On July 16th, Beijing time, in the World Cup semi-final, England lost 1-2 to Argentina, failing to reach the final. England legend Gary Neville stated on The Overlap that Mayu definitely wants an explanation; "We expose our problems when we face strong teams."
Neville said: "To be honest, we were completely exhausted and couldn't get out of the penalty area at all. We were basically being pushed back, and the midfielders were dropping back because they were out of energy. I think the three midfielders were completely worn out at that point."
“Look at today’s game, Rice was definitely not at his best. He hasn’t been quite right since day one, has he? That’s a big problem for us. He doesn’t have enough energy and speed to win the ball. We all know what level he is; he’s a very good player.”
“Menu will definitely raise questions. If you were him, and you didn’t get a chance to come on as a substitute throughout the entire tournament, you would definitely want an explanation, because he also has a certain level of ball control ability.”
Furthermore, Neville believes that Tuchel should have considered substituting Harry Kane when England tried to hold onto their lead in the final stages of the game, thus making the team more threatening on the counter-attack. Neville said: "I really think that the really bold decision when you're up 1-0 might be to take Harry Kane off. I've said before that if you want speed on the counter-attack through the middle, you have to take Bellingham and Kane off, or at least one of them, and then push players like Rashford and Morgan Rodgers up front."
In reviewing England's performance throughout the tournament, he added: "If we go back to before the tournament, I think we all said that we would have a hard time if England faced a team that could take possession of the ball from us through skill in the most important and stressful moments."
"We've played Mexico, Norway, and the Democratic Republic of Congo—the Mexico game was really tough, but Argentina was the first truly high-level team we faced. And when we play against strong teams, our weaknesses are exposed."
"I think this was the closest we've ever come to the World Cup final – in the 85th minute, we were leading Argentina 1-0, and the final was right in front of us."
