![\"England's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ZHQYFSQ7EJVOME3TOEIJ5MJH6E.jpg\")
England’s midfielder Jude Bellingham reacts after losing to Argentina in the World Cup. Photograph: Odd Andersen\/AFP via Getty <\/p>\nIt was a long day. The build-up concluded with \u2018Arry Redknapp being asked on Sky News if Argentina captain Antonio Rattin\u2019s behaviour in the 1966 World Cup final or the Falklands War in 1982 would have a bearing on Wednesday evening\u2019s game in Atlanta.<\/p>\n
\u201cNa, I don\u2019t fink so,\u201d said \u2018Arry, although he didn\u2019t sound entirely sure. Like, there was a possibility that those happenings would rouse Jordan Pickford, born long after both, in to stretching his fingertips a little further when a shot was incoming.<\/p>\n
The Falklands theme was maintained through the day on GB News which this couch watched so you didn\u2019t have to. No need for floods of gratitude, just send your gift vouchers to the usual address.<\/p>\n
\u201cFourteen million pints will be drunk today,\u201d Anna Riley told us when she reported mid-afternoon from outside a Wetherspoons in Pudsey, \u201cand that\u2019s just at this table.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cXlgdwdqvdxqh,\u201d its occupants chuckled, two them close enough to already being horizontal. One suggested that England would deffo win \u201cbecause they\u2019ve been so crap so far\u201d. \u201cReal positivity here in Pudsey,\u201d Anna reported back to the studio.<\/p>\n
Tony McGuire, meanwhile, was reporting from outside a Marks & Spencer in Glasgow, his mission to find locals who would be supporting England. He found one, but he turned out to be Brazilian. But, on the whole, he struggled. If England win the World Cup?<\/p>\n
Man 1: \u201cWe\u2019ll nivver hear the end of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Woman 1: \u201cWe\u2019ll nivver hear the end of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Man 2: \u201cWe\u2019ll nivver hear the end of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tony was left concluding that this animosity was down to \u201cEngland fans in Boston singing we can shove our bagpipes up our you-know-what\u201d. <\/p>\n
Incidentally, before you conclude that people take football far too seriously and ridiculously treat it like a serious subject \u2013 guess who was a specialist subject on Mastermind earlier this week? Yes, Roy Keane \u2013 along with Edward IV, Depeche Mode and the films of Yorgos Lanthimos. Our one pass will haunt us forever.<\/p>\n
No matter, back to the war. Which is what Ian \u201cWrightie\u201d Wright forecast on ITV. \u201cIt\u2019s a country that, as time\u2019s gone by, I\u2019ve learnt a lot about them, and I have no love for them,\u201d he said of the \u2018Argies\u2019. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be chaos in the game, there\u2019s going to be chaos in the stands.\u201d<\/p>\n
That wasn\u2019t, well, an altogether prudent prediction, all that was missing was a hope for a \u2018GOTCHA\u2019 headline on the front page of The Sun come Wednesday morning over a photo of a weeping Lionel Messi. <\/p>\n
The BBC were a bit tamer when they kicked off their coverage of the game. \u201cDon\u2019t look back in anger,\u201d Mark Chapman advised his viewers when he presented a montage of past Engerland-Argie skirmishes, his hope being that this would be the night that Messi would slide away.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the interminable battle to pronounce Tommy\u2019s name continues. Wayne Rooney: \u201cToosel.\u201d Micah Richards: \u201cTooshell.\u201d Joe Hart: \u201cTookell.\u201d<\/p>\n
England’s midfielder Jude Bellingham reacts after losing to Argentina in the World Cup. Photograph: Odd Andersen\/AFP via Getty <\/p>\n
Anthems. A score draw \u2013 Argentina drowned out England\u2019s, England drowned out Argentina\u2019s. \u201cGoodness me, that was brilliant,\u201d Alan Shearer purred, neglecting to suggest that disrespect for anthems is a holy disgrace.<\/p>\n
And a holy disgrace was the gist of Al\u2019s take on the Argie\u2019s first-half display, even complaining when one of them uttered a slight sigh of anguish when he had English studs inserted in his metatarsal. \u201cHe had to go for the ball,\u201d he said of Jude Bellingham\u2019s challenge, even though his studs were considerably closer to that metatarsal than the actual ball.<\/p>\n
The gist, then, of Al\u2019s analysis of the game was that it was gurriers v gentlemen, his chief concern that England would be dragged down to the Argies\u2019 unruly level. \u201cThat\u2019s what they will want,\u201d he bellowed. \u201cDon\u2019t get drawn in,\u201d Guy Mowbray roared, as Elliot Anderson and Djed Spence made a sandwich of Messi. \u201cHe\u2019s getting smashed left, right and centre,\u201d Hart conceded at the break, which means he\u2019s off Al\u2019s Christmas card list.<\/p>\n
But Argentina are, indeed, masters of poophousery, and they needed all they could muster once they fell behind to that Anthony Gordon goal. Guy and Al were already forecasting knighthoods and genuflecting in the direction of Toosel\/Tooshell\/Tookell … but you know yourself, the Argies are never beat.<\/p>\n
A couple of Messi assists, and a couple of goals with five minutes to go. Truly, their spirit is the eighth wonder of the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hurt and the pain goes on for English football,\u201d said Guy, marking its 60th anniversary. All the boys at Wetherspoons in Pudsey could do was down their 18,000,001st pint.<\/p>\n
World Cup Wallchart<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was a long day. The build-up concluded with \u2018Arry Redknapp being asked on Sky News if Argentina…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":552212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[11148,2956,42,43,40,38,41,39,4018],"class_list":["post-552211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-england-football-team","tag-fifa","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552211","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=552211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}