Thomas Tuchel has disclosed that England will construct protective barriers at their Kansas City training base to thwart potential spying, in light of the Spygate controversy that has rocked football. The German manager expressed concern over the exposed nature of the Swope Soccer Village training pitches, which are adjacent to a public park, making them vulnerable to observation.
Tuchel's Concerns and Response
When questioned by Daily Mail Sport about England's measures against espionage, Tuchel mimicked firing a bow and arrow before stating: 'Yes, we will take care of that, of course. As you know, Argentina had the first option to choose a very secluded high-end facility in Kansas. So like always, you try to influence what you can influence. We are very happy with the training facility, especially what the FA and all the people in charge made now out of it. I think it suits all of our needs. But I agree it can be overlooked. I think we will have security there and we will build a bit of protection.'
Importance of Privacy
Tuchel emphasized the critical nature of training confidentiality, especially on matchday minus-one: 'Because of course it’s crucial that if you train on a matchday minus-one you do your team build-ups, you do your set-pieces, you finalise with penalties … you don’t want the opponent to know. It just gives you a crucial advantage. So we’re trying to be as private as possible.'
No Spy Tactics for England
When asked if England would adopt Southampton's controversial approach of sending analysts to spy on opponents, Tuchel firmly replied: 'We will not send!'
