Thomas Tuchel ‘defiant’ and ‘wounded’ reflecting on England’s World Cup semi final defeat

Thomas Tuchel was described to be ‘defiant’ and ‘wounded’ when reflecting on England’s World Cup semi final defeat to Argentina.

He spoke with the media in his press conference ahead of the ‘bronze’ final against France, still dealing with the heartbreak dealt to him and his side on Wednesday.

Tuchel retains FA backing despite defeat, it wasn’t unanimous however, with some members of the board strongly feeling that the job should go to an Englishman, although the claims of Lee Carsley weren’t deemed strong enough, Martyn Ziegler of the Times reports.

Thomas Tuchel did not gain unanimous backing of FA board for England job

Some members of the board strongly felt that the job should go to an Englishman but the claims of Lee Carsley were not deemed strong enough

By @martynziegler ⬇️https://t.co/UUeLZvFsV1

— Times Sport (@TimesSport) July 17, 2026

Tuchel’s words were defiant but he was clearly wounded like never before https://t.co/jGrFkkU3RP

— Matt Law (@Matt_Law_DT) July 18, 2026

Question: Hey Thomas. Since the semi-final, there’s been a lot of narrative and a lot of opinions on how England finished the game on the pitch in terms of the setup. On reflection, you’ve had 48 hours to um, think about it. Donald Trump’s even had a word about it today and had his opinion today. On reflection, 48 hours after, how do you

Tuchel: Do you use Donald Trump as your witness for the case or

Interviewer: No, no, no, no. I’m just saying he’s had his opinion asking. But on reflection, how have you how do you view the last 35 minutes of the game?

Tuchel: I view them in the same way. I view them in the same way that we were too passive. We got too passive. If you are asking if I regret my decision, if this is the if this is the question, then say no, I don’t regret my decisions because I felt that we become too passive. I felt that the momentum switches in the match and I tried to help my team. I tried to help. I tried to support. I took a decision trusting 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 and for these decisions. But the decisions are made under stress. The decisions are made in-game. This is in-game life, life coaching. I would regret if I didn’t help. I would regret if we didn’t react, but I have no regrets over the decision itself.

Question: Hello, Thomas. John Cross from the Daily Mirror, just on just reflecting on that when you’ve made those decisions and and calls and talked about the wanting the wing backs perhaps to be more active and the team being passive. Is that on the players? Is is that on on you and the way that it played out? Who who takes responsibility?

Tuchel: I take responsibility. Listen, if you if it’s easier if it’s easier if someone takes the blame, I take the blame. There’s no problem if this is the deal that you sign up for as I understand it, and you have every right to do so. But I will not engage in this kind of game because for me there’s no one to blame. If you need someone to blame, I take the responsibility. I’m the head coach. Like I said, we do in-game decisions based on trust, on our competitiveness, on the experience and on what we actually feel and I feel in the game. And then from there we go. Every other scenario is just a scenario.. No one knows the outcome of any other substitution of any other change. It’s an easy approach to think in structures and to think in offensive and defensive. I think the game is more complex. It is always how you lift a structure. It is always how you play within a structure. We had problems in the in the 442. We got a lot of problems in the 442. We couldn’t solve the problems later in in the other structure. That’s just that’s just how it is and and we have to live with this. By the way, we have to live with this. So, it’s our pain. It’s our pain, my pain, and the players pain. We feel the most pain of all. And uh it is our scar that we that we carry now. It is a very painful defeat. And uh we have to live with this defeat first and foremost, not the critics, not the experts, not not our family members who who suffer who suffer as well with us and and want only the best for us, but it’s is basically us. And we will like always because we are competitive and every single player in camp is so competitive and and is doing everything in good. So we will overcome it. We will use it. We will have a reaction and it starts from tomorrow. We have a gap to close and we are aware of that and that’s where the focus is.

Question: Hi Thomas, Tom Barclay from the Sun. Just just on Harry Kane’s positioning the other day. It did seem like he played in quite deep position. Why do you think that was? And your feedback about the team being too passive. How did the players respond to that?

Tuchel: In which situation did Harry play to the… What you mean like in the last 30 minutes? Well, we defended in a deep block. Well, that’s what you do. If you defend in a block, you defend in a block. We were not active enough. We could not escape the deep block. But if you defend in a deep block, everyone defends in a deep block. That is what team spirit togetherness and and mentality is translated to in football terms. We defend as a 10 and as 11. And if we are pushed back to a deep block, Harry defends in a deep block. This is what he did for for moments in the first half. The difference is that we pushed back and we stepped out and we found the triggers to come out of the deep block. But we do everything together as a team. The team spirit, the togetherness, the mentality that this team built in the last six and a half weeks um is not to be questioned and it showed even in defending. We became too passive in the last 30 minutes. We could not get uh hold of the ball. We could not find duels anymore. This is the next step that we want to take and from there we go.

