Thomas Tuchel hailed Anthony Barry's 'brilliant' idea that helped England bounce back to beat DR Congo 2-1 at the World Cup on Wednesday night. The Three Lions fell behind to a Brian Cipenga goal after just seven minutes, but Harry Kane equalised on 75 minutes, heading home an Anthony Gordon cross, before scoring the winner on 86 minutes with a powerful effort from the edge of the box.
Rice's switch to right-back proves decisive
Kane's first goal came after smart work from Declan Rice on the byline, chipping the ball over to Gordon. Rice had been moved to right-back after Djed Spence was replaced by Eberechi Eze, who went into midfield. England have serious problems at right-back due to injuries to Tino Livramento, Reece James and Jarell Quansah, and Tuchel revealed it was his assistant's idea to put Rice there.
'It's something to take away,' said Tuchel. 'Anthony Barry had a brilliant idea in the end, when we were discussing it to put Declan there.' Asked what inspired the idea, he said: 'To have his quality from the side, get maybe more difficult crosses in there, more difficult to defend and more dangerous crosses from the out-swingers and have a bit more support for Bukayo [Saka]. And with Ebs [Eze] we had a bit more connection and help on the right side that helped to open it up so full credit to my assistant coach.'
Who is Anthony Barry?
Anthony Barry has become a vital part of Thomas Tuchel's staff with England and has been front and centre at the World Cup, conducting half-time interviews on TV. The Liverpool native had a playing career in the lower leagues with Accrington Stanley, Yeovil Town and Fleetwood Town, retiring in 2017. The 40-year-old began coaching before his playing days ended at Accrington Stanley and got his first big move when he joined Chelsea under Frank Lampard in 2020. Tuchel took over from Lampard and kept Barry on, developing their working relationship. Barry stayed with Chelsea while working internationally with Ireland, then Belgium and then Portugal. He moved with Tuchel to Bayern Munich in April 2023 and came with him to the England job, starting in January 2025.
Decisions ahead of Mexico clash
Tuchel and Barry now face big decisions ahead of the clash with Mexico at the Azteca on Sunday locally (1am Monday in the UK). Will he risk losing Rice's influence in midfield to play him at right-back? Who will start on the wings after frustration for starters Noni Madueke and Marcus Rashford against DR Congo? The England boss has accepted that Mexico will have an advantage no matter who he picks, with the altitude at the Azteca a bonus for the home team.
'My understanding is that we cannot adapt to the altitude. That is just a huge advantage that Mexico will have. It just takes too much time,' said Tuchel. 'We have only three days in between this match. This is physically just not possible to adapt to the altitude, which is quite high. We knew that before, so this is just something, it's just a disadvantage, with which we will have to deal, and I think we showed the attitude that we are ready for that, and from there we go.'
