Thomas Tuchel's decisions cost England in 2026 FIFA World Cup semi-final loss to Argentina, says Wayne Rooney as Gareth Southgate comparison made

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England suffered an agonising semi-final defeat to defending champions Argentina, despite scoring the first goal, as the Three Lions conceded twice late on to tumble out of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Atlanta.

Tuchel: I am responsible for the decisions and I take the criticism

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Leading 1-0 courtesy of Anthony Gordon, who put England ahead in the 55th minute, manager Thomas Tuchel opted to then switch to a 5-4-1 formation.

That meant England had to absorb plenty of pressure from Argentina, who found a breakthrough courtesy of Enzo Fernandez before Lautaro Martinez grabbed the winner in the 92nd minute.

As England once again failed to make their first World Cup final since 1966, Hart was quick to point to some of the decisions made not by the players, but by their manager.

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"I think Gareth Southgate will be at home watching this game," Hart told the BBC. "He took a lot of criticism for the big moments with England, when they had the lead and shut up shop, and I don’t think anything has changed out there.

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

Tuchel’s first change was to bring the goalscorer off, and Ezri Konsa on in the 72nd minute. That left England playing a different formation to the one they started, with just Harry Kane up front.

Inviting Argentina to attack, Alexis Mac Allister hit the woodwork soon after, before Lionel Messi fired a warning across the goal which no one got on the end of.

The attacks kept coming, with England rarely escaping their own half as the clock ticked down - but not fast enough.

England second-half struggles 'a similar story' to previous tournaments - Kane

Video credit: SNTV

"It's a panic, it's a real panic," said Wayne Rooney.

"You can't go a goal up and then surrender. Surrender the ball and surrender any opportunity of trying to get the second goal. You want to be on the front foot when the pressure is on Argentina to get back in the game."

He added: "If you’re on that pitch, go 1-0 up and then see the changes the manager is making…you are losing belief. There's only so many times you can get away with it. You start thinking 'we're going to sit back, how are we going to get through this?'

"We got ourselves in such a good position, and then we didn't know what to do. We sat back, we allowed them to come onto us. They were creating a number of chances, then we cracked. Really disappointed.

"These fans have spent a lot of money to be out here. I expected more in this game. Argentina are the world champions. We knew it was going to be the difference. The changes we made didn't help us. Devastated. Sometimes you need a bit of luck to win these tournaments.

"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.

"The decisions Thomas Tuchel made, we have to be honest, have cost us tonight."

Micah Richards saw similarities to England’s earlier matches in the tournament against Croatia in the group stages, and then Mexico and Norway in the knock-out rounds.

"We did it in the Croatia game, one of the goals they scored was when we were really deep. And you’ve been saying it all tournament, they need to get further up the pitch," Richards said.

"And the difference with Mexico and Norway, they didn’t quite have the quality on the day. If you give Messi that time and space, you will get punished.

"Tuchel was brought in to be the difference. Tactically, we all thought he got it wrong today, in terms of the changes, when we went to five at the back.

"We could have kept the momentum going, brought on wingers, and got a little bit higher up the pitch, but, ultimately, we just didn’t have the answers."

Tuchel did eventually bring on some firepower in the form of Marcus Rashford and Ivan Toney after the second goal was conceded, those two coming on in the 96th minute when, initially, nine minutes of extra time had been added.

But it was too little, too late as Argentina were able to wind the clock down to make their second successive World Cup final.

It does mean Messi will get another opportunity to shine, after he was responsible for both assists, the veteran finding space down the right-hand side thanks to England’s changed formation.

"They have him, they have the greatest of all time. We thought it might be [Jude] Bellingham, we thought it could have been Kane, but this is why he is the king," Richards added.

"Two assists, and it is just remarkable what he can do, walk around the pitch and come alive when the ball is at his feet. We made a real fight of it, but this genius came into play, and that is the difference."

Argentina will play Spain in Sunday's FIFA World Cup final, while England take on France on Saturday in the bronze final.

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