JEFF POWELL MBE: Self-obsessed Thomas Tuchel MUST be sacked NOW. He ditched ambition for fear, bungled selection at the key point and left the wrong players at home. No regrets? Cowering boss should have a boatload

Don’t you regret it, Mr. Tuchel? Really? Try telling that to English patriots who have poured their life’s savings into the great World Cup dream. Such an unnecessary sacrifice.

No regrets? Try telling that to the millions of people who watched in horror as a foreign manager parked his shameful fear bus in the same insidious cul-de-sac as England’s own Gareth Southgate. What a cruel irony.

No regrets? Try telling that to the players he betrayed, at worst, by abandoning his ambition with the most suicidal substitutions since Alf Ramsey tackled Bobby Charlton when he brought down the Germans in the World Cup quarter-final half a century ago. This is what it’s like for decades to turn into an endless blur of frustration.

No regrets? The truth was written on Harry Kane’s face as our import Doubting Thomas railed against the team during the last of those damned dehydration breaks before Argentina blew them out of the water. Just like Southgate’s timid anxiety, the dressing room has fallen prey to Tuchel’s narcissistic tyranny. England’s captain’s eyes lit up as he looked away from what appeared to be the last of Tuchel’s frantic shouts.

The die was cast for a strategy that would end in disaster; The creative talents who built on one-goal leads were replaced by defenders who built walls. Instead of achieving final victory, they hung on for dear life, like bats blinded by sunlight.

Inviting General Messi and his troops to attack hastily constructed fortifications was like offering your unprotected chin to Mike Tyson to prove his punching power. The result was the same. A knockout from which England would take years to recover.

Tuchel tries in vain to rally his troops during semi-final defeat against Argentina

Even longer if Tuchel remains in command. Perhaps never is what Kane is likely to have four years left to do, and the bulk of these players are disappointed when they are let down by their bosses on that fateful night heading south in Georgia.

Didn’t anyone else see this coming? Really? Not the sycophants drooling over the belligerent Bellingham, the overrated Rice, the unprepared Rogers, the one-dimensional Anderson, the nervous Pickford and the unreliable Rashford.

At worst, all this swooning turns into a cocky Tuchel. This is an outspoken gentleman who can chase birds out of the trees. At least while timidly admitting minor mistakes. It is wisest to hide the more serious mistakes behind the smokescreen of football scientists.

Let’s break this down for him. He never seemed to know what his best team was. He proved that in his strange selection for this ill-fated semi-final. The entire winning record in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers was built on a group so weak that my long-gone team could have gone to Kansas on Sunday morning. The warm-up period for 2026 has been full of worrying friendlies. The opening phase of 2026 was not a ‘serious test’ as advertised, but a momentary start. Even then they barely escaped rehearsing that back-to-the-wall routine against Ghana.

As Argentina walked onto England’s welcome mat – another infuriating display of rebounding power – one commentator observed: ‘At least we’ll always have the Azteca.’

Let’s put this into perspective. Mexico could easily have won on their own in a game that was a dramatic thriller and a tribute to British courage. Not a real World Cup epic. When it came to Norway, Tuchel got one thing right: ‘It was a great result but it wasn’t an elite football match.’

The sad truth is that England have not played very well in any of their matches in this tournament. Only the next Euro will tell us whether this includes playing below their potential. Although there are reasons to suspect that this potential is much lower than the cheerleaders would have us believe. He is grossly inflated with too much ego, untold wealth and fake fame.

This does not excuse Tuchel. There’s no excuse for leaving so much talent at home in favor of unproven, inexperienced wannabes. At least Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back remained the most irritating of England’s problems, from an over-hyped start to a disastrous finish.

He never seemed to know what his best team was. As evidenced by his strange choice for this ill-fated semi-final

Leaving Trent Alexander-Arnold at home is inexcusable as right-back remains England’s biggest problem.

The problem of not having played together before when choosing a team is also strangely unbalanced by out-of-position players. That wasn’t possible when they gave up 78 percent of possession between Gordon’s goal and Argentina’s equalizing goal. Not when this goal was England’s only shot on target all night.

And no, by the way, the semi-final isn’t good enough. Not when England had one foot in the Sunday final in New York before our German manager retired to the trenches. Not when, for all the good work he had done to calm Bellingham, he confused him so much that he was too late to block the long shot that destroyed England’s lead.

No regrets? Only the FA seem convinced of this notion. But they will have to deal with renewing Tuchel’s contract until the European Championship in 2028, lest he get himself into trouble and ruin English football. My advice to those managers: Cut your losses.

Cry Lord for England, Harry and St George are clearly not in the vocabulary of the German manager, who has failed to pay lip service to his team’s national anthem.

Like Kane, Messi will be lost to us all at the 2030 World Cup. Argentina had a higher average age, but their future could be built on a history of winning and a tradition of never dying.

For England, Heaven is still lost. Can it be saved from the sinking sands of 60 years in the World Cup desert? This doesn’t happen with a manager. For skeptical Thomas, it is time to go to Tuch.