Third place is England’s best finish at a men’s World Cup since they won the tournament on home soil in 1966. Saturday’s thrilling, and at times ridiculous, 6-4 win against France in the ‘bronze final’ means England’s men secured their best World Cup finish since winning the tournament 60 years ago.
The Three Lions started this tournament ranked fourth in the world and ended with a third-place finish, reaching the semi-finals for just the third time since 1966.
Assessing England’s World Cup Campaign
But amid reports of in-squad disagreements over manager Thomas Tuchel’s tactics and a second-half semi-final collapse against Argentina, how should their 2026 campaign be viewed? Has their second-best World Cup ever been under-appreciated? Or was this another missed opportunity?
This may have been England’s best World Cup for 60 years, but at best it was par for the course and at worst a failure. It is being judged as exactly what it was. A bitter disappointment.
Head coach Tuchel was brought in to get over the barriers that have blocked England at World Cups before, so this was simply the same old story when they went out to Argentina in the semi-final. Tuchel, for all the knockout expertise during his club coaching career, failed when the pressure was on.
And there was an added layer of disappointment that Tuchel and England’s players contributed so much to their own downfall with such a passive strategy against Argentina that led to defeat. This is why, when this World Cup is reviewed – both now and in the future – it will be regarded as a disappointment, another major tournament when England once again fell short when it mattered.
Squad Reactions and Tactical Debate
As you can imagine, the England camp was pretty deflated after the heart-breaking semi-final loss. Such setbacks take a while to overcome.
Tuchel has spoken often about the “brotherhood” within the camp; they’ve had to lean on that connection in recent days. There was a genuine belief that this was their time.
To have the chance to play in a World Cup final snatched from you in that fashion will take a while to digest. Speaking at half-time during the third-place play-off against France, assistant manager Anthony Barry said: “They’re playing a game with broken hearts. I see 11 lads on the field with broken hearts.”
There are also misgivings about how Tuchel set up the team during the closing stages of the loss to Argentina. Tuchel’s substitutions and tactical switches were deemed too defensive by certain players in the camp – and that has given members of the squad something to discuss privately in recent days.
In the moments immediately after the Argentina game, the Football Association quickly re-affirmed its backing of Tuchel. As things stand the intention is for the German to.