Thomas Tuchel admitted England's World Cup semi-final loss to Argentina is a "scar that we carry now" but defended his decision-making during the match.

England were aiming to reach the tournament's showpiece for the first time since lifting the trophy in 1966, but let a lead slip through their fingers against the reigning champions.

Having gone ahead through Anthony Gordon, England tried to defend their lead before Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez both scored late on to flip the scoreline.

There are just two occasions of a team scoring first in the semi-final but not reaching the final of the World Cup in the 21st century – both of them are England (vs Croatia in 2018 and Argentina in 2026).

They will now face France in the third-place play-off in a bid to secure the bronze medal and record their best result since 1966.

"We feel the most pain of all, and it is our scar that we carry now. It's our pain, my pain, and the players' pain," Tuchel told a press conference.

"It is a very painful defeat, and we have to live with this defeat, first and foremost. Not the critics, not the experts, not our family members, who suffer as well with us, and want only the best for us.

"We will overcome it, we will use it, we will have a reaction, and it starts from [Saturday]. If we win the game, we have the best results of a World Cup in 60 years. It's a perspective to it.

"We believed we could do it. We were dreaming about it.

"Still, I believe that three other nations have almost an expectation to win the title, not us. France, Spain, Argentina [are] almost there on that level that they expect to win.

"We are not there yet. There is still a gap to close. And this is what we will do. We will not stop chasing. We will not stop hunting; we will not stop challenging."

Against Argentina, Tuchel opted to make three defensive changes after taking the lead, with Ezri Konsa, Dan Burn and Nico O'Reilly brought on, the former replacing Gordon.

It also resulted in a change of shape to a back five, with England having just 12% possession between their opener and Argentina's equaliser.

Marcus Rashford and Ivan Toney were both brought on deep in stoppage time as the Three Lions searched for an equaliser to force extra time, but they could not find one, though Tuchel insisted once again that he has no regrets.

"If you're asking if I regret my decision, if this is the question, then I don't regret my decisions," he added. "I felt that the momentum switches in the match. And I tried to help my team…

"I took several decisions, trusting my instinct, my intuition, my experience, 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 would regret if I didn't help. I would regret if we didn't react.

"For me, there is no one to blame. If you need someone to blame, I take the responsibility. I'm the head coach."

England have featured in two World Cup third-place play-offs, losing both of them – 2-1 to Italy in 1990 and 2-0 to Belgium in 2018. The only team to lose more than two is Uruguay (three).

This will be the fourth meeting between England and France at the tournament. The Three Lions won the first two (2-0 in 1966, 3-1 in 1982), but France won 2-1 in the 2022 quarter-final most recently.