Did Thomas Tuchel cost England a World Cup Final? - The Sports Agents

**Nedum Onuoha** (0:00)
England have got great individuals playing for some incredible football clubs. They have somebody on the sideline who was being paid to take them to the promised land.
Why did they freeze?

**Julien Laurens** (0:09)
So, the time of the Dream Breaks, where Tuchel could have changed everything, he could have made the substitutions then. You're so lucky, you have a timeout in this condition when you're England and Tuchel, and you do nothing with it. This is a losers generation, right? I thought Kane said something, there's a piece missing. Is it technically, is it tactically, is it the personnel, psychologically? What is it? We couldn't bring it over the line, not in the moment, no regrets.

**Nedum Onuoha** (0:33)
That to me sounds like delusion, and the sad thing is that's coming from the head coach of the England Men's National Team who was brought in to be different than the history that's been there before.

**Julien Laurens** (0:42)
I would sack him. If I was the English affair right now, and you know, I would sack him.

**Guillem Balague** (0:50)
This is a global production.

**Nedum Onuoha** (0:59)
Hello, and welcome to The Sports Agents. I'm Nedum Onuoha, no Gabby, no Mark today. They're both flying in for the final, first class, no doubt. So in this episode of Sports Agents, I'm joined by author and football writer Julien Laurens to break down a dramatic couple of days at the World Cup. So Jules, France and England both failed in the biggest moment. So this is gonna be an easy podcast, isn't it?

**Julien Laurens** (1:21)
Is this the losers podcast? Can we rename this podcast in another way?

**Nedum Onuoha** (1:26)
It's tough, Jules, it's tough. And I wanna frame this conversation a little bit around the idea of like mentality. Because in the round before, you had Thomas Tuchel getting some criticism for the critique about the performance, but he finishes off by saying, this is pure mentality, this is pure mentality.
So why did they fail then? Why did they fail if they had that pure mentality? And I wanna begin today by going to the start of the game. It's about to kick off. It's England versus Argentina in a World Cup semi-final, like an incredible game. And I believe they were gonna win. How about you?

**Julien Laurens** (1:59)
Yeah, I was convinced. I mean, we were together on a TV show the morning of the game. And I said like, I don't see any scenario where Argentina can beat this England team unless England and Tuchel really mess things up. But if they don't, then I think they're gonna win this. I think they've got too much for Argentina who've been a bit underwhelming. Even the mentality, I thought, surely, if you don't have the right mentality and mindset for a game like this, with everything at stake, with everything that historically this encounter means for your country, then you will never get the right mentality.
And I was really wrong.

**Nedum Onuoha** (2:36)
Hey, listen, let's not tell the full story just yet. Because you say you really fancied England, but was that more so credit to England or were you taking something away from Argentina?

**Julien Laurens** (2:46)
No, I just thought I was a bit underwhelmed by Argentina, by Leo Messi up to that point in the tournament. I thought he was carrying this team on his own. When he was not at his best, like against Switzerland, for example, they struggled until something crazy in the game happened, and then Switzerland were down to 10, and then Argentina somehow, even with difficulties, managed to win that game. Then we can look at the Egypt game and even other games.
I just think, this is an England team that has Bellingham in top form, Kane being Kane, that has a coach supposedly to get them over the line because he's so good tactically, and he's called, and he's clinical, and he's this and he's that, and I thought they won in Mexico away at the Azteca, and the mentality was there, the character they showed, this is great, and I really thought, this is England, it cannot be not an England win today.

**Nedum Onuoha** (3:41)
You've been drinking every single bit of that Kool-Aid, but do you know what, so was I, so was I because I believed all these same things.
I think we were looking at this Argentina side and they looked a little bit old, looked a little bit leggy, haven't been that impressive, and you could maybe make the case for England having not been that impressive as well, but from a talent standpoint overall, I was a real believer, and then the game starts, and I loved it, the physicality of it all, the aggression that the Argentinians were putting forward into the game, and England weren't really falling for the tricks. I think there were times where maybe in years gone by, some of the players would have reacted and so on, but it looked like they were ready, and I really enjoyed that first half, even though there weren't any goals in it. I really, really enjoyed it. How about you?