{"id":759117,"date":"2026-07-12T20:27:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T20:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/759117\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T20:27:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T20:27:12","slug":"he-just-wants-to-see-the-best-version-of-us-harry-kane-accepts-tuchel-criticism-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/759117\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018He just wants to see the best version of us\u2019: Harry Kane accepts Tuchel criticism | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Harry Kane has insisted Thomas Tuchel\u2019s strong criticism of England\u2019s performance after their quarter-final win against Norway in Miami was driven by their failure to bring their excellence from the training ground into matches.<\/p>\n

The England<\/a> captain also suggested that Tuchel\u2019s words had been designed to keep the players on their toes before the semi-final against Argentina in Atlanta on \u00adWednesday because \u201che knows as much as \u00adanyone that it\u2019s not as simple as that \u2026 he\u2019s trying to drag it out of us\u201d.<\/p>\n

Tuchel has been frustrated at \u00advarious points of the tournament with the lack of cohesion and \u00adcomposure from his team. He did not pull his punches after the Norway game, saying he was unhappy with the performance \u201cin every sense\u201d. The German complained about the high number of technical mistakes, the lack of speed and said the team had been \u201clucky\u201d.<\/p>\n

Tuchel\u2019s analysis drew an irritated response from Jude Bellingham<\/a>, who scored both England goals in the 2-1 win<\/a>, which came after extra time and in searing heat and humidity. \u201cYeah, well, whatever,\u201d Bellingham said, before adding in another post-match interview: \u201cMaybe he doesn\u2019t know what it\u2019s like to play in those kind of conditions against Erling Haaland, [Martin] \u00d8degaard, [Antonio] Nusa, [Alexander] S\u00f8rloth.\u201d<\/p>\n

On one level, it was an extraordinary man-management move by Tuchel, coming after one of the \u00adfinest results in England\u2019s World Cup<\/a> history. But, on another, it ought not to have surprised anybody given Tuchel\u2019s candour and his obsession with the pursuit of perfection.<\/p>\n

Kane was keen to take the sting out of the situation. \u201cWhen he sees us train and sees the closeness and what we can do, especially with the \u00adplayers we have, the way we attack, our one\u2011on-ones and the skills \u2026 he just wants to see that version of us,\u201d Kane said. \u201cHe knows as much as anyone that it\u2019s not as simple as that, we\u2019re playing against good opposition and good teams. He\u2019s trying to drag it out of us and we know ourselves we have another level that we can reach.<\/p>\n

Thomas Tuchel gives Jude Bellingham instructions during the game against Norway. Photograph: Eddie Keogh\/The FA\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t seen that yet. We\u2019ve shown it in glimpses. Against Norway it was in glimpses. We haven\u2019t had full control that we would like and I feel we can have. But at this stage of the tournament you are \u00adplaying against the best teams in the world. We\u2019ll be playing against one of the best teams in the world in the semi-final.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most pleasing thing is that we are in a semi-final and we still feel like we can improve. I don\u2019t think it is something to get really over the top about. We are showing a lot of good things \u2013 the way the boys defended as a team against Norway, the way we attacked \u2026 we still had some really good moments. And Jude stepped up for us with another couple of goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quick GuideEngland v Argentina: previous World Cup meetingsShow\"\"<\/p>\n

England 3-1 Argentina, 1962:\u00a0A group game in Chile, and England comfortably defeated opponents who, as one report put it, employed a \u201cruthless, massed defensive formation\u201d. Ron Flowers scored an early penalty and Bobby Charlton made it 2-0 from 20 yards just before half-time. Jimmy Greaves poached a third before Jos\u00e9 Sanfilippo poked home a consolation.<\/p>\n

England 1-0 Argentina, 1966:\u00a0The quarter-final is known in Argentina as \u2018The robbery of the century\u2019 and was the beginning of the rivalry. The game quickly spiralled into a kicking contest and when Antonio Rattin was dismissed for a second bookable offence in the 33rd minute for verbally abusing referee Rudolf Kreitlein it all kicked off. The Argentina captain refused to leave the pitch and there was an eight-minute delay before the restart, with coaching staff still remonstrating with officials. The game was settled by a Geoff Hurst header from a Martin Peters cross but, at the final whistle, the Argentinians surrounded the referee, who had to be escorted off by police. England manager Sir Alf Ramsey described the Argentinians as \u201canimals\u201d.<\/p>\n

England 1-2 Argentina, 1986:\u00a0Arguably the two most memorable moments in these matches came within four minutes of each other in a quarter-final in the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City courtesy of Diego Maradona. The first \u2018Hand of God\u2019 incident (pictured) involved the midfielder knocking the ball past goalkeeper Peter Shilton with a raised arm. Then he scored what Fifa has called \u2018Goal of the Century\u2019, collecting the ball inside his half before weaving his way to goal with 11 touches in 11 seconds past helpless England players.<\/p>\n

England 2-2 Argentina (Argentina won 4-3 on penalties), 1998:\u00a0A high point for a teenage Michael Owen and a low one for David Beckham in the last 16. Gabriel Batistuta and Alan Shearer had traded penalties in the first 10 minutes before Owen scored a brilliant solo goal. Javier Zanetti levelled before half-time and Beckham was sent off for kicking out at Diego Simeone while on the ground two minutes after the interval. Glenn Hoddle\u2019s side held out for penalties, where Carlos Roa to saved David Batty\u2019s must-score fifth spot-kick.<\/p>\n

England 1-0 Argentina, 2002:\u00a0A degree of redemption for Beckham, although it was only a group game. Owen terrorised the defence again and after he was brought down by Mauricio Pochettino a minute before half-time, Beckham blasted home the penalty, prompting a kiss of the shirt and an outpouring of emotion. PA Media<\/p>\n

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Tuchel said before the \u00adNorway game that England \u201cneed to play \u00adbetter\u201d and he listed \u00adnumerous areas for improvement. They included the buildup play, getting through the opposition\u2019s high press, \u00adspending more time in the final third and being more effective with their own \u00adcounterpress.<\/p>\n

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Tuchel also said his players were overthinking in possession to the point where they were \u00admissing opportunities to penetrate. It has been difficult to ignore the sense that Tuchel knows he must make compro\u00admises with the setup of an international team; there is simply not the same amount of time to work with the \u00adplayers as at club level. But he is finding those compromises frustrating.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know this is going to be a topic from now until the next game,\u201d Kane said. \u201cWe know we can play better but ultimately we are in a semi-final of the World Cup and that has not always been the case for this national team so we have to enjoy it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was tough out there against Norway with the heat and humidity. We can play better on the ball. We know that for sure. But right now we want to enjoy this. The preparation will come for the next game and we will try to improve with the ball as much as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been an extremely successful era of our national team, getting to semi-finals and finals, and we want to get over the line. That is the missing piece now. We\u2019ve been together for six weeks and shown every bit of desire for the badge. We\u2019re going to need an even bigger push now for the last week or so.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Harry Kane has insisted Thomas Tuchel\u2019s strong criticism of England\u2019s performance after their quarter-final win against Norway in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":759118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":["post-759117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=759117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/759118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=759117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=759117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=759117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}