{"id":555642,"date":"2026-07-18T06:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T06:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/555642\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T06:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T06:34:13","slug":"donald-trump-questions-thomas-tuchels-tactics-as-england-lose-world-cup-semi-final-harry-kane-on-defence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/555642\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump questions Thomas Tuchel\u2019s tactics as England lose World Cup semi-final: \u2018Harry Kane on defence?\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Donald Trump<\/a> has remarkably become the latest person to question Thomas Tuchel<\/a>\u2019s tactics in England\u2019s World Cup semi-final defeat.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, England took a second-half lead against Argentina and eventually found themselves within five minutes \u2013 plus added time \u2013 of their first men\u2019s World Cup final since their 1966 triumph<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But Anthony Gordon\u2019s goal gave way to a late strike from Enzo Fernandez and an even-later header by Lautaro Martinez. With that, Argentina saw off England in Atlanta, moving into Sunday\u2019s final with Spain.<\/p>\n

\"USUS President Donald Trump speaking at a Fifa reception, two days before the World Cup final (Reuters)<\/p>\n

German coach Tuchel, who was overseeing England at a major tournament for the first time, has been criticised for ultra-defensive substitutions at 1-0<\/a>, which invited more pressure from Argentina with plenty of time remaining.<\/p>\n

The criticism has been so fierce that some have questioned whether Tuchel should remain England coach<\/a>, although the Football Association has already publicly backed him, and he previously extended his contract through to 2028<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, bizarrely, US President Donald Trump has joined the conversation about Tuchel\u2019s tactics against Argentina, who will aim to retain their world title on Sunday, when they play the European champions in New York. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou have a great player in England, who I played golf with<\/a>,\u201d Trump said on Friday, at a Fifa reception in the same city. \u201cYou know that, right? He is Harry, who\u2019s been fantastic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they perhaps made a mistake when they made him a defensive player,\u201d Trump continued, referring to the England captain\u2019s role as a striker, and Tuchel\u2019s defensive moves, which led every player to get behind the ball. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do I know about soccer?\u201d Trump added. \u201cThey took the lead, and they took their best player, and they put him on defence. Then somehow… <\/p>\n

\u201cWe got to be a little offensive, right? But no, I\u2019m not gonna call it… Look, what do I know about coaching?<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that was a little unusual, but Harry is a great guy actually.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA dejected Harry Kane after England lost to Argentina (PA Wire)<\/p>\n

The 2026 World Cup has played out across the US, Canada and Mexico, featuring 48 teams for the first time \u2013\u00a0expanded from 32.<\/p>\n

And Fifa president Gianni Infantino, a friend of Trump, has hinted that the next men\u2019s World Cup could even feature 64 teams. It is scheduled to take place in Saudi Arabia in 2030.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-555642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555642","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=555642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}