World Cup Story Feed / 世界杯事情流
World Cup Story Feed / 世界杯事情流
When the national anthem was playing, Thomas Tuchel couldn't look at his players.
When the national anthem was being played, Thomas Tuchel couldn't look at his own players.
Fifty photographers with long telephoto lenses formed a human wall less than half a meter away from him. His line of sight was completely blocked, so the England manager could only crane his neck and stare at the giant screen on the stadium roof while singing the anthem.
When the pre-match ceremony turned out like this, the head coach became a spectator of his own game.
Tuchel's outburst may seem like a complaint about the cameras being in his face, but it's actually a geometric problem.
Wembley's well-organized photographer positioning turned into a face-to-face human wall in the US, with the root cause being the forced insertion of football into an American football stadium. An NFL standard field is 48.8 meters wide, while the FIFA recommended standard is 68 meters. The difference is nearly 20 meters. To host the 2026 World Cup, NFL venues like the Dallas AT&T Stadium can only expand the turf outward to its limit. The distance from the sideline to the stadium barrier is severely compressed, with some areas less than 2 meters.
FIFA competition rules state in black and white that the coach's technical area must be at least 2 meters from the sideline. Under the deformed renovation of the American football stadium, this standard is rendered void. Coaches can only stand in the photography zone, competing for space with telephoto lenses.
This hasn't been Tuchel's problem alone for some time.
Julian Nagelsmann had already fired shots, complaining that the photographers were too close, "so close it's as if they're shooting my nose hairs from one centimeter away." Pep Guardiola has gotten agitated on the Premier League sideline, shouting at the fourth official and the cameras to "move back a bit, I can't see the game," clearly picked up by the interview microphones. Jürgen Klopp has also complained, saying that the sideline advertising boards and photographers invaded his space, leaving him no room even to turn around and vent.
At the World Cup level, there are typically 50 to 100 accredited broadcasters and photojournalists lined up along the sideline. The technical area is packed tight.
FIFA has tried to smooth things over.
Two compromise solutions have been offered: have the photographers move toward the sides, or have the coaching staff move to the side. Tuchel and his peers flatly refused.
Moving the coaching staff to the side is like asking the king to leave his throne. Tuchel clinging to the central axis is about guarding the psychological high ground of being the locker room boss. Taking one step under the cameras' noses would erode a chunk of his authority. Even if this throne is already surrounded by photographers' tripods, they would never voluntarily give up control of the central axis.
The load-bearing walls of Dallas AT&T Stadium aren't going to move outward on their own.
As long as the turf isn't expanded another ten meters outward, Tuchel will still have to crane his neck and watch the big screen during the national anthem in his next match.