Tuchel: 'The team gave everything'

Thomas Tuchel says England “gave everything” in their narrow FIFA World Cup 2026 semi-final defeat to Argentina.

Anthony Gordon fired the Three Lions into the lead in the second half in Atlanta, before late goals from Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez sealed a 2-1 win for the reigning world champions.

England will now take on France in Saturday’s third-place play-off, while Argentina go on to face Spain in Sunday’s final in New Jersey.

Tuchel was pleased with the mentality of his side despite the result and was quick to praise their efforts across the tournament in North America.

“The team gave everything and we were very close,” Tuchel said after the game.

“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.”

Tuchel also reflected on the end to the game, which saw England concede in the 85th and 92 minutes to succumb to a 2-1 defeat against Lionel Messi and Co.

“We were so close but we got too passive after we scored,” he added. “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.”