England<\/a>. The prospect of ending his international career with defeat against Argentina\u2019s most hated rival, a defeat that would mark his career forever: Diego would never have let this happen.<\/p>\nWould the temptation to punish his hubris at last prove too much for the gods? Not yet. Not yet!<\/p>\n
Argentina are in the World Cup final again, thanks to the inspiration from their captain, and to an all-time bottle job from England\u2019s coach, Thomas Tuchel.<\/p>\n
Tuchel had a winning hand after Anthony Gordon\u2019s goal had given England a 55th-minute lead \u2013 but in the last half-hour of the game he declared his intention to cling on for the clean sheet.<\/p>\n
He sent on defender after defender, with England finishing with six in their line-up, handing the initiative to Argentina, daring them to score.<\/p>\n
![\"Lionel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AQ2G7PHHM57JYVQWDRFN4FSNXU.jpg\")
Lionel Messi of Argentina celebrates the team’s second goal by Lautaro Martinez. Photograph: Shaun Botterill\/Getty <\/p>\n
The approach had worked against Mexico, who had responded to England dropping deep with a barrage of ineffective crosses that were gleefully headed away by Dan Burn.<\/p>\n
So why wouldn\u2019t it work against a team whose attack is orchestrated by the greatest creative mastermind in the history of the sport? Ah.<\/p>\n
Tuchel should have listened to his assistant, Anthony Barry, who in his half-time TV address to the nation had declared \u201cWe\u2019re here to play in the opponent\u2019s half … we use our Premier League power and our physicality, I think we can open them up later on.\u201d<\/p>\n
If only England had used that vaunted power and physicality, instead of running for their trenches as the scent of imminent victory tantalised their nostrils.<\/p>\n
Instead, they sat back and allowed Messi and Argentina to probe and probe until eventually \u2013 almost inevitably \u2013 they found the way through. <\/p>\n
This will be one of the most painful defeats in England\u2019s World Cup history. On the brink of their second World Cup final, their attack powered by two phenomenal goalscorers who had each plundered six goals in the tournament so far, they lost their nerve, urged backwards by their superstar coach.<\/p>\n
Tuchel was meant to provide the tactical edge to get them over the line, but now has authored a debacle that will be studied in coaching colleges for decades to come.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to see how Tuchel can continue as England manager after this: he has fumbled England\u2019s opportunity in the most infuriating possible manner for the English public.<\/p>\n
He had raged defiantly that his side had \u201cpure mentality\u201d after England defeated Norway in the quarter-final, but his own mentality crumbled under the intense pressure of this World Cup semi-final.<\/p>\n
![\"Djed](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/QUNAK6NBHNAHCMBA534DQ7KP2I.jpg\")
Djed Spence of England makes a tackle against Giuliano Simeone of Argentina. Photograph: Elsa\/Getty <\/p>\n
There were no shots in the first half-hour, a first for a World Cup match dating back to 1966. The game had the unbearable tension of a knife fight on a tightrope suspended between two skyscrapers.<\/p>\n
Everyone was affected by that tension. Messi miscontrolled the ball three times in the first half-hour.<\/p>\n
His first flash of real quality produced the most inflammatory moment of the half. Messi turned past Spence, wriggled past Kane, and accelerated away only to be chopped down brutally by Anderson. The Argentinian fans screamed for blood and you wondered for a moment if the ref might flash red, but Anderson escaped with a yellow.<\/p>\n
At half-time Barry pronounced himself satisfied, confident England\u2019s greater power and stamina would work in their favour in the long run.<\/p>\n
On 55 minutes, England had their breakthrough. A long ball forward by Kane was weakly cleared with an overhead by Tagliafico, who couldn\u2019t see he was setting it nicely for the advancing Declan Rice. Rice quickly found Morgan Rodgers on the right.<\/p>\n
On the far side Anthony Gordon was already streaking towards goal, and Rodgers picked him out with a beautiful ball to the back post. Gordon got there ahead of Nahuel Molina and the ball was in the back of Argentina\u2019s net.<\/p>\n
Immediately Argentina attacked through the centre, Messi feeding Enzo Fernandez who found Simeone running into the box \u2013 but a superb tackle by Djed Spence sent him flying and the ball out for a corner. Spence and the England fans celebrated it like a goal, and it was worth one.<\/p>\n
Argentina were pressing forward desperately now, Messi coming deep to initiate the attacks. Behind him, acres of undefended space that England\u2019s attack dogs eyed hungrily. It looked set up for a second killing goal on the counter.<\/p>\n
![\"Argentina's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ZIWRJ364ZGRBD7SJOOAQ4IC4RI.jpg\")
Argentina’s midfielder Enzo Fernandez celebrates after scoring Argentina’s first goal. Photograph: Juan Mabromata\/AFP via Getty <\/p>\n
But their manager had other ideas. He wanted to hold on to what he had. That the game was now happening in England\u2019s third played into Argentina\u2019s hands. They have little pace and energy to run from end to end, but a siege situation in small spaces suits their subtle skills.<\/p>\n
Messi, desperate not to lose this, had started to do some inspired things, dribbling at opponents to destabilise England\u2019s defence, but nothing was quite coming off for him.<\/p>\n
At the water break, Scaloni made a triple substitution: Martinez, Simeone and Molina all off, de Paul, Otamendi and Montiel on. You\u2019d have thought the quality of these subs would not have struck fear into the heart of England, but Tuchel\u2019s move was to switch to five at the back, Konsa replacing Gordon.<\/p>\n
Without Gordon, England lost much of their remaining threat on the counter. De Paul immediately swung in a great cross which MacAllister, rushing into the box, headed against the post.<\/p>\n
Then Messi pulled out to the centre and chipped one over the English defence which Gonzalez headed across goal and just wide.<\/p>\n
Tuchel\u2019s next move was to send on Dan Burn and Nico O\u2019Reilly for Reece James and Declan Rice. England\u2019s line-up was now packed with defenders. It was clear that if they conceded they would have a tough time playing their way back into this.<\/p>\n
Pickford conceded a corner, saving a long shot. The short corner was played out to Enzo Fernandez, 25 yards out. He sent a beautiful swerving drive into more or less the centre of England\u2019s goal. Jordan Pickford, maybe unsighted by the bodies in front of him, could not reach it.<\/p>\n
Everyone knew this was over: the question was whether England could drag it into extra time. John Stones went down complaining of injury to buy them a breather. But Argentina came straight back at them.<\/p>\n
MacAllister hit the post again, Djed Spence seemed to pull up as he went to clear. Messi spotted his weakness, burned him on the outside, crossed right-footed to the far post. Lautaro Martinez was there to bury it and England.<\/p>\n
World Cup Wallchart<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"World Cup semi-final: England 1 (Gordon 55) Argentina 2 (Fernandez 85, Lautaro Martinez 90+2) Too much? Was Lionel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[226962,11148,2956,61,60,28776,112,5041,4018],"class_list":["post-551677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-argentina-football-team","tag-england-football-team","tag-fifa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-lionel-messi","tag-sports","tag-thomas-tuchel","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}