Tuchel says England still bears World Cup loss as they prepare for France playoff
England manager Thomas Tuchel acknowledged the team’s lingering disappointment from the semifinal defeat and highlighted a performance gap with the sport’s leading nations ahead of the third-place match against France.
England’s players are entering the third-place playoff against France still feeling the impact of their 2-1 semifinal loss to Argentina, coach Thomas Tuchel said on Saturday. The German manager, who faced criticism for defensive substitutions during the match in Atlanta, described the defeat as a painful experience that the team must live with.
“We have to live with this, so it’s our pain, my pain and the players’ pain – we feel the most pain of all,” Tuchel told reporters, adding that the loss leaves a “scar” the squad carries.
Tuchel also noted that England, currently fourth in the FIFA rankings, lags behind the world’s top three nations – Argentina, Spain and France – which have built long-standing success at the international level. He said the gap is evident in the expectations placed on those countries to win major tournaments.
“I think the gap is there because of the titles that Argentina, France and Spain have as national teams, as countries… there’s still a slight gap that we have to close,” he explained.
Despite the setback, Tuchel pledged a response from his side in the upcoming match in Miami, emphasizing that the focus now is on closing the performance gap and delivering a stronger showing.
“We will overcome it, we will use it, we will have a reaction, and it starts from tomorrow,” he affirmed.
Argentina will meet Spain in the final later in the week, while England seeks to finish the tournament on a positive note against a French side that lost 2-0 to Spain in their semifinal.