England coach hits back at Trump after president said he made big World Cup 'mistake'

England soccer head coach Thomas Tuchel certainly doesn't want or need Donald Trump telling him how to set up his teams.

The German has managed some of the biggest football teams in the world, including Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea.

However, Tuchel was met with widespread criticism for how he set his England team up in their semi-final defeat against Argentina earlier this week.

The president even referenced the under-fire coach as he spoke at a Trump Tower reception for national federations and FIFA on Friday (July 17).

Speaking alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Trump claimed the England manager 'made a mistake' with captain Harry Kane and the defensive set-up of his team.

"You have a great player in England, who I play golf with, you know that, right? And he is Harry, who has been fantastic," the POTUS said.

"I think they perhaps made a mistake when they made him a defensive player – what do I know about soccer?"

Trump added: "They took the lead and they took their best player and they put him on defence.

"But somehow, now – we’ve got to be a little offensive, right? But no, I’m not going to call it. Look, what do I know about coaching? But that was a little unusual."

Ahead of England's meaningless third place play-off against France in Miami on Saturday (July 18), Tuchel was asked by a reporter about his response to Trump's remarks.

The England coach said: "You use Donald Trump as your witness for the case? We defended in a deep block. That’s what you do if you defend in a block.

“We defend as a ten and as an eleven. And if we are pushed back to a deep block, everyone defends them in a deep block.”

"Do you use Donald Trump as the witness for your case, or....?" pic.twitter.com/naXGr4CpFA

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 18, 2026

He continued: "I view them in the same way that we were too passive, we got too passive. If you’re asking me if I regret my decision, if this is the question, then I say no, I don’t regret my decisions. I felt that we become too passive.

"The momentum switches in the match and I tried to help my team. I tried to support. I took several decisions trusting my instinct, my intuition on trusting my competitiveness and I took the decision in order to help the team and get the result.

"We didn’t get the result, so I take, of course, the responsibility for these decisions. I have no regrets over the decision itself."