United States President Donald Trump added his voice to the criticism of England’s World Cup semi-final tactics by questioning Harry Kane’s deeper role during the 2-1 defeat to Argentina.
England led through Anthony Gordon before Lionel Messi inspired Argentina’s late comeback. Thomas Tuchel switched to a back five and introduced defensive-minded substitutions as England tried to protect their lead. The changes drew criticism from supporters, pundits and members of the squad.
Speaking at Trump Tower on Friday, Trump questioned England’s approach after taking the lead.
“You have a great player in England who I’ve played golf with. And he is Harry who has been fantastic,” Trump said.
“I think they perhaps made a mistake when they made him a defensive player. What do I know about soccer? They took the lead, and they took their best player and put him on defence.
“We got to be a little offensive, right. But no, I’m not going to call it, what do I know about coaching? But that was a little unusual.”
England became increasingly defensive after Gordon’s goal and spent long periods pinned inside their own half before Argentina scored twice in the closing minutes to reach the final against Spain.
Tuchel refused to engage with Trump’s remarks when asked about them later on Friday.
Trump also discussed his call to FIFA president Gianni Infantino over Folarin Balogun’s red-card suspension, joking that he had asked to “wage a complaint”. FIFA later suspended the automatic one-match ban for 12 months, a decision that prompted widespread criticism.
The US president praised the tournament as “the most successful sporting event, maybe in the history of the world”, while Infantino said the competition had “exceeded expectations” and described it as “the greatest human, social and cultural event that mankind has ever witnessed.”
