Newcastle United defender Dan Burn has reacted to England’s World Cup semi-final exit to Argentina.
Dan Burn felt it was England’s ‘time’ to win the World Cup but was ultimately left ‘gutted’ following the 2-1 defeat to Argentina.
Burn was introduced in the closing stages of the match with England leading 1-0 thanks to Anthony Gordon’s second-half opener.
But the World Cup holders were able to complete a late comeback with goals from Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez to see Argentina through to face Spain in the final.
In losing, England became the first team in World Cup history to fail to make two finals after taking the lead in the semi-final. Back in 2018, Kieran Trippier gave England an early lead in the semi-final against Croatia only for the side to lose 2-1 after extra-time.
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Negative England punished
Burn had become something of a cult hero for England during the tournament after his impressive defensive displays off the bench against Mexico and Norway. But the defensive changes made by Thomas Tuchel against Argentina failed to have the desired impact.
“I think when you come within sort of 10-15 minutes of a World Cup final and then don’t get it done, it hurts,” he said.
“Obviously, I’m very gutted right now, but I’m so proud of what the team has done. We don’t even think anyone gave us a chance coming into this.
“The brotherhood that we spoke about just took us a long way, and if I’m being honest, I thought we’d do it.
“I just had that feeling that this was our time, but I think Argentina showed why they’re world champions and they’ve been there and they’ve done it.”
Deja vu for Dan Burn
England’s defeat drew comparisons to several losses Burn experienced with Newcastle last season with the side dropping a record 27 points from winning positions in the Premier League last term. But after taking the lead against Argentina, Tuchel’s side invited pressure rather than go for a second goal.
“I thought that we nailed the game plan up until we scored. I thought we did really well,” Burn added.
“We knew what Argentina were going to do, and I thought we dealt with it pretty well.
“And then we got a little bit passive after the goal. Defended probably a little bit too deep and the quality of chances that Argentina were creating, I thought it felt like it was a matter of time.
“I think we conceded too many crosses and too many chances, and I think it’s hard because in the previous games we’ve defended those so well.
“So, I don’t think that we can take massive criticism for going into that.”
He continued: “I think when we’re in 4-4-2 defending, we were conceding a lot of chances. So something had to change, and as I said, we’ve been pretty solid when we were a back five in the previous few games.
“I think the manager may want to have done something in hindsight, but also from the players, we’ve taken responsibility to get through.
“We’ve been 10-15 minutes away from the World Cup final, we really probably should see it out.”
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