Harry Kane Backs Thomas Tuchel to Learn from World Cup Defeat, Eyes Nations League

Harry Kane has backed Thomas Tuchel to learn from England’s World Cup semi-final defeat against Argentina and believes they must use the forthcoming Nations League campaign to gain experience of playing against the top teams.

Kane was an unused substitute as England sealed third place with an entertaining 6-4 victory against France on Saturday – their best finish at a World Cup on foreign soil. Tuchel, who signed a contract extension before the tournament, has been criticised heavily for his tactics against Argentina when he opted to switch to a back five to try to defend a 1-0 lead.

Kane admitted England had fallen short against Lionel Scaloni’s side but described the environment Tuchel has created since succeeding Gareth Southgate in 2025 as “the best England group I’ve been a part of in terms of togetherness”.

The captain said: “I know there are a lot of questions after the other night. We have to process it as players. I’m sure the manager will. It’s his first major tournament. He’ll learn a lot from the players, the situations, the pressures, the travel.

“There are also a lot of things as players we can learn from the other night. For now it’s just trying to process everything. We had a lot of good things, a lot of tough situations we overcame. The group is incredible, the best England group I’ve been a part of in terms of togetherness. The boss was a big part of creating that as well.

“Fans are going to be angry and we understand it. It’s a major tournament and that’s why you dream so big. When it doesn’t go your way you have to take the criticism. We’re all willing to do that, to dare to reach the biggest goal of all. We know over the next two years until we’re facing that situation again there is always going to be a question mark. It’s something we have to take and use as motivation.”

England missed out on facing regular top-class opposition in the buildup to the World Cup after being relegated from the top Nations League group in 2022 under Southgate. They were promoted in 2024 and will face Spain, Croatia and Czechia, starting with a rematch of the Euro 2024 final against Luis de la Fuente’s side on 26 September at Wembley. After beating France – albeit in a largely meaningless game – Kane thinks England must take the competition seriously if they are to thrive in tournaments.

“The last 30 minutes of Argentina is not the team we want to be,” he said. “We spent a lot of time over the last two years talking about that situation, to attack those moments. The bottom line is we lost anyway. It’s easy to go away and talk about it. We need to get better at actually being in those situations. We can train, play the qualifiers … I think the Nations League will be big for us, against Spain and Croatia, big teams.

“Getting used to those big environments and finding our best form against those teams, like we did against France, albeit not in the most competitive match. We have to learn, improve. The coach will have improved from these learnings. I can talk as much as I want but ultimately it’s about showing it next time we’re in that situation.”

Kane has been on the losing side in two World Cup semi-finals and two European Championship finals and he believes Tuchel is the man to help England to make the final step.

“The enthusiasm he has, the emotion he brings, the tactical experience he has … it doesn’t mean you’re going to get it right every time. We want to get it right on the biggest occasions and he expects that from himself as well. He’s a fantastic coach. He not only gave the players belief but he gave the country belief that it was our year. That is why it hurts even more than other years because everyone believed we were going all the way.

“Everyone has to process it. He has to process it himself. We’re still in that grieving stage, the emotional stage, and we’ll be in that for the next few weeks. It won’t be until the next camp where you think about what the future holds and what the next target is. We’ll have conversations as captain and manager and with other teammates and staff, to see where we can be better.”