2026 World Cup: Thomas Tuchel came up "well short" for England - it should cost him his job

Ahead of England's 2026 World Cup third-placed playoff against France, Sports Mole's Football Editor Matt Law discusses the future of Three Lions head coach Thomas Tuchel.

Matt Law, Football Editor: "It's on Tuchel for me"

It's difficult to completely unpick what we've seen. The first half wasn't ugly, to put it kindly.

England wouldn't have minded how it was developing, and what more could they have wanted after half time than the early goal in the 55th minute?

At that stage I was really confident. I was confident before the game - Argentina are a great side - but as soon as that goal went in I was confident, and I'm still a little bit speechless.

If Messi doesn't come to the forefront and England win 1-0, people might be saying Tuchel was a defensive genius - Burn coming on, it's worked.

But if he had those tactics in mind, then surely you take Harry Maguire to the tournament - the best penalty box defender, top five in world football. He obviously had it in mind that at this stage of a tournament they might need to drop in and defend.

Messi went and stood out on the right - it was amazing to see how he read that game. Nico O'Reilly came on - could he have been put on Messi?

Players have tried to man mark Messi for 20 years in the game; it's not easy. I said before that I would get rid of Tuchel now, and I still feel that way. I wasn't in love with the appointment.

If he'd won the World Cup, that's the remit. Thomas Tuchel wasn't brought in to qualify England for the World Cup or get them to the quarter-finals or the semi-finals. He was brought in to make the big decisions in the semifinals and finally get England over the line, and he's bottled it.

He's fallen short when he needed to come to the forefront. Harry Kane was struggling, and to make the decision to bring him off at that stage, considering it might go to extra time, is a big call.

Could he have put Rashford through the middle? There was no out ball at that stage. Could he have brought Rashford on earlier than the 96th minute?

Kobbie Mainoo not getting a single minute at this World Cup was embarrassing.

A player who is cute on the ball, can win free kicks, can dribble through tight spaces and pick up fouls - that's what England needed during that stage.

Kobbie Mainoo didn't enter his mind, and that for me is unforgivable. I felt angry after it, and I think that's what a lot of people felt. This was England's chance - a really good chance.

The buzz around the country was incredible; everyone was invested, especially after the Mexico game. Tuchel's bottled it. He's tried to defend, it hasn't worked, and he's come up well short.

It's a real bad one for England. There've been painful ones in the past - Euro 2020, the 2018 World Cup where they took the lead.

I felt like this was a little bit different - worse than both of those games, the Italy game and the Croatia game. Really disappointing, and it's on Tuchel for me.