'Where’s the "one of our own" that’s remotely good enough? The FA needed to be pragmatic, not patriotic.' Writing exclusively for FourFourTwo Henry Winter reminds England fans why they have good reason to be smiling

Thomas Tuchel, Head Coach of England, looks on during a training session at St Georges Park on March 18, 2025 in Burton-upon-Trent, England Journalist and Media pundit, Henry Winter looks on from the press box during the international friendly match between England and Bosnia & Herzegovina at St James' Park on June 03, 2024 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.

When Thomas Tuchel delivered his opening team talk at Mainz in 2009, he began with a smile.

Before the words, he used a facial expression to make the right impression. Tuchel wanted to set a tone of positivity with his players in his first major job as a head coach. So he smiled.

One of the players in that Mainz meeting, reaching retirement some years later, wrote to Tuchel, ranked at no.10 in FourFourTwo's list of the best managers in the world right now, saying how much that smile meant. Coach and players were all in it together. The German’s task now is to put a smile on England’s face.