England boss Thomas Tuchel says his side will arrive at the World Cup finals next summer as ‘uunderdogs’ despite their recent touurnament record.
England reached the semi-finals in Russia in 2018 before losing to France in the quarter-finals in Qatar.
Gareth Southgate also took England to back-to-back Euros finals without ultimately lifting a trophy.
But Tuchel, whose side play Wales in a friendly on Thursday before facing Latvia in a qualifier next Tuesday, says not winning a trophy since 1966 holds England back.
“We will arrive as underdogs in the World Cup because we haven’t won it for decades,” he said.
“W we will play against teams who have repeatedly won it during that time, so we need to arrive as a team otherwise we have no chance.”
England have at least reached the quarter-finals of the last four tournaments but Tuchel believes they are underdogs “because of history, the climate and the circumstances”.
“If you’ve never won Wimbledon, you may be one of the favourites but you are not the favourite,” the England boss said.
“You can go and if you come close, OK, you are within the pool, but you are not the favourite. It is just how it is.
“There is Brazil, there is Argentina, Spain, France and they just did it recently.
“It doesn’t mean we have no chance and we know very well. First we will qualify and then we will know exactly why we go there.”
The Three Lions could possibly secure qualification against Latvia next week.
