England’s defeat to Argentina is ‘the same story’ as World Cup dream fades away

ATLANTA – Anthony GordonThe 55th strike in the 55th minute was a milestone in itself, as there is no substitute for an opening goal in a World Cup semi-final. As Djed Spence again Jordan Pickford came in with big defensive contributions in the follow-up, though, it felt like In England they were getting up to come to the party.

Gordon’s goal was just the foundation for England to play in a game they didn’t deserve – or anyone, for that matter. In Argentina has been overlooked since the opening whistle, a new type of cage game on full display at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. It was the perfect set-up for any opponent to advance, and many did as Argentina reached the semi-finals of the World Cup on a hard-fought, albeit rested, run against Cape Verde. Egypt again in Switzerland. And yet…

“It seemed like it was only a matter of time,” England’s Dan Burn said after the game.

Enzo Fernandez’s long shot flew into the back of the net, although it was unlikely to hit from that distance. Three minutes before stoppage time, Lionel Messi’s beautiful cross found the head of Lautaro Martinez and he quickly finished from close range. The well-played champions pulled off a 1-0 lead in a matter of minutes – and punched their way into the World Cup finals for the second time in a row.

Argentina earned the right to be called the champions of the World Cup. They have never been seen as a tournament quality team, tactical organization and cohesion have never been their strong suit. They were on the brink of disaster against Cape Verde, Egypt and Switzerland before they were almost knocked out by England. They rode on luck more than any team should through to the final, with nine of their 11 goals coming after the 78th minute. They benefited from controversial refereeing decisions, the end of their golden era is easy to see with the naked eye. It is understandable, to a certain extent, that England will go into a false depression as they approach the final whistle on Wednesday because they played the better team for most of the second half. However, doing so against the returning kings was foolish and they paid for it in the end.

If Gordon’s goal was a seemingly historic climb out of England, it reignited Argentina’s fire. The champions held a five-shot lead over England but had scored 0.17 goals when Gordon’s goal went wide of the net. For their efforts to reduce the story to a battle instead of a game, they have rewards to show for it. Things changed a bit from there, however – they attacked in wave after wave because they had no choice. There is no substitute for a goal, especially a place in the World Cup finals on the line. They fired 10 shots at the Three Lions goal before the final whistle, some more sensible than others. Perhaps the reason why England is free is because it works for a while. They may only have 16.8% possession from the 55th minute to the 72nd minute and an expected 0.04 goals from two shots, but Argentina only scored 0.15 xG for their efforts.

“I feel like we struggled to keep the rhythm of the game,” said England captain, Harry Kane. “We did very well for 60 minutes, we scored, we deserved to be ahead and for one reason or another, we struggled to keep the ball. We struggled to put pressure on the ball and it just allowed them to build momentum. It made them attack more in our last third and it’s common sense to try and hold on and hold on to one goal, but there’s 2 minutes to go.”

Then came Tuchel’s clinical error. A strong defensive game was already underway but the England manager took Gordon off to replace him Ezri Konsaformation changes to back five. After Lionel Scaloni’s side offered the same kind of criticism, Tuchel came up with his own alternative – instead of using talented strikers like Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham to get a chance or two while Argentina pushed forward, England fell far behind. The offensive wave became more powerful in Argentina from there. While England took just one shot and totaled 0.05 xG after Konsa came on in the 72nd minute, Argentina finally found their rhythm.

“For most, I thought we did pretty well,” Burn said. “That probably shows the quality of the player he is, when you can keep him quiet for most of the game and he comes up with two assists.”

They took eight shots and made 1.53 xG on those attempts, Messi ended up getting two late assists to give his team another shot at World Cup glory.

“We quickly got back into the deep area, which is also not a problem but we struggled to stay busy in that deep block and we struggled to get crosses into that deep block and we struggled to find runners in the box,” said Tuchel, dejected but without regret for his choice. “Argentina, they made changes [with] four strikers – wide winners and two strikers in the middle so we tried to practice that in the back five … It was difficult for us. We could not find duels. We didn’t get possession of the ball again and we didn’t get momentum again.”

Tuchel learned all the wrong lessons in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Norway in the quarter-finals, where they finally reaped the rewards of trying to play football by scoring goals that would take them to another World Cup semi-final. He also made the mistake of predicting that the game against Argentina, who boast of Messi’s unique ability to find ways out of trouble, would really be like a playoff game. Mexico again in Norway before.

To say that it was a missed opportunity is just scratching the surface of the England team who are waiting for their second World Cup title which will reach 64 years. This is especially true for this version of the Three Lions – eight years removed from the World Cup semi-finals and after two European Championship finals, they have come very close without winning everything, their only major title being the World Cup they won at home in 1966. The coach has extended his contract to continue the Euro games at home but for some senior members of the squad such as Kane, Wednesday’s failure is like deja vu.

“It’s a story similar to what happened in previous competitions,” he said.