Five minutes from a shot at immortality, England were sucker punched by Lionel Messi and Argentina and crashed out of the World Cup on another night of incredible drama in Atlanta.
Seemingly heading to New Jersey for Sunday’s final as they led through Anthony Gordon’s 55th-minute goal, England eventually cracked under ceaseless Argentina pressure.
Was it just another brilliant comeback by the defending champions, or were England architects of their own downfall?
Daily Mail Sport looks at all the big issues from another night of World Cup semi-final heartbreak…
Anthony Gordon (right) looked like he had sent England towards the World Cup final – but it ended up being a familiar story of dejection for England
Lautaro Martinez breaks English hearts in Atlanta with a winner in stoppage time
OLD HABITS KILL ENGLAND
What was the big criticism that used to be thrown at Gareth Southgate’s England? That they were too defensive and didn’t know how to go for the jugular in a game of football? Remember that one after England coughed up an early lead to lose the final of Euro 2020 against Italy at Wembley? Well here we are again.
Different manager, same outcome. It’s not as straightforward as that of course. Psychology plays a huge part in football and Argentina were architects of their own comeback, as they found an urgency and a fluency that they had been lacking in the opening hour that England largely dominated.
Still, though, the change in England’s football as soon as they scored was so noticeable that it was frightening and manager Thomas Tuchel has to accept that he played a part in that with his tactics and substitutions.
When he took Anthony Gordon off and switched to a back five with 18 minutes left, it sent out a very clear message indeed. It’s hard to think of another meaningful England attack once they scored.
How did England really expect to survive 35 minutes and more of Argentina pressure? They will have known going behind would not faze the defending champions. They had survived huge scares against Cape Verde and Egypt.
Had England come out of this with a 1-0 win, given the flow of the game, it would have been incredible. Jordan Pickford made two good saves, Alexis Mac Allister missed a sitter and then – surprise, surprise – the dam broke.
When really good teams go ahead, they take control of the game. England didn’t do that. They scored and immediately ran out of ideas. They hung on for a while and then fell off the cliff face. They got what they deserved.
Thomas Tuchel rolled the dice with defensive changes when England were 1-0 up – but they backfired badly
England packed their defence to try and see out a 1-0 win – but just as in previous tournaments under Gareth Southgate, their passivity cost them
PASS OR FAIL FOR TUCHEL?
The record books will show this to be another progressive tournament for England. Our record now goes: semi-final, final, quarter-final, final, semi-final.
It’s an improvement on the slop we were served up by the likes of Roy Hodgson, Steve McClaren and Fabio Capello. We should be grateful that we are relevant on the world stage again.
However, this World Cup felt like Southgate’s Euro 2024 campaign once the bubble of excitement caused by that four-goal pumping of Croatia was burst by the drab 0-0 against Ghana that followed.
England have been a more unified bunch than they were two summers ago but their results have been far better than any of their performances were.
We will remember the spirit of Mexico and the shackling of Haaland in that Miami heatwave and we will remember the hope given us here by Gordon’s goal against the world champions. But we will not find evidence of control, of pattern or of a clear idea of how Tuchel’s England wanted to play their football.
Just as they were in Germany, where they lost to Spain in the final, England have presented themselves as a team of big moments rather than consistent performances and that will only get you so far.
Wayne Rooney was interesting on the BBC when he said after the game: ‘When you’re 1-0 up with 17 minutes to go, this is where I was looking at Tuchel to be the difference, the one to get us to the World Cup final and win the World Cup final.
‘The top managers counter-act what is going on and don’t go even deeper and let them come on. They go more front-footed and try and change the tempo of the game. He got it wrong. This was the biggest test and we failed it.’
It’s fair analysis and Tuchel must learn from this. His substitutions in this game were too late and too vanilla. None seemed to be made with the intention of taking hold of the game.
Tuchel deserves credit for getting the best out of Jude Bellingham. But there has been little evidence of how his team are really meant to play in America
Nevertheless, going forward Tuchel’s position should not be questioned. He has built on Southgate’s spirit and he’s a popular coach among his players. He deserves a run at the 2028 home Euros and has tamed Jude Bellingham, even if he has ultimately ended up relying on his star player far too much. There is some irony in that.
