Arabic version: توخيل يتحمل مسؤولية الخيارات التكتيكية في نصف النهائي
England head coach Thomas Tuchel defended his tactical decisions after his side’s late World Cup semi-final defeat by Argentina, saying he would take responsibility for the outcome.
According to BBC News, Tuchel told reporters he had “no regrets” about the choices he made, that he and his players “felt the pain most of all” and described the loss as the “scar we carry now.” England led 1-0 for most of the match before conceding in the 85th and 92nd minutes as Argentina mounted relentless pressure driven by Lionel Messi.
Tuchel admitted his team became “too passive” in the closing stages and explained some of his tactical thinking: England switched to a back five to add width and to be closer to the players delivering crosses, but they were unable to stop the crosses or the runners into the box. He said captain Harry Kane ended up deep because “that’s what you do if you defend in a block,” and stressed he would not engage in a public blame game: “If you need someone to blame, I take the responsibility. I’m the head coach.”
This matters because England were minutes away from reaching their first men’s World Cup final for 60 years, and the defeat underlines what Tuchel described as “a gap to the top teams.” The coach pointed to the physical toll of earlier matches — the Mexico game at altitude with 10 men and the match with Norway in Miami — as factors that “cost us more than we maybe thought,” which is a factual explanation offered for a drop in physical performance.
What happens next is a third-place play-off against France in Miami, the match Tuchel was addressing in his final pre-match news conference. He said the players gave everything and vowed a reaction: “We will overcome it, we will use it, we will have a reaction, and it starts from tomorrow.” Tuchel also reiterated that while England believed they could reach the final, other nations are “almost there” at the level that expects to win the title, and that there remains work to close that gap.
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