How I felt that familiar despair as Tuchel

Brighton and Hove Albion FC England football Football Sport

I stood among a crowd of England fans at The Terrace as time ticked away and had that familiar sinking feeling.

That one you get every two years.

That sense that, for all the fantastic things about English football from the deepest of grass roots all the way up, we are not quite good enough as a country at the elite level.

Not in terms of national team, where you have to develop your own players and, ideally, coaches.

It is a shame but you know that is the way it will always be. Just not quite there.

Not imaginative enough. A bit tame, inhibited and often quite hard to watch.

So many bad memories, disappointments and near (or far) misses.

That is why I am not that passionate about the national team. I don’t always watch them, even in big games such as the Euros two years ago or the defeat to France in Qatar.

But that sinking feeling referred to above was not only in the closing stages against Argentina.

I am actually thinking about two weeks previously, as they trailed and struggled against DR Congo.

They got out of that one thanks to the magic of one of their two world class players.

The other world class player got the goals required to squeeze past Mexico and Norway, a game in which they were hanging on at times and were lucky to win.

Too many parts of too many matches in the USA told us England were not good enough to win the World Cup, although we were starting to believe.

We don’t produce the players, partly because – unlike nations such as Argentina, France, Spain, Portugal – we don’t have to.

We can buy talent. We don't export it en masse.

And we can import coaches. One of the solutions being popularly touted after the defeat by Argentina was to go to Catalunya and hire Pep Guardiola to replace Thomas Tuchel, which summed it up really.

There was anger across the nation after Tuchel got his tactics wrong – having initially got them right – in the semi-final.

Did those in-game changes at 1-0 reveal a lack of faith in his players?

Did his decisions undermine the belief being felt out in the middle by his team?

Would Argentina have still found a way, as they usually do, and then Tuchel been asked why he didn’t do the same as he did at the Azteca?

All of those things might have been true but the end result left many of us looking on in disbelief – but also, if that makes sense, believing it all too well at the same time.

I have been following England long enough to believe they will never win a major trophy. Not in my lifetime anyway. Simple as that.

And that is generally okay. A crowning moment would be fantastic for all those thousands of people who make English football at all levels live and breathe on a daily basis.

Have a look at what goes on at your local club (I'll be at mine on Saturday, where a pre-season friendly will also raise funds for a local hospice).

Have a look at most main railway stations or motorway services on a Saturday. Fans from all levels helping our game thrive.

There is plenty to enjoy about our national sporting obsession.

Actually, for a little dot on the globe, we are generally pretty good across a wide range of different sports.

But those few days every two years when the inquest over the senior men's national football team is in full swing are always painful. And frustrating.

They make you feel a bit bitter and envious, often of countries and nationalities you love. And then those unreasonable, childish feelings fade again.

We are not an international footballing power but it feels a real shame and hugely disappointing that we cannot have one day in the sun.

The 2026 World Cup itself? Without watching many complete matches, I have enjoyed it in my own way.

Every World Cup or Olympics or major event has the chance to be “the best ever” because you learn from what has gone before.

From a distance, I am not sure this World Cup has been that, on or off the field.

England going on a run tends to unite a nation, be a talking point in the street or at pubs and cafes, and it will be a shame to see that disappear overnight.

We have been bringing you reaction, pictures and videos from The Terrace, at the Amex, where the atmosphere has been good and we have met lots of great people.

Collecting those with help from my nearly 18-year-old son has been fun.

You might have seen us if you were there. If we videoed you and have not used it, it will have been down to sound quality, nothing else.

He has really started to enjoy football for the first time with Jude Bellingham a huge favourite and Giuliano Simeone a big annoyance.

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I think he thinks England will win a World Cup one day. Or a Euros. So do his contemporaries.

But I really can't see it. Not until we have more players such as Kane and Bellingham improving themselves technically and tactically in Europe.

Tuchel thought he was giving his team a safety net as he made changes at 1-0 up against Argentina.

He was actually putting them on a tightrope.

It is not the first time they have fallen off and it always hurts – but we can live with it.