When is the FIFA World Cup final… and thrilling Golden Boot showdown that looms<\/a><\/b><\/p>\nMeanwhile, England captain Harry Kane said he was \u201cgutted\u201d for England and their fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cGutted for the boys, gutted for everyone — the team, the staff, the fans,\u201d he told the BBC.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe played a good game, the large majority of it. When we went 1-0 up we seemed to try and hold on, which at this level is not enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, just gutted because we\u2019ve worked so hard to be here and the lads have given every last bit of running, blood, sweat, tears.\u201d <\/p>\n
Bayern Munich forward Kane, who scored six goals during the tournament, said Tuchel\u2019s men had struggled to repel constant attacks from the defending champions.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the goal, whether it was them putting more men forward or us not being able to match them man for man, it was just wave after wave,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLads were putting blocks in but, in the end, it just wasn\u2019t enough.\u201d <\/p>\n
He said England had not planned to rely on defending after Gordon\u2019s goal. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we went ahead the messaging was to go again and get another goal,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen once they scored their two goals it was to try and find something but we couldn\u2019t quite get the momentum back in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once Argentina equalised, it was going to be near-impossible for England to harness any attacking momentum with the likes of towering centre back Dan Burn on the pitch.<\/p>\n
The Newcastle giant was also brought off the bench against Mexico and Norway to combat crosses late in the game.<\/p>\n
But after falling behind in stoppage time, Tuchel had to roll the dice by bringing on Marcus Rashford and Ivan Toney in place of defenders John Stones and Djed Spence in search of an equaliser.<\/p>\n
It was a necessary backflip but Tuchel backed the original defensive ploy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe decided to go to a back five because there were too many gaps and they were far too open. We did it to close the gaps inside and be stronger in the air,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cStraight after the goal, with no substitution, we just conceded too many chances. We tried to help. But of course the responsibility is on the coach.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former England manager Gareth Southgate was regularly criticised for being too defensive in crunch moments in major tournaments.<\/p>\n
The semi-final collapse drew parallels to the Southgate era with former England forward Paul Merson telling Sky Sports News that \u201cTuchel has come in and done the same as Gareth\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/amp-img>Thomas Tuchel, Manager of England, walks off the pitch with Kobbie Mainoo #16 after the 1-2 loss during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Semi Final match between England and Argentina at Atlanta Stadium on July 15, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Shaun Botterill \/ GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA \/ Getty Images via AFP)<\/span>Source: AFP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nSuch observations led to questions of how big of an imprint Tuchel has actually had on this England squad with the suggestion that they reverted to their old ways under pressure.<\/p>\n
As a result, the manager was if we saw Thomas Tuchel\u2019s England during this World Cup. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know. I have no answer to that question because I don\u2019t really know what that means,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know. 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. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a lot of miles, a lot of travelling. We played in altitude, we played with ten men, we played in the heat. We overcame every obstacle. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe were very, very close today. It\u2019s not the moment now to analyse the full tournament. We just went out because we lost a crucial match.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Kane was also left unsure of what the \u201cmissing piece\u201d was for England.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a lot of good moments in this tournament, a lot of good games. Another semi-final. We talk about knocking on the door,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re close. We just need to find, yeah, that missing piece in the final stage of the tournament. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, these tournaments take it out of you so much effort and pressure and mentality – and we\u2019ve shown a lot of that throughout the whole six or seven weeks we\u2019ve been together. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just missing that final piece.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/amp-ima-video><\/p>\nArgentina fans react to epic comeback | 02:26<\/p>\n
<\/div>\nTuchel might not be there to find that missing piece at the next major tournament.<\/p>\n
The former Bayern Munich, Chelsea and PSG boss took over as England manager last year on an initial deal that took him through to the end of this World Cup.<\/p>\n
But he recently signed a two-year extension taking him through to the 2028 Euros, which England will co-host with the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales.<\/p>\n
Tuchel can be sacked by the FA before then if a final four finish is deemed unsatisfactory, however, with chief executive Mark Bullingham confirming recently that the manager\u2019s deal contains performance clauses.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s performance clauses in every single contract at the FA, but I\u2019m not going into any detail of what they are,\u201d Bullingham told reporters earlier in the tournament. <\/p>\n
As for whether there is a break clause which Tuchel can activate, he added: \u201cWe can hold him to the contract.\u201d<\/p>\n
That will not need to be the case, however, as Tuchel revealed he wants to stay on.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe keep on going with the contract until the home Euros,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to that even though right now it\u2019s difficult to look that far ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the flip side, Argentina certainly do not lack that magic touch as Messi inspired another escape act to reach a second straight World Cup final.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I\u2019m lost for words. A great happiness for our country and our people. And another great happiness for this group who never stop surprising me and never know when they are beaten,\u201d Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can tell them that we are going to try to win, we\u2019re going to leave it all out there, but the truth is that to do this is very difficult. It\u2019s very difficult for people to understand what our players have given. It is so impressive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are unique. It\u2019s not arrogance, it is all heart. Today so many people arrived here to support us and for that I am truly grateful – they helped us to victory. This shirt merits us giving absolutely everything possible until the very end. To not spare anything at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England manager Thomas Tuchel said he has \u201cno regrets\u201d after his team were beaten 2-1 by defending champions Argentina in the World Cup semi-finals on Thursday morning. Anthony Gordon\u2019s strike had put the Three Lions on the cusp of a first men\u2019s World Cup final since they lifted the 1966 trophy but Lionel Messi inspired […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":253121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[156],"class_list":{"0":"post-253120","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}