Thomas Tuchel takes responsibility for England's World Cup 2026 semi-final heartbreak, but does not regret second-half decisions against Argentina

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Thomas Tuchel has taken responsibility for England’s FIFA World Cup semi-final defeat, but insisted that he does not regret the calls he made as his side let slip the opportunity of reaching a first final in 60 years.

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

Video credit: SNTV

England were beaten 2-1 by Argentina on Wednesday night after the defending champions came from behind in the closing stages thanks to goals from Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez.

Tuchel’s side took the lead early in the second half through Anthony Gordon, but then dropped deeper and deeper as they looked to protect their advantage, while the head coach introduced three defenders and switched to a back five.

Speaking before England’s third-place play-off against France, Tuchel said he felt ”the same way” about the loss, having had time to reflect, admitting ”we were too passive” - but defended the decisions he made during the defeat.

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"If you're asking if I regret my decision, if this is the question, then I don't regret my decisions," he told reporters. "I felt that the momentum switches in the match. And I tried to help my team…

"I took several decisions, trusting my instinct, my intuition, my experience, trusting my competitiveness, and I took the decision in order to help the team and get the result. We didn't get the result.

"So I take, of course, the responsibility for these decisions. I would regret if I didn't help. I would regret if we didn't react."

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Tuchel said he was not willing to get involved "in this kind of game" of casting blame.

"No problem," he said. "This is the deal that you sign up for, but I will not engage. For me, there is no one to blame. If you need someone to blame, I take the responsibility. I'm the head coach."

After a relatively quiet match by his standards, Lionel Messi assisted Argentina’s goals, first drawing in defenders and laying a ball back to Fernandez, who scored from range, before delivering a cross to the back post for Martinez to nod home.

The 39-year-old took his goal involvements for this year’s World Cup up to 12, having scored eight goals in Argentina’s seven games - the joint-highest tally in the tournament alongside France’s Kylian Mbappe.

But while Argentina’s talisman took control of proceedings, England’s captain Harry Kane was forced well into his own half after Gordon’s goal, with his team having just 12% of the ball between their 55th-minute opener and Martinez’s 92nd-minute winner.

Asked about England's record goalscorer Kane playing so deep, Tuchel told reporters: "What do you mean? Like in the last 30 minutes? Why we defended in a deep block? Well, that's what you do if you defend in a block. We were not active enough."

Tuchel said Argentina had "played with a lot of momentum after our goal".

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

Video credit: SNTV

"They had a lot of offensive changes, and a lot of offensive positions," the 52-year-old added. "We could not stop the crosses, and we could not stop the runners into the box.

"So we decided to play a back five, to have more width in the field, to be closer to the guys who cross.

"We just became too passive, and Argentina, by the way, found another gear and they found the total flow.

"We played in the semi-final against the reigning world champions. We were 85 minutes 1-0 up. We played against the best player in the world, and we lost 2-1, which is painful."

Tuchel added: "We feel the most pain of all, and it is our scar that we carry now. It's our pain, my pain, and the players' pain.

"It is a very painful defeat, and we have to live with this defeat, first and foremost. Not the critics, not the experts, not our family members, who suffer as well with us, and want only the best for us.

"We will overcome it, we will use it, we will have a reaction, and it starts from tomorrow. If we win the game tomorrow, we have the best results of a World Cup in 60 years. It's a perspective to it."

England were the fourth seed at this summer's tournament and were in the semi-finals alongside the top three, Argentina, Spain and France, but Tuchel believes "there is still a gap to close" on those nations.

"We believed we could do it," he said. "We were dreaming about it.

"Still, I believe that three other nations have almost an expectation to win the title, not us. France, Spain, Argentina [are] almost there on that level that they expect to win.

"We are not there yet. There is still a gap to close. And this is what we will do. This is what we will do from tomorrow. We will not stop chasing. We will not stop hunting, we will not stop challenging."

England came into Wednesday’s semi-final following a taxing last-16 contest against Mexico at altitude at the Azteca Stadium and a quarter-final against Norway that went to extra-time in the extreme heat of Miami.

It was put to Tuchel that England’s physical performance levels dropped against Argentina in comparison to the last-32 tie with Democratic Republic of Congo, which was played at the same stadium in Atlanta, with players covering less distance and managing fewer sprints.

Tuchel said "even if we don't want to admit it because it feels like an excuse", the previous two rounds "cost us more than we maybe thought".

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

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