England manager Tuchel has no regrets over semi-final decisions

MIAMI, July 17 : England manager Thomas Tuchel said he had no regrets over the decisions he made in the second half of Wednesday's World Cup semi-final against Argentina, when his team took a 1-0 lead but lost 2-1.

Tuchel has been widely berated for his defensive substitutions and tactics as Argentina laid siege to England's penalty area before scoring two late goals to go through to Sunday's final against Spain. 

England face France in Miami on Saturday in a clash to decide who finishes third in the tournament, but Tuchel's pre-match press conference was dominated by questions about the semi-final.

"If you are asking if I regret my decisions, if this is the question, then I say no. I don't regret my decisions because I felt that we became too passive," he told reporters on Friday.  

"I took several decisions, trusting my instinct, my intuition, my experience, trusting my competitiveness, and I took the decision in order to help the team and get the result.

"I would regret if I didn't help. I would regret if we didn't react, but I have no regrets over the decision itself." 

STIFLING HEAT

Tuchel conceded that England's last-16 victory over Mexico at altitude, the extra-time win over Norway in the quarter-finals in stifling Miami heat plus all the travelling the squad had done had possibly caught up with them.   

He said that to look at his substitutions strictly in terms of offence and defence was simplistic and that in his view the game was more complex than that.        

"No one knows the outcome of any other substitution of any other changes," he said. "If drama is needed and if the blame game needs to be played, okay, you can do that. But I have the right to not engage in that."

Asked about one comment that his substitutions