England manager, Thomas Tuchel slammed his team for a “too passive” performance in their 2026 FIFA World Cup semi-final exit against Argentina.
Anthony Gordon fired England ahead with a 55th-minute finish from Morgan Rogers’ cross, before Enzo Fernandez’s 85th minute strike and a 92nd-minute header from Lautaro Martinez completed Argentina’s comeback.
Tuchel post-match criticised his team live on UK broadcaster, BBC One for their passive play at 1-0 up which saw them give away a lot of chances to Argentina.
“We’re disappointed, we were so close but we got too passive after we scored and conceded a lot of chances.
“We could not turn the ball possession around and then conceded so many crosses, chances and shots.
“We were close but couldn’t keep the level up after we scored.”
Once 1-0 up, England switched to a five-man defence with Gordon substituted for Ezri Konsa which Tuchel explained was about trying “to help” his players as he felt that there were too many open gaps for Argentina to maximise, and feels that it is too simple to blame him for the defeat.
“They won every header, they kept crossing and crossing so we went to a back five to close the gaps inside and be strong in the air. Straight after our goal, without any substitutions, we conceded way too many crosses and way too many chances so we tried to help.
“Of course, the responsibility is on the coach and if it doesn’t go well, it is easy to say it was wrong.”
Tuchel however iterated that he takes responsibility for his analysis of the match amidst the various punditry of various coaches.
“You can discuss this with a million coaches [but] I have to make a decision on the pitch.
“I analysed the match and I did it a certain way so that’s my responsibility.”
Many fans felt that England should of kicked on and tried to score a second goal which Tuchel admitted was the right opinion, but revealed that he thought that introducing attacking substitutes wouldn’t help hence the descent into sloppiness.
“Yes but it doesn’t help if you can’t get the ball. We couldn’t get out.
“Of course we wanted to go for the second goal but I did not have the feeling that offensive substitutions would help. We stayed in our 4-4-2 but we became passive, more and more passive.
“We couldn’t win any balls, we couldn’t keep the ball so I think it was not a structural problem, we changed nothing. But the match changed completely.
“It’s no problem, I can understand these discussions are out there and there are millions of coaches after the game who know it better.”
The 52 year-old German however refused to dwell on defeat as he praised his players for their mental attitude but feels that now is not the time for a proper review ahead of their third-placed play-off against France on Saturday 18 July.
“In the moment, no regrets. The team gave everything and we were very, very close. We deserved to be up 1-0.
“We played one of our better matches, maybe our best match in the circumstances. The team was top, we couldn’t get over the line but no regrets.
“I think we saw the mentality throughout the match and the strong group. We played the matches how they were, we played against strong teams in the group, travelled a lot of miles, played at altitude, we played with 10 men, we played in the heat and we overcame every obstacle.
“We were very close today. It’s not the moment to analyse the full tournament, we just went out because we lost a crucial match.”
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