Turf Luck: Tuchel's Only Regret After England's Azteca Epic Is Not Eating the Grass

England's players celebrated their statement World Cup victory over Mexico in all the traditional ways — arms aloft, tearful embraces, roars toward the travelling support. Their manager, it turns out, was left nursing a rather more unusual regret. Thomas Tuchel admitted after the final whistle at the Estadio Azteca that the one thing he wished he had done was eat some of the grass. The confession, delivered with the dry wit that has become his trademark in the England dugout, came moments after one of the most celebrated nights in the national team's recent history, as reported by BBC Sport. Victory over Mexico — one of the tournament's co-hosts — in the cauldron of the Azteca is an achievement very few visiting teams can claim. Perched more than 2,200 metres above sea level, the stadium has swallowed touring sides whole for decades, its thin air and relentless wall of noise providing an advantage Mexico have weaponised like no other nation. That England not only survived but flourished there says much about the resilience Tuchel has instilled in his squad. The turf itself carries a mystique all of its own. The only stadium ever to host two World Cup finals, the Azteca's hallowed surface was graced by Pelé lifting the Jules Rimet Trophy in 1970 and Diego Maradona hoisting football's greatest prize in 1986. Little wonder, perhaps, that a manager with an obvious sense of history fancied taking a literal piece of it home with him. For all the levity, the magnitude of the result should not be understated. Winning a World Cup match at the Azteca, against a co-host nation buoyed by an expectant continent, ranks among international football's most forbidding assignments. England passed the examination with a blend of defensive grit and attacking verve, silencing one of the game's great amphitheatres. Whether Tuchel gets a second bite — of opportunity, if not of grass — remains to be seen. Should England's World Cup odyssey keep the Azteca in play for the knockout rounds, the German may yet get his chance to make good on his appetising regret. One thing is certain: long after the tactical masterclasses are analysed and forgotten, football fans will remember the night England conquered the Azteca — and their manager was left wondering exactly what that legendary grass might have tasted like.