.png)
3 hours ago
3
Thomas Tuchel shouldered the blame for England becoming far too passive after taking the lead as Argentina ended his team’s World Cup dream with a dramatic late comeback.
England were within minutes of a first men’s World Cup final on foreign soil after going ahead through Anthony Gordon early in the second half. But the reigning champions equalised through a piledriver from Enzo Fernández before the substitute Lautaro Martínez scored the decisive goal in the second minute of injury time to send Argentina through to Sunday’s final against Spain in New York.
England’s players slumped to the turf at the full-time whistle, with the captain, Harry Kane, leading them over to the travelling fans to thank them for their support and Jude Bellingham wiping away tears. There were contrasting emotions for Lionel Messi, who sank to his knees and pumped his fists in delight when Argentina’s second successive final was confirmed.
Tuchel, who opted to withdraw Declan Rice and Reece James three minutes before Fernández’s equaliser as England switched to a back five, could not hide his disappointment and acknowledged he had had played a part in England’s downfall.
“We decided to go to a back five because the gaps were far too open,” said Tuchel. “Argentina played with more risk, played with more rhythm and played with the feeling maybe that they had nothing to lose any more, which freed them up and pulled us back. Because we obviously played suddenly with a feeling that we had a lot to lose. Of course the responsibility is on the coach and if it doesn’t go well it’s easy to say it was wrong.”
Asked whether England’s tendency to throw away leads was a question of mentality, he said: “I don’t believe so much in an English thing and a curse or whatever. It’s repeating itself in different moments. It’s different coaches, different players, different situations.
“What cost us today was that we were not active enough in any structure. I can understand these discussions are out there and of course a million coaches after the game know it better. You can discuss this with a million coaches. I have to make a decision on the pitch. It’s how I analyse the match and I take the responsibility.
“At the moment no regrets. The team gave everything and we were very very close. We deserved to be up 1-0. We played one of our better matches, maybe our best match under the circumstances. The team was top – we couldn’t bring it over the line.”
England managed only 12% possession between Gordon’s goal and conceding the winner and Kane felt they had been overwhelmed by Argentina.
“Just gutted, gutted for the boys, gutted for everyone: the team, the staff, the fans,” he told the BBC. “We played well for the vast majority of it. Once we went 1-0 up we just seemed to try to hold on which, at this level, is not enough. After the goal, whether it was them putting more men forward or us being able to match them man for man, it just was wave after wave and we were just trying to hold on, put the blocks in, but in the end it wasn’t enough.”
Bellingham appeared to strike the Argentina substitute Valentín Barco on the back of the head after the game had finished and had to be dragged away by the reserve goalkeepers Dean Henderson and James Trafford. He was not punished by the officials.
The Manchester United defender Lisandro Martínez celebrated on the pitch after the game with a banner that read “Las Malvinas son Argentinas” (“The Malvinas are Argentinian”) in reference to the Falklands war.
Argentina came from 2-0 down to beat Egypt in the last 16 and Lautaro Martínez said the team had again never given up. “England pressed hard for about 60 minutes. After finding the goal, they dropped back, and that gave us more composure in circulating the ball and spreading the play..”
An emotional Lionel Scaloni paid tribute to his side’s fighting spirit. “This team plays best when they are facing adversity,” Argentina’s head coach said. “We had a challenging situation, there was blood in the water and we went for it. We had six or seven chances and the ball wouldn’t go in but the team fought until the end. After they scored, we really proved ourselves – it shows what football means to us and it goes beyond tactics.”
