Prince Harry has suggested England were missing the winning “mindset” required to reach what would have been the nation’s first World Cup final since 1966.
The Duke of Sussex made the remarks during an appearance on James Corden’s Fox Sports show, where he was joined by former England defender Rio Ferdinand and discussed the Three Lions’ reaction after going ahead against Argentina.
According to Harry, England did not fully believe they could push on, score again and ultimately beat Argentina once they had taken a 1-0 lead.
When asked why England fell short of reaching the country’s first final in 60 years, he said the explanation came down to belief as much as tactics.
Speaking on Fox Sports in the US with a pint of lager in front of him, Harry said: “It’s mindset.”
He added: “I think what we saw was a slight shock value for them. ‘S**t, we are 1-0 up against Argentina’ and there was this immediate temptation to fall into defence.”
Harry also appeared to offer support for England manager Thomas Tuchel, arguing that the team’s decision to sit deeper was not necessarily the intended game plan.
Tuchel has faced heavy criticism for his defensive substitutions, while questions have also been raised over the unexplained omission of attacking options such as Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford, who remained on the bench.
Harry said: ‘I don’t think it was a tactic. I don’t think that was the plan. It just happened.
‘After 72-73 minutes, whatever it was, you can’t just defend a 1-0 lead against a team like that. You just can’t. The mindset is the belief. The fact that you are 1-0 up, believe that you can be 2-0 up.’
His brother Prince William told the England team to ‘hold their heads high’ after their World Cup semi-final defeat. ‘The fight and belief you have shown has inspired us all,’ he said.
England will never reach a World Cup final unless they change their ‘mindset’, Prince Harry has claimed
James Corden suggested that Harry could join the England management team after his tactical analysis
Last night James Corden joked that Ferdinand should become the next England manager, with Harry serving as his assistant.
The conversation soon turned to Harry’s own footballing skills, with the TV host teasing his friend over attending Eton College.
Harry joked that he thought he was good at football until he was demoted to the bottom team at school
Corden joked that Harry had gone to a school too posh to play football, prompting the Duke to reveal he had been a first-team player at prep school before ending up in the bottom team when more children joined for senior school.
Harry said: ‘In prep school I was in the first team. And then I went to the bigger school and I was in the E team, being A team down to E team.’
Smiling after drawing laughs from the studio, he pointed at one audience member and joked: ‘You found that really funny, didn’t you?’
The light-hearted exchange also saw Harry mock Corden for calling the sport ‘soccer’ after the Duke himself was caught doing the same thing earlier this month.
‘I thought you went to a school that was too posh to play soccer?’ Corden asked.
Harry shot back: ‘Too posh to play football? Why are you calling it soccer?
He added: ‘It was such a posh school that everything was an option. There was a football team.’
There was also a competition for Britain’s best Harry.
The Prince said his favourites were Harry Styles, then Harry Kane and finally him and Harry Potter joint third in the list of ‘greatest British Harrys’.
He joked that he would have a ‘quidditch-off’ with the wizard.
The Duke of Sussex was in the UK for a week earlier this month and apologised after referring to England’s World Cup quarter-final against Norway as a game of ‘soccer’.
After six years living in the US, the Duke of Sussex slipped into using the American term for the beautiful game when This Morning host Alison Hammond invited him back to her house for ackee and saltfish, Jamaica’s national dish.
Delighted by the invitation, Harry replied: ‘And some soccer as well?’, before quickly correcting himself: ‘Some football, sorry. Football, not soccer.’
Alison then joked that she needed to tidy up first.
Harry replied: ‘Okay, why does it need tidying up? I’ll bleach your toilet for you. For you, anything.’
James Corden became friendly with Harry and Meghan after moving to the States, revealing an interview that their children are also close.
While he has moved back to the UK, when he returns to the US he is known to pop in to see the Sussexes in Montecito.
He is particularly close to Harry, who appeared on The Late Late Show where they went on a bus tour and went to Meghan’s house.
James recently revealed he and his family had had ‘a sort of play date scenario [with the kids],’ at Meghan and Harry’s ‘then we went out for dinner after, it was lovely.’
Adding that he knows Harry better than Meghan, James said he finds it hard to be ‘judgemental’ of the pair, seemingly referring to their decision to step down as senior members of the royal family and move to the US.
He said: ‘I have a huge amount of respect and admiration for Harry, and anyone who has been around him and spent time with him would feel exactly the same way.
‘I think he is a devoted and loving husband and father and I think what they have done [in turning away from royal life] is incredibly brave and I’ll always be in their corner.’
In 2021, Prince Harry’s ‘unhelpful’ decision to pour his heart out to James Corden on TV caused ‘disquiet’ at Buckingham Palace after he insisted that he and Meghan Markle ‘never walked away’ from the royal family by emigrating.
The Duke of Sussex said the move to Californiawas about ‘stepping back rather than stepping down’ as royals as he appeared on The Late Late Show with Mr Corden, who has gazumped Oprah Winfrey to the exclusive 17-minute interview with his British friend.
The Duchess of Sussex also made a brief appearance on the show during a FaceTime call, revealing her pet name for Harry is ‘Haz’, while her husband calls her ‘Meg’ throughout and reveals that his grandmother bought their son Archie a waffle maker for Christmas.
And in another extraordinary moment Harry rapped the theme tune to The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air outside the mansion where it was filmed before the royal and Mr Corden head off to complete a muddy army assault course together, ferried around LA on an open-top tour bus serving afternoon tea.
Palace sources said at the time Harry’s TV appearance is ‘unhelpful, and has caused ‘disquiet’
Pals: Harry previously appeared as a guest on James’ The Late Late Show shortly after he moved to Los Angeles with Meghan
The friends video call Meghan, who in response to Corden’s suggestion they buy the Fresh Prince’s house, quipped ‘I think we’ve done enough moving’ and reveals she calls her husband ‘Haz’
At one point Harry crawls through the mud with ease as James Corden panics about following him through the big puddle
Prince Harry decided to open up to James Corden about his relationship with Meghan, his son Archie and their decision to quit as frontline royals, saying the pressure of being in London was ‘destroying my mental health’, branding Britain’s media ‘toxic’.
Describing the couple’s decision he said: ‘It was never walking away. It was stepping back rather than stepping down. It was a really difficult environment, which I think a lot of people saw. So I did what any father or husband would do and thought: ‘How do I get my family out of there’. But we never walked away’.
