Thomas Tuchel explains England’s late collapse against Argentina

The Three Lions looked on course for victory after Anthony Gordon opened the scoring just before the hour mark, only for Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez to strike in the closing stages and turn the semifinal on its head.

A disappointed Tuchel said Argentina played "like they had nothing to lose" during the decisive final minutes, while England failed to manage the game.

"I think it was a very close match. I was happy the way we played it. Very close match, like I said, and we had the moment and took it to our advantage, went 1-0 up.I think that's what happens in these kind of matches that are totally even. I think at that point of the match it was also deserved, not undeserved, that we take our moment and go 1-0 up. Unfortunately and strangely enough, it marked then a complete momentum switch in the game," said Tuchel

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"Argentina played with more risk, played with more rhythm, played with a feeling maybe that they have nothing to lose anymore, which freed them up and hold us back, because we obviously played suddenly with a feeling that we have a lot to lose."

"So we dropped immediately back into a deep block, which is also not a problem, but we struggled to stay active in that deep block and we struggled to defend crosses in the deep block and we struggled to get physical on the runners into the box. Argentina then made changes with four strikers, wide wingers, two strikers in the middle.So we tried to adapt to that in a back five, which is a wider structure, and to stop, to have a shorter distance to the players that took the crosses."

 The former Chelsea boss argued that England were deserving of the lead but gave credit to Argentina for launching a strong comeback. 

Tuchel was asked what he thought about the criticism that followed on the back of the defeat with many questioning his substitutions. 

"No, I just believe that's the nature of the game. As soon as you lose, you get criticized; it's just what it is. You get criticized after, and no one knows what would have happened if we made different decisions. So it makes no sense to engage in that and lose my head. I'm responsible for them; I took them, so I take the criticism. That 's just the way it is."

The coach added that their defeat was not at all related to a curse on the English team whenever they get close to a World Cup final.