Football Daily - World Cup: England's Anthony Barry Ahead Of Norway

Episode Date: July 10, 2026

England Assistant Manager Anthony Barry speaks with our senior football reporter Ian Dennis ahead of their quarter-final match against Norway. He shares his thoughts on Jarell Quansah's two-match ban for his red card against Mexico and talks about the dynamic between him with Thomas Tuchel, the team spirit and what lies ahead with Norway. 0’11 – Thoughts on Jarrell Quansah suspension 0’46 – 20 years ago on from helping Accrington Stanley win National League 2’20 – The team spirit shown in Mexico and gaining focus for Norway 3’50 – The brotherhood within the England team & preparing to go all the way 6’18 – The dynamic between him and Thomas Tuchel 8’39 – The challenge of Norway that lies ahead and similarities to England 10’06 – Do they dare to dream at this point?

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and the two games suspension? Disappointing. Disappointing, not with the decision, just the fact that we lose a good player. A fantastic player, we believe he has a huge career ahead of him. He was excelling in training, and of course we have some injuries in that position, so it looked like her space had opened up for Gerell.

But the decision's being made, we won't waste any more energy on it overall for us. We lose a good player for two games, but it's just another hurdle that we offer. overcome. Now as far as you're concerned, 20 years ago, you were helping Akrington Stanley win the National League. Here you are now and you're 10 days away from potentially helping England win a World Cup. How do you reflect? In shock at the question because 20 years ago was really winning the league for Ackington. Yeah, I didn't know that. I react to it now by, it's my job. That's what

Thomas and I were brought in to do to try and help this fantastic team, take a step towards winning the biggest title. We all know, Gareth had done a huge amount of work in the past. Thomas and our job was to come in and try and help us get over the line. But there's still three steps to go. Three steps we intend to take. And the first one of them is nowhere. I was struck by a quote of yours in March that he gave to BBC Sport.

And you said that the team spirit, the fuel in the car is the team spirit. So how is the tank looking at the moment? I think anybody that watched the Mexico game would see that the tank is full. We think it's an absolute joy to work with these players every day. If you could feel the spirit in the training ground,

see the spirit around the hotel, see the way they interact, and it's just a pleasure to be around. But then the most important thing for that is that it transfers to the pitch and I think for the first real, real time that everybody's seen that team spirits

in Mexico I think only a team that's together that's unified, that the relationships are authentic and deep, could really overcome what was a huge obstacle in Mexico. It was already hard enough with the altitude with 11 players, but to arrive at 10 players

I've seen some people speak about Thomas and our tactics and we get praise for this and praise for that. All the praise goes on, the players and as I said what got them over the line was this team spirit and this brotherhood that they built in the last 18 months is the worry now coming down both mentally and physically from the high and the elation of such an achievement that now you've got to get this focus right for Norway no it's certainly not a worry for me if the next game was maybe a step down from Mexico then you could have

them concerns but it's a work of quarterfinal so I don't think there will be any difficulty in motivating these players or then motivating themselves. As I said, there's three steps away from the biggest prize in world football and I don't think physical or emotional motivation will be a challenge for us. Because I've been doing my homework and you did an interview with the written press back in November and you said the team that wins the World Cup will be one of moments. It will be a team you're going to suffer.

In many ways that quote, that interview that you gave them is quite prophetic because that is England at the moment, isn't it? England have been a team in moments, and they have had to suffer a little bit, and yet England is still in the competition. We always felt that we're not so sure that even on international football, when you have players for such a short period of the time, that you can build this fantastic football.

I think it's really, really difficult, so that's what we try to build a team spirit and a brotherhood. And I think with the heat, with all of the travel, with the eighth game at the end of a long, long Premier League season, I think it's just about finding the moment, taking the moments when they come, that you won't play the most amazing aesthetic football for 90 minutes. I think we will be searching for the wrong goal.

I think what we are searching for is to go step by step, find a way to win each game. And right now then players are doing it, and of course we suffered in the last game. I think that there's something beautiful about suffering like that and coming through and coming over the line. And hopefully now that serves as a, a base for the players to really take the handbreak off and go for the next 11 days.

If England do go all the way, from the Panama match on the 27th of June, you're looking at six games in a 22-day period. Give us some insight as to the demands that you and the players and Thomas Dukle everybody faces if you are to be successful. It's a challenge, of course, but it's something that we were aware of before the tournament. It's something that Thomas and I have built a schedule for many months, how to periodise our energy, how to periodise the training. There's no shock to us.