England and their coach leave America – no matter what happens in Saturday’s pointless third-place game – with a C grade. We had hoped for more.
REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL
England have half a team capable of winning in the UK in two years’ time and we do have a manager with the intelligence, charisma and confidence to lead us to something significant.
England have an issue at centre half and at some point will need a real replacement for Harry Kane. But they also have players who can grow. The likes of Bellingham, Declan Rice, Elliot Anderson, Anthony Gordon and Morgan Rogers should all be better footballers in two years while talent lurks elsewhere in the shape of young Arsenal protege Max Dowman.
Tuchel has to learn his own lessons, though. His squad felt like it had holes in it when he picked it and that’s how it transpired. He brought too many like-for-like wingers with him and got a consistent shout out of none of them.
Meanwhile, when he needed someone with a football brain to change the flow of the game or unlock a defence, he realised that he had left players like Cole Palmer and Morgan Gibbs-White at home.
Tuchel picked a good football squad with an emphasis on good vibes. Too much emphasis? Probably.
It’s also hard to escape the notion that had he been here, Harry Maguire would have got in this team. Defenders like Marc Guehi and Ezri Konsa have not trained on.
MESSI WALKS TO ANOTHER FINAL
Having watched Argentina struggle so hard against Cape Verde, Egypt and then Switzerland, it was always going to be revealing to see how they played here. This was, on reflection, a step up in quality and it’s hard not to wonder how much of that was down to England.
There was a relentlessness about Lionel Scaloni’s team that was ultimately impossible for Tuchel’s team to cope with. Despite that and despite the disappointment of another England failure, what a joy it was to sit and watch Lionel Messi write his name over yet another big occasion.
One of Messi’s great skills has always been an ability to see the game more quickly and more naturally than just about anybody else on the field
We should all look forward to seeing the 39-year-old in another World Cup final
Much has been made of the way that the Argentina icon only seems to run when he has the ball but the truth is that the greatest player of our time has been doing that for years. None of it is remotely indicative of laziness.
One of Messi’s great skills has always been an ability to see the game more quickly and more naturally than just about anybody else on the field. His sense of time and space and his ability to anticipate has long been one of the things that has set him apart and that is largely what enables him to play at this level at the age of 39.
Messi has always ‘lurked’ on the fringes of the play before bursting into one of those passages of blurred brilliance and here we saw him do that for long periods before taking hold of the contest in the last 20 minutes when his team really needed him. The cross for the winning goal was a thing of beauty and we should all look forward to seeing him in another World Cup final.
FIFA MUST LOOK AT THE REFEREES
Argentina finished this game in an awful lot more impressive fashion than they started it. The atmosphere before kick-off was extraordinary. This stadium in Atlanta has an incredible modern sound system yet it was impossible to hear the anthems over the noise coming from respective ends of the stadium.
The noise at the Azteca Stadium when England beat Mexico a week and a half ago was amazing but this was something else entirely.
Referee Ismail Elfath waited too long to brandish a yellow card. And it felt a bit of a joke that when he eventually did, it went to an England player
It seemed to over-stimulate some of the Argentina players who came out kicking. Leandro Paredes was in to Bellingham with a late challenge almost immediately and then Enzo Fernandez gave Anderson a huge whack that sparked a melee involving most of the players on the field.
It felt as though this was exactly what Argentina wanted and England did well not to respond. What it did need was a yellow card from referee Ismail Elfath but sadly none were forthcoming.
The American, who grew up in Morocco, didn’t, in all honesty, look totally in control of the game from the outset. Had he been firmer, then some of the early nonsense would have stopped. But he didn’t actually show a card at all until the 37th minute and the fact it was to an English player – Anderson – was a bit of a joke.
FIFA must reassess the way they appoint the referees for these big games in the latter stages. Too much consideration is given to politics, diplomacy and the sensitivities of the two nations involved. Who cares? Just appoint the best official for the job.
Enzo Fernandez fires in an equaliser in the 85th minute. From there, England looked doomed
Chelsea midfielder Fernandez revels in his wonderstrike
