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Harry Kane reveals Thomas Tuchel touchline message as England crumble late on vs Argentina

The England captain spoke out after the Three Lions suffered a devastating 2-1 defeat to the reigning world champions in Atlanta

[England captain Harry Kane spoke after their 2-1 defeat to Argentina]

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England captain Harry Kane spoke after their 2-1 defeat to Argentina

England captain Harry Kane has revealed boss Thomas Tuchel gave him a secret message from the touchline before they suffered a late 2-1 defeat at the hands of Argentina in their World Cup semi-final. The 32-year-old appeared in a pensive mood as he spoke after the heartbreaking late defeat, with Anthony Gordon's opener cancelled out by Enzo Fernandez.

Substitute Lautaro Martinez then popped up in the second minute of stoppage time to head home the winner for Argentina, who had dominated the final stages of the game. Kane, who had a quiet game leading the line for Tuchel's men, explained what his manager told him after Gordon's goal.

"The boys are always ready for any moment in the game. When we went ahead, the message was to go ahead and get another goal," Kane told BBC Sport.

"Then obviously once they scored their two goals it was to try and find something [another goal]. But we couldn't quite get the momentum back in the game."

England have now reached the semi-final in three of their last four major tournaments, in addition to reaching the Euro 2024 final before losing to Spain. When asked what the team can learn, Kane admitted they were missing something when it comes to the latter stages of tournaments.

"We had a lot of good moments in this tournament, a lot of good games, another semi-final," he added. "We talk about knocking on the door, we're close but we just need to find that missing piece in the final stages of the tournament.

"These tournaments take it out of you, so much effort, pressure and mentality. We've shown a lot of that out of the six or seven weeks we've been together. We're just missing that final piece."

[England manager Thomas Tuchel]

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Thomas Tuchel told England to score another goal, according to Harry Kane(Image: Eddie Keogh - The FA/The FA via Getty Images)

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Tuchel had switched to a 5-4-1 formation for the last 25 minutes of the game, sending on Dan Burn and Nico O'Reilly to defend the slender lead. As Argentina pushed further forward, the Three Lions retreated onto the edge of their own box.

Discussing where it went wrong for England, Kane refused to criticise Tuchel's tactics and suggested it was Argentina's constant pressure that helped them win the game.

"We struggled to get pressure on the ball. Especially first half and start of the second half, we pressed them well, we put them under loads of pressure high up the pitch which then allowed us to win balls and control the game a bit better," he added.

[Enzo Fernandez scored a stunning equaliser in the World Cup semi final]

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Enzo Fernandez equalised for Argentina

"After the goal, whether it was them putting more men forward or us not being able to match them man for man, it was just wave after wave. Lads were putting blocks in but, in the end, it just wasn't enough."

Following England's defeat, Argentina will look to become only the third nation in history to win back-to-back World Cups after Italy and Brazil. Scaloni's men will face Spain in Sunday's final after Luis de la Fuente's side beat France 2-0 on Tuesday.

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