Thomas Tuchel has been carried through this World Cup by his star men. It's time for the England boss to step up and make his mark, writes IAN LADYMAN

Once the drama of Atlanta was over and the adrenaline had ceased to flow, the most relaxed man in the corridors of that beautiful, vast, modern stadium was Thomas Tuchel.

‘Happy?’ he asked with a smile as he walked through the interview area. ‘You had better be.’

Out here in America, as this wonderful World Cup rolls on, Tuchel’s public messaging has been consistent. Progress is all that really matters, no matter how it comes.

To a point he is right. Ultimately the only beauty that really matters at a tournament like this is the cold feel of gold in your hands at the end. But it was only after the thrill of the moment had left the system here in Georgia that we perhaps realised how close England had come. Fifteen minutes from a premature end to their World Cup. Fifteen minutes from humiliation. It’s not an exaggeration.

Inside the stadium it always felt as though England would score against DR Congo. There was a greater momentum and danger to their football than there had been against Ghana and, for large periods, Panama in the group stages.

Once one goal came, another followed and it was not a surprise. The best team won. Just.

However, the truth for Tuchel is that his captain Harry Kane had dragged him from a hole again. Kane’s headed equaliser was a routine finish for a striker of his exceptional quality. His winning goal was not. It was fabulous, a goal from nowhere.

And the fact it saved Tuchel’s players from the rigours of extra-time ahead of what will be a challenging trip to altitudinous Mexico this weekend will not have been lost on the England manager.

So now it is his turn. Now it is Tuchel’s turn to lay his credentials on the line as a coach, an organiser and a motivator.

This is currently not an England team playing to discernible patterns or rhythms. They look short of belief and at times in possession a little lost. They are relying too much on individual turns from Kane and Jude Bellingham and that will not win a World Cup.

At least in Atlanta, Tuchel’s substitutions carried a little more conviction. They came early and they worked.

Anthony Gordon and Bukayo Saka arrived with half an hour to go and the former was particularly influential in England’s recovery. Against Ghana, on England’s worst day of an indifferent tournament thus far, too little happened too late from that point of view.

England are horribly one-dimensional at this World Cup. They crossed the ball 35 times against Congo. That was their biggest total in a World Cup game since 1966. That’s 35 crosses for one goal and that’s not a return that tells you it’s working.

Tuchel’s side seem incapable, or unwilling, of working anything through the central areas of the field. No triangles, no breaking of the lines.

Part of this comes from Tuchel and his assistant Anthony Barry’s conviction that teams have now become so adept at implementing low blocks, of constricting space in the final third of the field, that the way forward is either round the side of them or over the top.

Tuchel backed himself into a corner with his squad selection. He has an awful lot of like-for-like replacements on his bench with no way of every really mixing it up. Arguably, he has wasted three of his 26 places on the vibe merchants Jordan Henderson and Dan Burn and the spare defender Trevoh Chalobah. Had he had players like Cole Palmer and Trent Alexander-Arnold on the bench on Wednesday, they would undoubtedly have been sent on.

So it is up to Tuchel to make the most of the group he has selected and given that there is not much time between the games for training at the moment, much of that influence has to come in-game. It’s an essential part of tournament coaching.

Carlo Ancelotti won the game for Brazil against Japan with his half-time interventions and Tuchel’s influence was felt for England against Congo.

Gareth Southgate, Tuchel’s predecessor, had a bad tournament in this regard at the 2024 European Championships. It was one of several signs that a very good England manager was reaching the end of the mental and emotional road.

Tuchel is very much at the start of this journey. All being well he will lead England to the home Euros of 2028. In the here and now, however, he once again has a jigsaw puzzle to solve ahead of Sunday’s game against the co-hosts.

His right back problem will only be solved truly when Reece James returns from injury. He has progressed well but the Azteca Stadium would not be a good place to test out a damaged hamstring.

Djed Spence surely cannot play again. He is not an international standard full-back. The obvious way to go would be to move Ezri Konsa to right-back and partner John Stones and Marc Guehi. But that was the obvious way to go against Congo and Tuchel chose otherwise. He thought he knew best and was wrong.

England have one major hurdle to overcome here and it comes in the early hours of Monday morning in Mexico. If England do get through and face, perhaps, Brazil in the last eight then opportunity would present itself. Ancelotti’s team have deep flaws of their own may not be able to live with England physically. Tuchel’s team start as favourites.

England have flirted with disaster and survived. We can thank Harry Kane for that. The England captain has cemented his reputation as one of the world’s very best here in America. Coach Tuchel must now do the same.