England out of World Cup: Harry Kane says holding on against Argentina wasn’t enough | football news

England captain Harry Kane admitted trying to hold on to a 1-0 lead as their World Cup hopes ended with a 2-1 semi-final defeat by Argentina.

Anthony Gordon put England ahead on 55 minutes but Argentina stepped into the game, and this time Thomas Tuchel’s options did not work as Lionel Messi turned it around with late goals for Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez.

“I’m disappointed,” Cain said. “I’m disappointed for the guys, I’m disappointed for everybody, the team, the staff, the fans. We played a good game for the most part.

“Once we went 1-0 up it looked like we were going to try and hold on which isn’t enough at this level, so I’m disappointed.

“We’ve worked so hard to be here. The guys have put in the last race, sweat, blood, tears, whatever, so to come up short like today is gutless.”

Kane claimed the message from Tuchel and his staff was to keep pushing after Gordon’s goal, but it seemed as if England were increasingly falling back, inviting pressure back into Argentina’s advantage.

“We struggled to get pressure on the ball (after scoring),” he said. “I thought especially in the first half and the start of the second half we pressed them well, put them under a lot of pressure, especially the high pitch which allowed us to win the ball and control the game a bit better.

“After the goal, they weren’t putting more men forward or we weren’t able to match them man-to-man, it was just wave after wave. Guys put in blocks but in the end it wasn’t enough.

“The boys were always ready for any moment in the game. When we went forward the message was sent to go again and get another goal. Once they scored their two goals it was about trying to find something but we couldn’t find any momentum to get back into the game.”

Kane added: “We’ve had a lot of good moments in this tournament. We’ve had a lot of good games, another semi-final. We’re talking about knocking on the door. We’re close. We’ve just got to find that missing piece.

“These tournaments take that out of you. There’s a lot of effort, pressure, mentality. We’ve shown a lot in the last six, seven weeks that we’ve been together. We’re just missing that final piece.”

Tuchel: England were very passive after going forward

Tuchel described his England team as “very passive” after going ahead against Argentina but insisted he had “no regrets” about his tactical decisions in defeat.

“We’re disappointed but we were too passive after scoring and didn’t miss too many chances and didn’t turn possession over,” said Tuchel. “We conceded too many crosses, chances and shots. We were close but we couldn’t keep level after scoring.”

Asked about his replacement, Tuchel insisted the problem was not structural.

“Obviously we wanted to go for the second goal but I didn’t have the feeling that attacking substitutions would help,” he said. “We stayed in our 4-4-2 but we became passive, more passive.

“We didn’t win any balls, we didn’t hold onto the ball, so I think it wasn’t a structural problem, we didn’t change anything. But the match changed completely.

“It’s not a problem, I understand that these discussions are out there and there are millions of coaches after the game who know it well.”

But despite criticism from pundits and fans quickly following, Tuchel insists he has no regrets.

He said, the team has given everything. “We were very, very close. I think we deserved to be 1-0 up. We played a good match, probably our best match under the circumstances. It was tough. We just couldn’t get it over the line. No regrets.”

‘A coaching disaster’ – pundits and journalists judge as England crash out of World Cup…

Sky Sports‘ Gary Neville: “England won’t have a better chance to get to the final. They were more than five minutes of stoppage time away from the final. They were too narrow and too deep. It was like the Euro final against Italy. It’s about mentality and belief and a bit of quality for England to keep the ball. I can’t believe how many times I’ve seen that from England.”

Sky Sports‘ Roy Kin: “Argentina made the most of the momentum. They showed a lot of quality in the end. The best team won.”

Sky Sports’ Paul Merson: “Gareth Southgate took a lot of stick for being defensive – and I thought he did well – and Tuchel came in and did the same as Gareth. I understood it in the Mexico game when we went down to 10 men and we were under the cosh, but here we have to throw something different at them. I understand Gareth is a defensive coach, so he’s naturally a defender. I didn’t think that about Tuchel and I thought he It will throw Argentina something different and put pressure on them. We have to learn from it and wait for the Euros.”

Sky Sports News’ Rob Dorsett At Atlanta: “Increasingly it looks like Tuchel made that mistake. The man the FA hired for his tactical brilliance in the knockout games should have held his hand. England scored and had the upper hand, and Tuchel immediately moved to try to hold on to what they had. Better to complain about England not sitting deep in stoppage time for more than half an hour. The side won, but there’s an awful feeling that it was largely self-inflicted.”

Sky Sports’ Ron Walker: “Did England need to go so early? It’s easy to say in hindsight, but the result of the decision to go back five after 71 minutes was as painful to watch as it was to play. Not only did they cede territory, they gave up almost 93 percent of the ball in the 5 minutes to win 5 and 2-1. Ultimately, the Three Lions couldn’t manage a single touch in the opposition box after scoring – but England While falling back on their natural tendencies, Tuchel’s changes exacerbated their problems.”

Sky Sports’ Pete Gill: “Unthinkable from England. They called for defeat from a winning position. We could argue that it worked in the last two matches. But the big thing is that long before Argentina scored their equaliser, it was clear that it wasn’t going to work against this quality of opposition and England lost all their momentum.”

Sky Sports News’ Kaveh Solhekol: “Exactly what happened in Russia 2018 happened again. In the end, Tuchel got his substitutions wrong. He took too many defensive players and England went back into their shells and tried to hold on to what they had – and you can’t do that against a team as good as Argentina, arguably the best player in the world.”

Former England striker Chris Sutton: “It was Thomas Tuchel’s coaching disaster. England brought themselves forward and then basically gave Argentina the initiative, in deep defence, another defender.

“It’s a pretty simple game of football, you have to get on the pitch. Against the quality Argentina have you can’t expect to defend for 30 minutes and keep giving them the ball back, England have done that and that’s on the coach as far as I’m concerned.”

Former England captain Alan Shearer: “England had six defenders on the pitch, (he) played his hand and wanted to hang on. Hanging against Norway and Mexico.. Maybe they don’t have the quality that Argentina have in terms of ball power and punishment as well as their attitude. He played his cards early hoping he could hang on and it could make a difference like a decision.”

Former England striker Wayne Rooney: “We have to be honest. The decisions Thomas Tuchel made cost England. If you’re an attacking player on that pitch and you go 1-0 up and you see the changes the manager has made, you lose faith, you can walk away from it. Then you start thinking, oh no, how long are we going to sit?

Former England goalkeeper Joe Hart: “I don’t see anything changing in that big moment there. Thomas Tuchel, as much as we admire him, for him, as soon as he changed it, I think he realized that he didn’t trust his team, he didn’t think they could pull any more punches against Argentina.”

Former England striker Michael Owen compared England’s performance to that of finalists Spain, who claimed a 2-0 win over France in their last-four clash on Tuesday.

In a post on his official X account, Michael Wayne Said: “Look at Spain 1-0 last night. That’s courage. That’s courage. And then look at England 1-0. What’s the difference? We’re a better team than Argentina, there’s no doubt in my mind. But we deserved to lose in the end. Actually, it could have been 4-1. We can’t send the message to three of us 1-0. Courage and bravery is controlling possession under pressure and not booting/heading it 40 yards out then that’s always the end result. will.”