Neville Slams Tuchel's 'English DNA' Excuse for Argentina Loss
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- Gary Neville challenged Thomas Tuchel's claim that England lack the 'DNA' to control games with the ball, saying the excuse ignores Tuchel's own decision to leave technically gifted players — Kobbie Mainoo, Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Adam Wharton, Morgan Gibbs-White, and Trent Alexander-Arnold — either on the bench or out of the squad entirely.
- England lost 2-1 to Argentina in Wednesday's World Cup semi-final in Atlanta after Anthony Gordon's early second-half goal was overturned by Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez, with Neville noting Tuchel replaced Gordon with Ezri Konsa in the 72nd minute and put on three defensive players before any attacker.
- Thomas Tuchel blamed the defeat on a cultural gap, saying it was 'not in our [English football] DNA like it is in Spanish DNA or in Argentinian-Brazilian DNA, to take the ball and control the game with the ball,' per the source.
- The FA are not considering Tuchel's position and he remains in charge after signing a two-year contract extension before the World Cup, keeping him in post through Euro 2028.
- Neville also fired back at Argentina defender Cristian Romero, who called the pundit 'stupid' for branding Romero and Lisandro Martinez the 'best-worst centre-half pairing in the world,' pointing out they conceded six goals in four knockout matches and that Romero's club side shipped 65 Premier League goals last season.
- Neville framed the loss as part of a 20-to-30-year England pattern of retreating into a low block to protect leads, saying he was 'just as big a part of the problem' as current players during his own eight-tournament career as player or coach.
Why it matters: Neville's pushback reframes the post-mortem from a national-cultural problem — which Tuchel could blame on intangibles — to a concrete selection and in-game management failure, a more uncomfortable conclusion for a manager who just signed through Euro 2028. With the FA already declaring Tuchel safe, the pressure shifts to whether he adjusts his squad-building approach for 2028 or doubles down on a counter-attacking identity that couldn't break through elite possession sides.
