England’s World Cup campaign was led by the world-class quality of their two outstanding performers: captain Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham.
Of the Three Lions’ 14 goals so far, Kane and Bellingham have scored 12 between them – six each – with Marcus Rashford and Anthony Gordon the other contributors.
Tuchel was hampered by Arsenal duo Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka struggling with illness and injuries, reducing the effectiveness of a pair he would have been counting on.
John Stones remains a class act but is now 32, while elsewhere England are solid and reliable rather than spectacular.
England do not have class stamped right through the side like World Cup finalists and European champions Spain, or France with their stellar array of attacking talent, and they lack the in-built desire and refusal to be beaten of Argentina, helped along by the enduring genius of Lionel Messi.
It means their campaign has been restricted, and on occasion rescued, by existing on moments. It has not been characterised by good performances.
When England were behind to DR Congo in the last 32, it was Kane’s late double that pulled them away from the precipice. When they were behind against Norway in the quarter-final, Bellingham was the saviour with two goals.
It was then that Tuchel may well have given the game away when he heaped praise on England’s mentality but lambasted their lack of quality.
England deserve huge credit for one of their great World Cup wins when they came through the Azteca cauldron to beat Mexico in Mexico City, but have they actually played well?
Only if you count 30 minutes in the second half of the 4-2 win against Croatia in their opening group game.
England were only 15 minutes away from humiliation against DR Congo until Kane saved them.
For all the experience in England’s team, and even with the presence of quality such as Rice and Elliot Anderson in midfield, Tuchel’s team lack an ability to control possession and dictate terms and tempo against quality sides.
Tuchel said ball possession “plays a crucial role”.
“It’s maybe not in our DNA like it is in the Spanish DNA or Argentinian or Brazilian DNA to take the ball, control the game and the ball, which is also a big problem,” he said.
“I still think we can show how good football players we are. I think that is still in us, as I see it in training and in every camp.”
It is why they have failed so often when confronted with sides they are not widely expected to beat – and indeed when Croatia passed England off the pitch in Moscow in the 2018 World Cup semi-final.
England would regard it as harsh, with some justification, to be labelled as football’s version of a “flat-track bully”, but their record against elite teams when the heat is on hints at weakness, either on the pitch or in the technical areas. Or both.
If there is one statistic that will be used to damn Tuchel’s strategy, and England’s failure to control a game they were leading, it is the one that states they had 12% possession between Anthony Gordon giving them the lead in the World Cup semi-final after 55 minutes to Lautaro Martinez’s winner for Argentina three minutes into stoppage time.
Tuchel has, in essence, built his England using a Premier League template in style and system, with a back four, midfield anchors in Rice and Elliot, Bellingham at ’10’, then two orthodox wide men.
All very well – in the Premier League. In the World Cup at elite level it is clear you need more.
England have physicality and no little skill, but apart from Kane and Bellingham they have little other X-factor that can work the fine margins in their favour in the big games.
The concern for the Football Association is they have now tried everything.
Tuchel was meant to be the anti-Gareth Southgate, even though the same Southgate had led England to two Euro finals and a World Cup semi-final.
The German was supposed to be the elite coach who would make the difference when it mattered, throw off the perceived cloak of conservatism that held back England under Southgate.
Tuchel would be that point of difference between a hard-luck story and a success story.
Instead, with England leading a World Cup semi-final and in control, Tuchel went into the sort of tactical retreat that would have had many wanting Southgate run out of town.
