{"id":552417,"date":"2026-07-16T09:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T09:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/552417\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T09:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T09:24:11","slug":"tuchel-takes-blame-for-world-cup-exit-and-denies-england-are-cursed-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/552417\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuchel takes blame for World Cup exit and denies England are \u2018cursed\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Under-fire manager Thomas Tuchel<\/a> has said does not believe England<\/a> are cursed and took responsibility for his side\u2019s World Cup<\/a> semi-final collapse against Argentina<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A date with destiny against Spain in Sunday\u2019s MetLife Stadium showpiece was within touching distance after Anthony Gordon struck early in the second half in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

But England paid for retreating rather than pushing to score again, with Tuchel\u2019s defence-minded decisions after taking the lead welcoming Argentina on and leading to Enzo Fernandez\u2019s late equaliser.<\/p>\n

Worse was to follow as Lautaro Martinez headed home Lionel Messi\u2019s cross in stoppage time to seal a 2-1 comeback win that has seen Tuchel\u2019s negative approach panned by fans and pundits alike.<\/p>\n

Asked if he believed he got his decisions wrong, the England boss said: \u201cNo, I believe that\u2019s just the nature of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as you lose, you get criticised. That\u2019s just what it is and get criticised after. No one knows what would have happened if we made different decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, it makes no sense to engage in that and lose my head. I\u2019m responsible for them, I took them, so I take the criticism. That\u2019s just the way it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tuchel admits his side were too \u201cpassive\u201d and also \u201ctired\u201d at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where England fell into the kind of negative habits seen in some big games under Gareth Southgate.<\/p>\n

Their last World Cup semi-final ended in a 2-1 extra-time defeat after taking the lead against Croatia, with England then pegged back by Italy three years later before losing the European Championship final on penalties.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ken Early: Thomas Tuchel\u2019s all-time bottle job hands Argentina World Cup final placeOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cI love to see these things in a football matter and through football glasses, so first of all I always think solvable on the football field,\u201d Tuchel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe so much in an English thing and in a curse or whatever, or in like history repeating itself in these moments.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s different coaches, different players, different situations, different opponents, so I think basically I believe in the football thing, which for me still as a football coach cost us today because I think we were just not active enough in any structure.\u201d<\/p>\n

England\u2019s loss in Atlanta means they will face France in Saturday\u2019s third-place play-off in Miami rather than heading to New Jersey for a shot at immortality against Spain.<\/p>\n

It is another case of being so close and yet so far for a team that Tuchel intends to lead into the Euros in 2028, being played in Britain and Ireland, despite the backlash to their loss in Georgia.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, the World Cup is not over,\u201d Tuchel said. \u201cThere is still a match to play, that we are not looking forward to so much to but there is still a match to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course then we keep on going. I have a contract until the home Euros and I\u2019m looking forward to that even like now it is difficult to look that far ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision by England\u2019s Football Association to hand Tuchel a two-year extension in February is sure to come into question in the following days.<\/p>\n

Chief executive Mark Bullingham said: \u201cIt is heartbreaking to be so close.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe players and Thomas gave it everything today and the squad, coaches and staff could not have worked harder during the tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to thank them all \u2013 and also give my heartfelt thanks to our wonderful fans here in the USA and at home. We felt your support every step of the way and we are all so disappointed not to go further.\u201d \u2013 PA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Under-fire manager Thomas Tuchel has said does not believe England are cursed and took responsibility for his side\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":552418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3858,11148,2956,61,60,28776,112,5041,4018],"class_list":["post-552417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-argentina","tag-england-football-team","tag-fifa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-lionel-messi","tag-sports","tag-thomas-tuchel","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}