👀 Tuchel opens up: it was Argentina's ruthless football | OneFootball

England manager Thomas Tuchel broke his silence in the FA documentary Reflections as he revisited the agonising World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina. Despite finishing the tournament in third place after a 6-4 win over France, the loss to the reigning world champions left a deep mark on the German coach.

The tactical siege and the paradox of sitting deep

Tuchel admitted the intense frustration of seeing Argentina’s momentum pin his team back in the closing minutes. “Argentina play very fast and ruthless football, a kind of ‘fuck it’ football. They can attack in a 3-1-6 shape with four forwards and Messi. I literally felt like we weren’t going to survive, that we were waiting for death,” he explained in conversation with Daniel Sturridge.

A questioned but accepted defensive approach

The coach defended his controversial decision to switch to a back five with 20 minutes left, a system with which he had successfully seen out the previous matches against Mexico and Norway. Although the move did not prevent the comeback in stoppage time, he took full responsibility for the approach.

A scar that will endure

"No one is hurting more than I am. This decision is my scar, not yours, and I have to learn to live with it," Tuchel concluded, acknowledging the heavy burden of not having held on to the early lead.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.

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