Tuchel says ‘no regrets’ after England catastrophe and names who’s responsible for Argentina defeat | OneFootball

England manager Thomas Tuchel has given his take on the Three Lions’ defeat to Argentina in the semi-finals of the 2026 World Cup and has accepted “responsibility” for the final result.

The Three Lions are out of the World Cup after losing 2-1 to Argentina in the semi-finals at Atlanta Stadium on Wednesday.

After a goalless first half, England took the lead in the 55th minute through Anthony Gordon.

Gordon, who moved to Barcelona from Newcastle United earlier this summer, found the back of the net after being fed by a brilliant right-wing cross from Morgan Rogers.

However, England went ultra-defensive thereafter, with Argentina, led by the inspired Lionel Messi, piling on the pressure.

Enzo Fernandez restored parity for Argentina on 85 minutes with a stunning strike from 25 yards.

Messi provided the second assist of the match when, in the second minute of injury time, he floated a cross from the right wing and Lautaro Martinez headed home.

Argentine were the better side for most of the second half, with manager Lionel Scaloni’s substitutions working.

As for England, Tuchel bringing on defenders Dan Burn, Nico O’Reilly and Enzi Konsa backfired.

After the match, Tuchel spoke to BBC One, and he admitted that the defeat is on him.

Thomas Tuchel says ‘no regrets’ after England defeat

Tuchel said: “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.”

When asked about his substitutions, Tuchel said: “I did also offensive substitutions in the last games, we just tried to help the players.

“We conceded [a chance] straight away and we decided to go to a back five because the gaps were far too open.

“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.”

On his thoughts of going for the second goal, the German boss said: “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.”

Tuchel was further asked if changes put more pressure on the defence.

The England boss responded by saying: “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.

“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 our because we lost a crucial match.”

‘Coaching catastrophe from Thomas Tuchel’

As one would imagine, former players and pundits have been hammering Tuchel for dropping deep after England scored the first goal of the match and for his substitutions.

Former Chelsea striker Chris Sutton said on BBC Radio 5 Live: That was a coaching catastrophe from Thomas Tuchel.

“The fact that England get themselves in front and then basically hand Argentina the initiative.

“Defending deep and another defender on, it’s quite a simple game football, you have to get up the pitch.

“You can’t expect to defend for 30 minutes against the quality Argentina had.  It’s all on the coach where I’m concerned.

“He made the changes. He was negative, so the question which I’m going to ask is how can you trust Thomas Tuchel to take this team forward?

“I don’t care what anyone says, England have had a generous run in this competition and they have not played well in one 90 minutes.

“A World Cup semi-final, there’s a big opportunity to get over the line against an average Argentina side and they didn’t look average in the last 30 minutes, far from it, but I think England helped them with that.

“I think that was a coaching disaster.”

Former England and Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart noted on BBC One: “Gareth Southgate took a lot of criticism for the big moments with England, when they had the lead in big games and shutting up shop.

“I don’t see that anything has changed in that big moment out there.

“For as much praise as we have given Thomas Tuchel, for him to change it as soon as he did, that is him saying he didn’t believe in his team, that he didn’t think they could land any more punches on Argentina.”

Micah Richards, who also played for England and Man City, said: “Thomas Tuchel was brought in to be the difference.

“Tactically, we all thought he got it wrong today. When we went to five at the back.

“I thought we could have kept the momentum going and brought on wingers. Ultimately, we didn’t have the answers.”