Tuchel: “Argentina played with a lot of momentum after our goal. They had a lot of offensive changes and a lot of offensive positions. They were chasing a goal. The substitutes became more and more offensive. 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 did excellent after some minutes, for example, in in Mexico, it took us in Mexico some minutes also to have the to have the proper behaviour from a back four to a back five. This is just normal, but we did it then excellently good. We couldn’t get we couldn’t we couldn’t turn the momentum over, but that was the idea behind it. We just became too passive and and Argentina, by the way, found another gear and another gear and they found the total flow. To put it into context maybe it’s worse to put it into context. We lost the first match the first official match together since 14 matches was our first defeat. Like I said it was a painful one. We played in the semi-final against the reigning world champions. We were 85 minutes 1-0 up. Um we played against the best player in the world and we lost 2-1 which is painful. We made our way to the semi-final well deserved. We are one of the top four nations and we wanted this this place in the semi-final and we wanted more. We are heavily disappointed because we wanted to play in the final. We believed we can do it. We built something to to um to have this genuine belief to can do it. We were dreaming about it. Still I believe that three other nations have almost an expectations to win the title. his is not us. France, Spain, Argentina expect almost they’re 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 we will not stop chasing. We will not stop hunting. We will not stop challenging. We have a gap to close like I said and we have things to improve in a football matter and this is the context. So I think it is not in itself not a lot of room for drama, if drama is needed and if the blame game needs to be played okay you can do that but I have the right to not engage in that.”

Question: James Olley from ESPN, do you think you’ll be a better manager with a tournament under your belt next time around?

Tuchel: I’m every day a better manager with every with every experience that I make with top players. So, I’m today a better manager than yesterday.

Question: I just wanted to ask about Saka. Is he available to play tomorrow? And was there a reason that you didn’t bring him on against Argentina?

Tuchel: Of course, there was a reason. There was a in-game decision against Bukayo. Bukayo can always start for us. We decided for more physical approach with Morgan Rogers and I felt like after the game against Norway that Morgan has something special in him. That’s what I saw and felt in training and I’m glad he proved us right with his assist. We had some options on our in our mind and warming up. Bukayo was one of them. But when we got in so much trouble and couldn’t escape anymore, we took the decisions that we took.

Question: Matt Lorton from the Times. Have you have you studied the performance data? Because if you compare that game the other night to the Congo game in the same stadium in the same conditions, your performance levels in terms of the high intensity were quite significantly lower and I wondered if you had have now realised that and whether that was a factor in your decision-making that actually your players had run out of gas.

Tuchel: Yeah, I think we I think even if we don’t want to admit it because it always feels like an excuse and we wouldn’t never talk about it, but I feel that the game with 10 men in Mexico in the altitude, the traveling, we lost a complete night of of of sleep and the the game in the heat against Norway and and extra time and cost us more than we maybe thought. So I felt that and I think it is this is part of the development of the game. These players are like this is a very unique group. They literally gave everything physically in every single match. If you see these data drop, there must be a reason behind it because the motivation was through the roof like for every other team who made it into the semi-final. So yeah, we could not reach these kind of intensities. I think Argentina found another gear, found another momentum, found another belief. They built something over several years and um and uh have of course the experience of overcoming these kind of moments and these kind of matches and and winning titles together. So this came into play. Messi was on the other side of the field and found another gear. So lot of reasons.

Question: Dom Thomas Dom Smith from the Standard. What you said about the blame game needing to be played. Isn’t it understandable from England fans and from the media to want to understand which decisions whether from the head coach or the player happy have led to the loss of a lead late on in the semi-final.

Tuchel: I was never shy to explain, so don’t understand your question.

Question: Matt Law at the Telegraph. Straight after the game, the FA reiterated their backing of you almost immediately and you came out very quickly and said you still believe you’re 100% the the man for the job and that you want to do the Euros. Public opinion at home, as it does in these situations, has split since then and there are more doubts at home about you than there were beforehand. Are you concerned about public opinion and fan opinion and could that alter your stance at all?

Tuchel: I would like to then to make my own picture and not I think it’s a strong statement that you that you give here and and be the advocate for half of the country being like what against me and split a split country, a split country. Let’s wait for that and I have nothing more to say. What is the question?

Question: The question is, if more fans decide that they believe you shouldn’t be manager, could that change your thinking of whether you would want to carry on or not?

Tuchel: No, I can never change my thinking if I would like to carry on.

Question: Gustavo Zupak, ESPN Brazil, the adjective coward was used to analySe your decisions in the second half. How do you receive it? Do you think it’s fair to to understand this way?

Tuchel: Not at all. I don’t receive them. I don’t read praise and I don’t believe in praise and I don’t believe in in comments like this. If we win the game tomorrow, we have the best results of a World Cups in 60 years. That’s the perspective to it.

Question: Not many players would like to play the match tomorrow, but they have to. And so the point is how many changes are going to make in the squad and how you’re going to find the motivation for the players to be on the field tomorrow?

