an underdog, it has one hell of a bite.

Of course, games such as this one in Riga always come with the obvious caveat. Do not read too much into routine wins against opposition as starkly limited as Latvia were.

But we can read plenty into an overall campaign that has seen England qualify for the finals with a couple of games to spare.