‘Not coming home’: Late Argentine rally sinks England’s dream
It was heartbreak for England in its World Cup semi-final against Argentina, star Messi inspiring a chaotic late turnaround.
England’s World Cup dreams have ended in a heartbreaking semi-final defeat to Argentina as Lionel Messi inspired a chaotic late 2-1 turnaround.
A game that looked like it would go down in English football folklore instead ended in all too familiar despair as the dream of football coming home for the first time since 1966 ended in Atlanta on Wednesday (Thursday AEST).
Anthony Gordon’s strike had England on the cusp of a first men’s World Cup final since Sir Alf Ramsey’s heroes lifted the trophy on home soil, but the reigning South America and world champion never quit.
Willed on by a febrile fanbase at a rocking Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the magic veteran star Messi, Argentina finally found a way past Thomas Tuchel’s men when Enzo Fernandez slammed home five minutes from time.
The 39-year-old teed up the midfielder for that goal and swung over the added-time cross that Lautaro Martinez headed home to break English hearts and set up Sunday’s (5am Monday AEST) showpiece against European champion Spain.
For England, having lost back-to-back European Championship finals under Sir Gareth Southgate, this was another case of so close yet so far.
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Coach Thomas Tuchel was critiqued over going too defensive too early as, just like Croatia at this stage eight years ago, the team threw away a chance to reach the final.
The devastating loss saw past England captains criticise Tuchel, saying the German’s defensive changes backfired.
England players will have lost belief at his second-half substitutions in the World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina, says former captain Wayne Rooney.
Anthony Gordon put England ahead early in the second half on Wednesday (Thursday AEST) in Atlanta, but was soon withdrawn by Tuchel, who brought on defenders Ezri Konsa, Dan Burn and Nico O’Reilly in the final 20 minutes.
His changes backfired as Enzo Fernandez equalised in the 85th minute before Lautaro Martinez struck an added-time winner to seal Argentina’s spot in Sunday’s (5am Monday AEST) final against Spain.
England’s defensive approach to holding a lead carried eerie echoes of their Euro 2020 final loss to Italy, with former boss Sir Gareth Southgate criticised in some circles for his tactical approach.
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They fell on their swords again under Southgate in the the Euro 2024 final against Spain, with the manager again criticised for his tactics.
“If you’re an attacking player on that pitch and you go 1-0 up and you see the changes which the manager’s making, you’re losing belief, there’s only so many times you can get away with it,” former England and Manchester United forward Rooney said on the BBC.
“Then you start thinking, oh no we’re going to sit back for this long, how are we going to get through this?
“It’s a panic, it’s a real panic … If you let players of that quality have the ball around your penalty box, sooner or later they’re going to score.”
Former England goalkeeper Joe Hart also drew tactical comparisons between Southgate and Tuchel.
“I think Gareth Southgate will be at home watching this game, he took a lot of criticism when it came to the big moments with England when they had the lead and when they were in big games about shutting up shop,” Hart said.
“Thomas Tuchel, for as much praise as we’ve given him, for him to change it as soon as he did, I think he realised that’s him saying he didn’t believe in his team, he didn’t think they could land any more punches on Argentina.”
Former England striker and skipper Alan Shearer added: “I said it on commentary, they had six defenders on the pitch, (he) played his hand and wanted to hang on.
“Those decisions are the ones which can make such as difference.
“We praised him v Mexico and now we’re going to go the other way … could he have put some pace on? They were physically and mentally done once Argentina got that first goal.”
-AAP
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