For 55 minutes, England played like a team ready to end a 60-year wait. Then Anthony Gordon scored, and everything changed.
Morgan Rogers found space on the right and delivered a cross toward the far post. Gordon arrived to convert it, sending England ahead and within touching distance of their first World Cup final since 1966.
Instead of releasing the tension, the goal seemed to tighten every England shirt. Their defensive line sank. Clearances replaced passes. Harry Kane spent more time helping inside his own penalty area than threatening Argentina’s defenders.
The pressure kept building until Enzo Fernández equalised in the 85th minute. Lionel Messi then crossed for Lautaro Martínez to head home the winner in added time.
A historic triumph had dissolved into a familiar English defeat. Argentina won 2-1, but the score alone could not explain how completely England surrendered control after moving ahead.
England Stopped Playing After Gordon Scored
Tasked with the biggest job on the pitch, Elliot Anderson restricted Messi’s early influence by staying close whenever the Argentina captain entered central areas. England’s other midfielders closed the space around him, forcing Argentina to search for less direct routes toward goal.
That plan worked for the opening hour. England remained compact without becoming trapped. Rogers carried a threat from the right, while Gordon attacked the space around Argentina’s far post.
Once Gordon scored, however, England stopped doing the things that had made them competitive.
The change began before Tuchel switched formations. His players remained in a 4-4-2, but the shape became passive. Jude Bellingham dropped deeper, Kane disappeared from attacking areas, and England struggled to complete even simple passes under pressure.
Match data showed that England held only 12% possession between Gordon’s goal and Martínez’s winner 38 minutes later. That figure captured the scale of the retreat. England were not calmly protecting an advantage. They were waiting for Argentina’s next attack.
Tuchel later admitted that his team had become passive while still operating in a 4-4-2. His assessment removed any suggestion that the retreat formed part of a controlled plan. England lost their nerve before their manager reinforced that behaviour from the touchline.
Tuchel’s Back Five Removed England’s Last Escape Route
Tuchel faced a difficult choice as Argentina pushed more players forward. His defenders had started losing aerial contests, while Messi was finding room on the right to deliver crosses.
The England manager responded by adding another defender. Tuchel swapped Gordon for Ezri Konsa and moved his team into a back five.
While the logic was clear, the change immediately damaged England’s ability to escape. Gordon had provided pace and a possible target for counterattacks. Without him, Argentina could send defenders forward without fearing the space behind them.
Packing the box with centre-backs did not bring security. England had no out-ball, no sustained possession and almost no way to force Argentina away from Jordan Pickford’s goal.
Tuchel later said he had “no feeling that an offensive substitution would help,” an admission that now sits at the centre of the defeat. Faced with Argentina’s rising pressure, he trusted another defender instead of the pace or ball-carrying ability needed to push the match away from England’s penalty area.
Kane could not hold the ball when England cleared it toward him. Bellingham became exhausted while chasing runners and failed to close Fernández before the equaliser. Pickford produced an important save from Nicolás González, but even his interventions could only delay what had begun to feel inevitable.
England finished with only one shot on target. Their place in the final vanished while their attacking substitutes remained unused during the most important phase of the match.
Messi Found the Weakness and Argentina Attacked It
Argentina’s comeback was not a gift. Lionel Scaloni changed the match by increasing the risk and giving England more problems to solve.
He removed Leandro Paredes and introduced González, replacing midfield protection with width and an extra target inside the penalty area. Messi also moved away from the crowded centre and drifted toward the right wing.
That movement opened a new route into England’s box. Messi began sending crosses toward González, Martínez and Alexis Mac Allister. Pickford stopped González’s header, while Mac Allister struck the post with another aerial effort.
England received two clear warnings. They did not respond.
Messi then found Fernández outside the area in the 85th minute. Bellingham arrived too late to block the shot, and Fernández drove the ball beyond Pickford. Argentina kept pressing rather than settling for extra time.
With England still pinned inside their own area, Messi kept the ball alive on the right and delivered another cross. Martínez attacked it with conviction and headed Argentina into the final. Argentina earned the comeback through relentless pressure, not isolated luck.
Scaloni chased a goal with aggression. Tuchel chased control with caution. Only one manager gave his team the tools it needed.
England’s Oldest Debate Returns Again
Tuchel rejected the idea that England had fallen victim to a curse. Different managers, players and opponents create different matches, he argued. Football decisions, not history, determined the result.
Yet England supporters have seen this pattern too often to ignore it.
Pundits and fans criticised Sven-Göran Eriksson’s teams for retreating after taking leads against France and Portugal at Euro 2004. Gareth Southgate faced the same questions after England moved ahead before losing to Croatia in the 2018 World Cup semifinal and Italy in the Euro 2020 final.
Each defeat carried its own tactical details. Still, the central question has survived every managerial era. Can England protect a lead against an elite opponent without abandoning the football that created it?
Tuchel was hired partly because his tactical courage and experience were expected to provide a different answer. His previous changes during the tournament had helped England survive difficult knockout matches. Against Argentina, however, he reached for the same defensive solution that had haunted his predecessors.
Tuchel Must Carry the Weight of the Collapse
The players cannot escape responsibility. Kane failed to give England relief. Bellingham could not influence the closing phase. Experienced defenders kept clearing the ball back to Argentina rather than slowing the match with possession.
Tuchel, however, controlled the bench.
He saw his team sinking and added another defender. England needed fresh legs capable of carrying the ball, winning a foul or forcing Argentina to turn toward their own goal. Instead, the manager strengthened a retreat that was already failing.
The defeat does not erase England’s progress to the final four. It does expose the difference between surviving a tournament and winning one.
Tuchel’s side proved they have the tactical grit to navigate difficult World Cup matches. Until they learn how to finish a wounded giant rather than hide from it, the same heartbreak will keep returning.
For 35 minutes in Atlanta, England waited for the clock to deliver history. Argentina refused to wait. At the final whistle, Declan Rice covered his face while Jordan Pickford pressed a hand over his eyes beside him. A World Cup final had been close enough to touch, then lost in the space England willingly surrendered.
READ MORE: Bellingham And Kane Are Saving England, But Thomas Tuchel Needs a New Plan
FAQs
Q1. Why did England lose to Argentina?
England dropped too deep after Anthony Gordon scored. Argentina controlled possession, increased the pressure and struck twice during the closing minutes.
Q2. How much possession did England have after taking the lead?
England held only 12% possession between Gordon’s 55th minute goal and Lautaro Martínez’s winner in added time.
Q3. Why did Thomas Tuchel switch to a back five?
Tuchel wanted more defensive numbers against Argentina’s crosses. The change removed Gordon, one of England’s main counterattacking outlets.
Q4. Who scored Argentina’s goals against England?
Enzo Fernández equalised in the 85th minute. Lautaro Martínez then headed in Lionel Messi’s cross during added time.
Q5. Why was Thomas Tuchel criticised after the semifinal?
Critics argued that Tuchel reinforced England’s retreat instead of introducing an attacker who could carry the ball and relieve Argentina’s pressure.
