Thomas Tuchel insists he is determined to lead England to Euro 2028 following their World Cup semi-final exit.
England saw their dreams of winning the World Cup for the first time since 1966 dashed in Atlanta as they lost 1-0 to their strong rivals Argentina 2-1.
Tuchel came under fire for over-defending after England took the lead through Anthony Gordon 10 minutes into the second half.
There are already calls in some quarters that Tuchel, who signed a contract extension through Euro 2028 before the World Cup, should lose his job. However, he and the players received the support of Football Association chief executive Mark Bellingham after the defeat.
And an early exit from that contract is clearly not on Tuchel’s mind.
Asked if he wants to lead the team in the next two years, the German answered: “Yes. One hundred percent. There is still enough to improve and I am very happy to do that. I loved every day of the World Cup.
“After winning the quarter-final against Norway, I see the laxity I see in training and in the games, we can commit ourselves more to football, we can show that we are good football players.
“That is in us as I see it in training and in all the camps. Even here in the World Cup. I still feel that there is another level that we have to overcome. We have to go up to another level to get the big prize.”
Tuchel points to DNA differences behind England’s collapse
England’s efforts to protect their lead against Argentina backfired spectacularly, with Tuchel to blame for a string of defensive tackles.
Tuchel replaced goalscorer Gordon in the 72nd minute with right back Ezri Konsa. Ten minutes later, Reece James was replaced by full-back Dan Burn, and Declan Rice released Nico O’Reilly, who has played as a left-back throughout the competition but can operate in midfield even as a number 10.
At that time, England had six defenders on the pitch. However, three minutes after that double change, Argentina equalized with Enzo Fernandez’s long-range effort and, with England on the bench and without any creative substitutes, they collapsed as Lautaro Martinez headed in Lionel Messi’s 92nd-minute winner from the right wing.
Between Gordon’s first game and Martinez’s win, England had only 12 percent. Although much of the criticism was aimed at Tuchel, the former Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich manager pointed to differences in the DNA of English football as the reason for the withdrawal.
“We are holding ourselves back within our structure,” explained Tuchel. “I tried to help… so that we can work more in the back five, get to their best players early. We encouraged everyone to come out and work hard but we just struggled.
“We didn’t get any more duels, that’s why we went deeper. It wasn’t the plan but it happened. We couldn’t stop the runners from the second line, the midfielders using our spaces. And their delivery was at a high level.
“We had to go back to the ball otherwise you can’t break the pressure and you can’t regain the momentum. We just couldn’t resist swinging the momentum. Possession of the ball plays an important role. Maybe it’s not in our DNA as it is in the DNA of Spain or the DNA of Argentina or Brazil – to take the ball and control the game.
“It’s also not a problem to defend deep. You can always work. But we struggled. We struggled physically, too. In the whole tournament … playing in the heat, playing at a high level. [against Mexico] with a person on the ground [after Jarell Quansah’s red card]. It cost us dearly in the end. We gave everything but it was not enough.
“My feeling is that no structure in the world could have helped us because we weren’t doing anything. We weren’t physical enough, we didn’t stop getting to our box and the delivery was very good.”
