Wayne Rooney delivers Thomas Tuchel verdict after England lose World Cup semi-final | OneFootball

Former England captain has not held back on Thomas Tuchel’s decisions in World Cup semi-final

Thomas Tuchel cost England a place in the World Cup final with his second half substitutions in the semi-final defeat to Argentina.

That is the view of former Three Lions captain Wayne Rooney, who has been extremely critical about Tuchel’s changes after Anthony Gordon had broken the deadlock.

In the final 20 minutes at the Atlanta Stadium, the England head coach - in an attempt to preserve the 1-0 lead - took off the goalscorer and brought on defenders Ezri Konsa, Dan Burn and Nico O’Reilly.

Those changes ultimately backfired as Enzo Fernandez equalised in the 85th minute before Lautaro Martinez headed home Lionel Messi’s cross in stoppage time to seal Argentina’s spot in a second World Cup final in a row.

Speaking on the BBC, Rooney said: “If you’re an attacking player on that pitch and you go 1-0 up and you see the changes which the manager’s making, you’re losing belief, there’s only so many times you can get away with it.

“Then you start thinking, oh no we’re going to sit back for this long, how are we going to get through this?

“Once we got the first goal, we didn't look to go for the second goal.

“For the players, and for me, Thomas Tuchel made the decision, and when you make the decision it is a gamble. The gamble he made was to go with five at the back, which allowed them to dictate the game.

Criticised: Thomas Tuchel

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England’s World Cup 2026 journey is not yet over despite defeat to Argentina on Wednesday night as they will take on France in the bronze medal match on Saturday night in Miami.

The Three Lions were last involved in a third-place play-off eight years ago in Russia, losing 2-0 to Belgium in Saint Petersburg.

With the World Cup Golden Boot race still very much alive, Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe have reasons to take the bronze medal match seriously in an attempt to scoop the individual prize.