2026 World Cup: England manager Thomas Tuchel defends semi-final tactics in defeat to Argentina

Asked how he viewed the final 35 minutes with time to reflect, Tuchel said he felt “the same way – that we were too subjective”.

“If you’re asking if I regret my decision, the question is, I don’t regret my decision,” he added.

“I felt that the momentum in the game was changing. And I tried to help my team …

I believe in my instincts, my mind, my experience, my competitiveness and I have taken many decisions and decided to help the team and get the results. We didn’t get the result.

“So I really take responsibility and these decisions. If I don’t help, I’ll regret it. If we don’t respond, I’ll regret it.”

Tuchel said he was not willing to get involved in “this kind of game” over who was to blame.

“No problem,” he said. “This is the contract you signed up for, but I’m not participating.

“There is no one to blame for me. If you want someone to blame, I will take responsibility. I am the head coach.”

Asked why England’s record goalscorer Kane played deep in the closing stages, he said: “What do you mean the last 30 minutes?

“Why we defended in a deep block. Well, that’s what you do if you defend in a block. We didn’t have enough movement.”

“After our goal, Argentina played at a high pace,” Tuchel said.

“They had a lot of offensive turnovers and a lot of offensive positions,” added the 52-year-old.

“We couldn’t stop the crosses, and we couldn’t stop the runners in the box.

“So we decided to play five at the back, to have more width in the field, to get closer to the guys who are crossing.

“We’ve been very friendly, and Argentina, by the way, got another gear and they got the whole flow.

“We played the world champions in the semi-finals.

“We played 85 minutes 1-0. We played against the best player in the world and we lost 2-1 which is painful.”

Tuchel was asked if he had studied data which showed England’s performance against Argentina was inferior to the DRC game at the same stadium earlier in the tournament.

“Even though we don’t want to admit it because it feels like an excuse,” he said, Mexico’s 10-man game at the height of Azteca Stadium and the warm-up against Norway in Miami “cost us more than we thought.”

“The players literally gave everything physically (in every match). If you see this data drop, there must be a reason behind it, because the motivation was through the roof,” he said.