Donald Trump spoke alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino (Image: Getty Images)
President Donald Trump is targeting coach Thomas Tuchel and the England national soccer team, which lost in the World Cup semi-finals.
England lost 2-1 to arch-rivals Argentina on Wednesday night, with the Three Lions eliminated from the competition and some fans left bitterly disappointed by England’s reaction after taking a second-half lead.
President Trump stood next to FIFA president Gianni Infantino and took the opportunity to comment on England captain Harry Kane’s performance. Trump and Kaine admitted they played golf together in Florida last year.
The US president is particularly perplexed by the way the German coach has used captain Kane, who revealed last week that they played golf together in Florida about 18 months ago.
President Trump said at a press conference, “England has some great players. I played golf with them too.” “You know what? He’s great Harry.
“I think they probably made a mistake when they made him a defensive player. What do I know about football? They took the lead, used their best player and put him in a defensive position.”
FIFA president Gianni Infantino laughed next to Trump, who shrugged his shoulders and praised his remarks.
President Trump continued, “We have to be a little aggressive, right? But no, I’m not going to say that.
“Look, what do I know about coaching? But that was a bit unusual. But Harry is a really great guy.”
President Trump doesn’t hold back from criticism. (Image: Getty Images)
“Would you use Donald Trump as a witness in this case or…?” asked the German coach, when asked about the nature of Argentina’s defeat and mentioning that the US president also agreed.
Tuchel was asked about the use of Kane, the all-time leading scorer, and his backup.
“In what situations did Harry play too deep? What do you mean? Like in the last 30 minutes? Well, we defended with deep blocks,” Tuchel said.
“That’s what you defend with a block. You defend with a block. We weren’t active enough and we couldn’t get away from deep blocks, but if you defend with a deep block, everyone defends with a deep block.”
“That’s what we mean in football terms: team spirit, togetherness, mentality.
“We defend as number 10, we defend as number 11, and if we get pushed back into a deep block, Harry defends in a deep block.
“That’s what he did in those first few minutes. What was different was we pushed back and stepped out and found an opening to get out of deep blocks.
“But we do everything together as a team. There’s no doubt about the team spirit, cohesion and mentality that this team has built over the last six-and-a-half weeks and it showed in defence.”
“In the last 30 minutes we were too passive. We couldn’t hold the ball, we couldn’t find the duel. This is the next step we want to take and we go from there.”
