Football clichés rise as World Cup enters knockout stages, AI analysis finds

Stockholm, July 9, 2026 – As the World Cup enters the knockout stages, football managers are using 50% more clichés than they did during the group stage, according to new AI analysis from Sinch. Based on all 355 pre and post match press conferences so far, the company's xC (Expected Cliché) Tracker shows coaches increasingly replacing tactical explanations with familiar themes of heart, belief and togetherness as the pressure builds. Average xC scores rose from 28 during the group stage to 42 in the round of 16. (lower is better, indicating fewer clichés)

Monitoring across six languages, the findings show that the number of clichés used by managers increases the further the tournament goes on; up from 28xC at the end of the group stages to 42xC at the end of the round of 16. However, once the pressure is off and their team has been knocked out, the managers become more original in their reflection of events, particularly when there is controversy around their exit.

Tournament stage

Average xC

Group stage

28

Round of 16

42

Change

+50%

Table. Increase in average xC score from the group stage to the Round of 16. Source: Sinch

Individual managers also react very differently to events on the pitch. While some become significantly less clichéd after defeat, others rely more heavily on familiar football language after victory. The xC Tracker's new "90 minute swing" analysis measures how each manager's communication changes between their pre match and post match press conferences.

The analysis also shows that managers with the lowest xC scores  consistently focused on tactics, team selections and performance. In contrast, managers with higher xC scores were more likely to rely on broad themes such as belief, character and togetherness, which may be harder to discredit than specific team tactics.

"As the pressure rises, managers increasingly replace tactical explanations with messages about heart, belief and togetherness. Our data shows that the coaches who continue to explain their decisions with clarity are the ones most likely to keep fans on their side. At Sinch, communication is what we do, and analyzing how people communicate under pressure is a natural extension of that expertise," says Robert Gerstmann, Co-Founder and Chief Evangelist at Sinch.

Managers speak from the heart

As managers face mounting pressure as their teams’ progress throughout the knockout rounds, their language during pre- and post-match press conferences increasingly focused on ‘heart’ and ‘character’ with references to mentality, spirit, togetherness and courage growing three-fold. This jump from representing 8% of clichés in the group stage to 24% in the round of 16 reflects the biggest thematic cliché shift across the tournament so far.

In contrast, forward-looking and analytical language in pre- and post-match press manager conferences dropped throughout the knockout rounds as specific mentions of performance, results and “one-game-at-a-time” all drop by 3 points.

England manager Thomas Tuchel recorded his highest xC score of the tournament (512) following England's victory over Mexico. His repeated references to "pure mentality", "heart" and "it is what it is" illustrate how he has increasingly adopted the emotional language of English football.

The most common clichés

As the tournament heads into the quarter final stage, the most widely used single phrases across the field are “we respect every opponent” (9 managers, 15 uses), “we focus on what we can control” (9 managers, 11 uses) and “we know our qualities” (6 managers, 9 uses). “It is what it is” and “we take it step by step” have also become the signature knockout fillers.

Table: Most used phrases during the tournament. Source Sinch

Methodology

The xC Tracker – powered by Sinch – analyses every coach press conference at the 2026 World Cup, measuring responses against a 205-phrase dictionary of football clichés across six languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German and Arabic.

Each phrase was verified by native-speaking editors and only included if it appeared repeatedly across major tournament press conferences, could apply regardless of result, and would be recognized by fans as a familiar football fallback.

The AI detects exact matches, variations and paraphrased responses, while each phrase is assigned a cliché score from 3–10 based on how overused it is. References to religion, personal hardship or condolences are excluded from analysis. For further real time data analysis, please find Sinch’s xC tracker here.

Director Corporate Communications

E-mail: Sinch@brands2life.com

About Sinch
Sinch's vision is to connect every business with every customer, everywhere in the world. As the intelligent communications infrastructure for the AI era, Sinch powers over 900 billion customer interactions annually for more than 200,000 customers globally. Leading global enterprises and AI innovators rely on Sinch to strengthen customer relationships and deliver seamless experiences across messaging, email, and voice. Profitable since its founding in 2008, Sinch generated net sales of USD 3 billion (SEK27 billion) in 2025 and has over 4,000 Sinchers in 60 countries, with headquarters in Stockholm. Sinch is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm (XSTO: SINCH). Visit us at sinch.com.