The triptych of dark paintings is complete. Bleak and desolate images stare out from each one.
First, there is Peter Shilton in the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City at the 1986 World Cup, jumping to punch a looping ball that is flicked away from him by Diego Maradona’s Hand of God.
Then, from the 1998 World Cup, there is David Beckham staring up at referee Kim Milton Nielsen after he has been worked over by Diego Simeone and has flicked out his foot at his opponent. There is dread and horror on Beckham’s face. He knows a red card is coming. He knows it will change everything.
And now, the last of the panels, drawn under the dome of the Atlanta Stadium on the 15th day of July, stands next to them. It features the face of Argentina’s cartoon villain, Enzo Fernandez, grinning up at the stands after breaking England hearts yet again.
There is a place for the clock on the giant screen, which showed that England were just five minutes away from their first World Cup final for 60 years when Fernandez scored the equaliser that denied them.
There is a place for Lautaro Martinez, whose late, late header won the game for England’s bitter enemy. There is a place for Lionel Messi, the greatest of all time. In his first game against England, it was he who provided the winner for Martinez. His record against England will forever read Played 1, Won 1.
And so it is Argentina who will march on New York on Sunday to meet Spain and try to win their second successive World Cup.
England’s World Cup run ended in heartbreak as they blew a 1-0 semi-final lead to Argentina
Lautaro Martinez came off the bench to score a back-post header which won the game 2-1
Lionel Messi was magnificent in what was his first ever appearance up against England
For England, this is a time of shattered dreams. England always finds a way to lose these matches and now they have done it again. They are always the punchlines for someone else’s jokes.
Three defeats to Argentina and, to travel alongside them, three appearances in World Cup semi-finals in 60 years and now three defeats.
Paul Gacoigne’s face reddened with crying after defeat to West Germany in Turin in 1990 and the devastation of Marcus Rashford after England lost to Croatia in their last four tie in Moscow in 2018.
England dwell on Desolation Row. This is a city that will be forever associated with a man who had a dream. England were hoping that, from here, they would march on New York but their dream died here.
It turns out that the hope England harboured that Thomas Tuchel would be the coach who could finally drag them over the line in a major tournament was forlorn and misguided. England were regarded as favourites but, when it came to the moment of truth, Tuchel came up short. He was not the man to drag England over the line after all.
He took England to the last four here, which is a creditable performance but Gareth Southgate took England to the last four in 2018 and the fans were throwing bottles at him by 2024, when he led England to the European Championship final. Tuchel was supposed to take England to the next level. It was beyond him.
It is always the same when England lose like this. It is as if a spell has been broken.
The 3-2 victory over Mexico in the Azteca in the Round of 16, achieved with 10 men, at altitude, in front of a hostile crowd, in a magnificent stadium, against all odds, was the greatest football occasion I’ve ever been to. I will never forget England’s heroics that night but they were in vain.
The 2-1 comeback victory in the quarter-finals against Norway in the stifling heat of Miami was graced by one of the finest individual performances I have ever seen from an England player. Jude Bellingham scored both England goals and dragged them through to the semi-finals by the scruff of their necks. That, too, was in vain.
The atmosphere reached fever-pitch before kick-off. The Argentina fans swarmed over the stadium and filled up part of the end that seemed to be nominally reserved for England supporters. They leapt up and down relentlessly.
‘And now you see, and now you see,’ they yelled in Spanish, ‘whoever doesn’t jump is English.’
They sang their song about the Falkland Islands, too, and the war of 1982 between the two countries. ‘For the Malvinas, for Diego, for Leo’s last one,’ they chanted. England fans go further back for their history. They sang about ’10 German bombers’. A few dressed as crusaders, chain mail and all.
Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez soaked up all of the applause after scoring the equalising goal
Thomas Tuchel’s gameplan completely fell apart once Fernandez equalised with his stunner
Rarely have two national anthems been drowned out so comprehensively by booing but Tuchel and Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni shared a warm embrace before kick-off. Tuchel, once more, had not been afraid to make changes to his starting XI.
Morgan Rogers had helped to change the game when he came off the bench against Norway in the quarter-finals and Tuchel preferred him to Noni Madueke on the right. Reece James started at right back. Djed Spence replaced Nico O’Reilly at left back, a fleet-footed marker for Messi.
Every detail was heightened. Bellingham and Rogers, old friends, wrapped each other in a last hug. Marc Guehi knelt on the pitch and prayed to his God. Messi stared up at the roof as he prepared to take the kick that started the game. Leandro Paredes’ first action was to shove Bellingham in the back and barge him to the floor off the ball.
Enzo Fernandez scythed down Elliot Anderson.
Argentina, predictably, made it a priority, to try to provoke Bellingham. It was bedlam. It was unbelievably intense. No quarter given and none asked. Referee Ismail Elfath struggled to keep control. It was only when the hydration break came that anyone took a breath.
Quite how Fernandez and Giuliano Simeone avoided bookings is anyone’s guess. Although it did fit with Fifa’s favouritism towards them at this tournament.
England showed they could mix it, too. Messi wriggled away from a series of challenges in midfield and then was a cut down by a combination of Anderson and Spence. Spence was shown a yellow card. It was hard to believe but it was the first of the match. The lesson: foul Messi, get booked.
Seven minutes before half time, someone even tried a shot. Fernandez’s effort from range flew just too high. For most of the time, it felt less like a football match and more like watching a very angry man crammed into a washing machine with a man he hates and then putting the machine on spin. Then half-time arrived.
England had won a corner on the stroke of the interval but the referee refused to allow it to be taken and blew up for half-time. Which puzzled everyone. It fitted with a theme of the favourable treatment Argentina have been shown at this tournament.
England ignored it and 10 minutes after half time, they took the lead. Rogers found space on the right and curled a low cross to the back post. While Nahuel Molina hesitated, Anthony Gordon stole in front of him and clipped the ball deftly past Emiliano Martinez and into the corner of the net.
What a moment. Another was to follow swiftly, this time at the other end. Simeone, the son of Beckham’s tormentor of 1998, sprinted in on goal and, as he prepared to shoot, Spence slid in and executed a perfectly-timed tackle. England celebrated it almost as much as the goal.
England were dreaming of the final when Anthony Gordon scored the opening goal for 1-0
Argentina have come back from behind many times already in this tournament and now they tried again. Midway through the half, substitute Nico Gonzalez ran on to a cross from the right and met it full on but Pickford dived low to his right and pushed the header away superbly.
Fifteen minutes from time, England got a little luck, the luck that usually deserts them on these occasions. Rodrigo de Paul sent in a cross from the right and Alexis Mac Allister flung himself at it. His header cannoned off the post and out to safety. A few minutes later, Gonzalez headed agonisingly wide.
But then, five minutes from time, Argentina took a corner. They played it short to Messi. Messi drew three or four England defenders to him and then slipped a short pass to Fernandez. Fernandez took his time and then smashed a shot past Pickford from 25 yards. Bellingham had come rushing out to meet him but had not quite got there in time.
And then the final blow. Mac Allister hit the post with a low shot but it was picked up by Messi, of all people, on the right. Messi made space for a cross and crossed deep. Lautaro Martinez was there and he met it and powered it past Pickford with a thumping header from close range.
It was over. Over for another four years. And who knows how many after that. Outside, as they trudged into the early evening in America’s south, the faintest of breezes interrupted the humidity. All England’s hopes, so keenly felt, felt foolish and fragile now. All those hopes, gone with the wind.