We knew that every hour counts in between games, how to use it, whether that's rest them well, whether that's training well, whether that's eating well, all of the above that we try to take care of every hour in between each game because it's crucially important. The schedule is a challenge, but it was the same for all the other 48 teams. It's the same for the other seven teams remaining, so it's no shock to us. and that's maybe the gift for these players as well they're used to play in every three, four days. These are world-class players, world-class athletes,

everyone's prepared for the last step. We just come on the back of two days off. We always knew if we got through Mexico that the players would have two days to breathe and to recalibrate and get ready to go again. And we've certainly seen that re-energized team in training the last two days. And when you talk about that schedule,

and I actually wanted to ask Thomas this when I spoke to him at West Palm Beach before the World Cup started with it being his first international tournament is that his sort of like vision or is he leaning on you with your experience from Belgium at the World Cup? I think we always lean on each other

of course he's the boss and makes the decisions and rightly so because he's world-class at that but we lean on each other for everything we share ideas we brainstorm of course we speak about my experiences with Portugal and with Belgium it would be stupid not to but overall we're quite creative people and every time a challenge

come to us we look back, we use evidence from the past but we try to find our own way and right now we're navigating through the waters we arrive where 11 days left three more steps and as I said it's three steps that we intend to take So what is the dynamic like between the two of you?

Excellent we spend a lot of time together whether that's working now or personal we spend a lot of time on the phone on teams meetings in St George's Park now we're in the hotel together 24-7 so it's all in it's a relationship there as a young English coach for me it's a gift to be around a manager like him he is in my opinion absolutely world-class and right now he is in his best moment on his best form really in the in the deep

waters of a competition is when I think he comes to his best and I think the players see and feel are at the moment. So the dynamic between me and him right now is we spend a lot of time together, we push each other and on the back of me and him pushing each other, we push the team. And you've been together for three years. What do you think are the attributes of you that he values you so highly? I think it's probably a question for him. I don't know if he values me so highly. I don't know how he feels. I think he does from speaking to him. I just think that we worked together well we both have the same aspirations to try and win the biggest titles. We are both completely, completely healthily obsessed, I would say.

Football is our life. When we got offered an opportunity in a job like this, we knew it would take absolutely everything from us, but we were both willing to give it. As I said, it's been 18 months of work, 18 months of really in the trenches together, but we're on the last leg now. There's light at the end of the tunnel. And it's just about staying together, Thomas and I, stay connected, and trust our skill set to try and get these players over the line.

And what about the challenge of Norway that lies ahead? A great challenge, another fantastic challenge. I love their fans, I love their celebrations, I love their colours. I think this is what the World Cup's all about. We'll have two of the best sets of supporters in the whole tournament together in Miami. I think it would be an amazing spectacle. I think they have many players there. everybody knows whether it's Odergaard, whether it's Harland, whether it's Soloff,

they have some fantastic offensive players, but overall they're a little bit like us. They're a team. They're a real team. They run for each other. They fight for each other. You can tell that they have a good relationship between the team and the nation. Now everybody's together and on one side and pulling in the same direction and that's powerful. But as I said, the way I would describe them, I would also describe us.

So it's two teams going head to head in Miami. and we'll be ready. It would be wrong just to focus on Harlem though, wouldn't it? Of course. As I said, it's a team. They're excellent as set pieces. They have other threats. The front line is full of threats, playing in some of the biggest teams in Europe.

Odegaard is obviously a Premier League winner and captain now, so they've beaten some good teams to arrive where they are. It's no shock and there's no fluke at this stage of the tournament. Whoever's in the last day with us deserves it and they have our full respect. We're preparing properly for the game. As I said, our players had two days off. We came back in, now full focus on Norway,

and it's step one of three. And do you dare to dream at this stage? We've been dreaming for 18 months. I think when you're in elite sport, dreaming is one of the most important things. But a dream is just a dream without work and without goals and with daily input, and we're trying to keep both alive

that every night we go to bed, excited about what could be. But we wake up the next morning, and totally focused on the job in hand and working as hard and as smart as we can on a daily basis. And I hear you're a bit of a star at halftime? So people keep saying, but I certainly wouldn't call myself a star,

just a person doing his job. We get asked to do a question at halftime. The decision was whether Thomas or I would do it. We didn't want to put the responsibility onto a player. Thomas does more than enough media, so it's my turn to share the workload. It'd be nice if you had three more interviews to do at half time though, wouldn't it?

then I wouldn't be complaining about you. Absolutely no. Good luck. Thank you. Ballandor, France, footballer. This is the story of the greatest rivalry in the history of sport. A rivalry that split football into two fates for a generation. There could be no, Omesse and Ronaldo, are both great players.

There had to be one that was better. They 100 million percent pushed each other to the next level. You know, we were the lucky ones who got to see it. I'm Steve Crossman. This is Sporting Giants, Messi v. Ronaldo. Listen first on BBC Sounds. The United States is about to mark its 250th anniversary. And so on the Global Story podcast from the BBC,

we're telling surprising tales of American influence on the world stage and in ordinary people's lives all across the globe. We have this ability to export our story, and a lot of people have bought it. I feel like the American dream is alive, but not well. From the BBC, it's the United States at 250. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

The 2026 World Cup started with 48 teams and we've now reached the knockout stage. Records have been broken. The way that Messi has been able to score all these goals late in his career. He's happy to play football and broken records is the consequence for him. And new heroes have emerged.

This country's caught the fever. Casual fans are now die-hard fans. And The More Than the Score podcast is bringing you the stories beyond the score lines. More than The Score from the BBC World Service. Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.