Hasselbaink blames England players' mentality, not Tuchel, for Argentina World Cup exit

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has placed the blame for England’s World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina squarely on the players’ mentality rather than on head coach Thomas Tuchel, though the former Netherlands striker stopped short of fully absolving the German manager.

Tuchel has faced significant criticism for switching to a back five and dropping England deep while protecting a 1-0 lead with around 20 minutes remaining — a decision widely seen as inviting Argentine pressure and triggering the late comeback that ended England’s tournament.

But Hasselbaink, who served as an assistant under Gareth Southgate, argued that the initial defensive retreat was a player-driven failure. “After the 1-0, when they’re going backwards, that is not Tuchel,” he said on The Good, The Bad & The Football YouTube show. “That has nothing to do with Tuchel. That is just a mentality of the players thinking, ‘Oh, we need to defend now that 1-0’, instead of having the same kind of tactics and having the game in their half.”

He did, however, acknowledge that Tuchel’s substitutions were his own responsibility. “And then after the substitutions, that is where that is Tuchel’s decision,” Hasselbaink added.

Hasselbaink also singled out Jude Bellingham, England’s standout performer throughout the tournament, for failing to impose himself in the closing stages. “He needed to do what Lionel Messi did in the last 10 to 15 minutes: just come out of it a little bit and touch the ball there,” he said.

On the tactical switch to a back five, Hasselbaink drew a contrast with how Southgate would likely have managed the same situation. “I don’t think that Gareth would have gone to a back five with 20, 25 minutes before the game finishes,” he said. “The reason why I think that is when they played Italy, they played a five; they had difficulties getting out and all that kind of stuff. I think that he would have kept it at a four and still had energy up front so that he could still press from the front.”

The defeat marked the end of Tuchel’s first major tournament as England manager, a role he inherited from Southgate with expectations that his tactical credentials would finally deliver a first major trophy for the Three Lions. England had reached two European Championship finals and a World Cup semi-final and quarter-final under Southgate, but the wait for silverware continues.