Thomas Tuchel: England boss commits to Euro 2028 despite World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina | football news

Thomas Tuchel says he will continue to lead England at Euro 2028 despite losing to Argentina in the World Cup semi-finals.

England were denied a place in the country’s first World Cup final since 1966 Argentina came from behind to beat Tuchel’s side in Atlanta.

Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez broke English hearts late on before Anthony Gordon took control of Argentina’s England.

Tuchel, who was appointed head coach in January 2025, extended his initial contract earlier this year through Euro 2028. The tournament will be co-hosted by England, Wales, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland

Asked directly whether he would stay after the World Cup, Tuchel said: “We are continuing the contract until the home Euros.

“I’m looking forward to it even though it’s hard to look that far ahead right now.”

England will now be in the US as they prepare for their third-place play-off match against France in Miami on Saturday. Tuchel added that while it was a game they would rather not have been a part of, reaching their second semi-final in eight years was an achievement for England.

“We have to wait four years (to go to another World Cup). That’s an achievement in itself, of course it’s a semi-final. A lot of big football nations have gone out before the semi-finals. It’s an achievement nobody wants to hear at the moment, not even me, because we claim the most because we’re competitive in the next game.

“None of us or the French players want to play in this match. They want to play in the final; we gave everything to be in the final. Everyone plays to win the World Cup, but that’s what happens. We have one day less than France to recover but we will do it professionally.

“The thing for us is to bounce back and react. You have to do that at the highest level of the sport and we’ll do that.”

Why: It wasn’t enough to hold on against Argentina

England captain Harry Kane admitted Argentina’s late show ended their World Cup hopes.

“I’m disappointed,” Cain said. “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 pressure, especially up the 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 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.”