Tuchel: You’re absolutely right, you can see in the answer of John how disappointed we all are how painful it is and after can I speak for myself after like a kind of a shock in the beginning it’s becoming more and more painful every single day. Like I said it will be a scar for us. It will be a scar for all of us. Unfortunately not the first one and very likely not the last one. This is what it is in high level sports. Nobody wants to be tomorrow in this game. All of these four teams wanted to be in New York. But it is an official World Cup game. It’s a chance to have the best results in 60 years for England. It is a big game against one of the very best teams in the world and maybe the team in the best shape until the semi-final against France. And it is a mentality is not something that you switch on and switch off as you like it. So it’s another, it’s a moment to show, it’s a moment to show that we are we are we are actually made of what we showed through the whole tournament. So there is no doubt about that. There will be changes. I don’t know how many have not made my decision yet but there will be changes of course, and then we will start and trying to close the gap. Like I said, I think out of the four teams, the other three teams almost expect to be world champions. We were hoping, we were dreaming, we were pushing and and believing. But still we have to close a gap and we’re up for that from tomorrow.

Question: Jack Pitt-Brooke from The Athletic. Has this been the most painful experience of your football career?

Tuchel: I don’t know. I had a lot of painful ones to be honest, and it will not be the last one. I think it is everything what we love and hate about football. These kind of moments are like yeah like very like I said very painful moments and it will hurt for for a long while and it will hurt the next days. Of course very painful because we’re so competitive and I can speak for every player. I can speak for myself. That’s that’s how it is. But in the end we’re competitive enough to to bounce back to overcome it to use it and to go forward.

Question: Simon Peach from the Press Association. Two questions were made. First of all the lads that haven’t had a minute or a very limited time is you tempted to use them and secondly just to follow up on your comments about the DNA of the English game and English team or whatever. If you could expand or clarify what you meant by them.

Tuchel: Did I say this today.

Interviewer: The other day?

Tuchel: I think like which is outstanding and transcended and was transmitted to the fans because um like it’s not so long ago that that we were like in front of thousands and of fans here in America singing Wonderwall. Rightly so. I think what uh what the team built, what these players built in the last 6 and a half weeks was just on the highest level in terms of togetherness, in terms of spirit. This represents me by the way and my values and it represents the Premier League. That is my strong belief and we will never compromise on that. I believe that we have to take the next step and play better football under pressure, better football in tournaments. We have still another level to reach. That is of course my responsibility together with the team and from there we go.

“I think the gap is is there because of the the titles that Argentina, France and Spain have as national teams, as countries, what they built over over many years with the with the coaches and the team. There is still a slight gap that we have to close. I think the gap shows like in almost the expectations of these countries to win a World Cup and to be in a final. We did not I think we demanded it from ourselves uh within camp for sure and we dreamed about it and and we pushed for it and we competed for it. But there is still a gap to close in the in the way in the way um how to play football under pressure in the way to implement yourself in the way to to um in on on the very next level I think. But yeah, we play tomorrow France. We’re like number four in the world at the moment. So we made it to the semi-final. We want to we want to close this this this this gap that is still there. Very little margins, but it is still there um to to overcome to to close. I think it’s a a great position to be in. I like to be the competitor. I like to be the one that’s chasing. I like to be the one who’s challenging and it it starts from it starts from tomorrow. We will we will not give in. We will we will try to push. So both teams are deservedly in the final. They won both their semi-finals. There is no such thing. If you deserve it, not deserve it. It’s just deserved. If you are there, if you find a way to win the semi-final, you are there. Yeah, we have another match to play against a very strong opponent.

On Didier Deschamps: “Just unbelievable, personality, unbelievable coach. He won everything as a player, won everything as a national team coach. It’s just like what a personality, such a humble, such polite person. Always a pleasure to see him, always a pleasure to meet him around around football. Unbelievably respectful, nothing but the highest respect. We will try to beat him. Nevertheless, I think he is as disappointed as as we are. He had a fantastic tournament just until a crucial moment in the semi-final. But I’m sure he is as always determined to win the next match and we are determined to not let it happen.”

Tuchel said after the game, as per englandfootball.com:

“The team gave everything and we were very close.

“We deserved to be up 1-0. We played one of our better matches, maybe the best match in the circumstances. The team was top, we couldn’t bring it over the line. No regrets.

“We saw the mentality throughout the match and the strong group. We played the matches how they were, we played against strong teams.

“We played a lot of miles, a lot of travelling. We played at altitude, we played with 10 men, we played in the heat.

“We overcame every obstacle, we came very very close today. It is not the moment now to analyse the full tournament, we just went out now because we lost a crucial match.

“We were so close but we got too passive after we scored. We conceded a lot of chances and we could not turn the ball possession around.

“We conceded so, so many crosses and chances and shots. We were close but we couldn’t keep the level up after we scored.

“We conceded [chances] straight away, we decided to go to a back five because the gaps were far too open.

“They won every header, they kept crossing and crossing so we went to a back five to close the gaps inside and be strong in the air because straight after our goal with no substitutions, we just conceded way too many crosses and way too many chances.

“It doesn’t help if you don’t have the ball. We couldn’t get out. Of course we wanted to go for the second goal but I had the feeling it was not a substitution that would help.

“We stayed in our 4-4-2 but we became passive, we couldn’t win any balls. So I think it was not a structure problem.”