England's World Cup Semi-Final Collapse Against Argentina
England’s World Cup dream died in Atlanta, and Gary Lineker could not believe how they went about it.
Holding a 1-0 lead over Argentina in the semi-final, Thomas Tuchel’s side retreated, reshaped and, in the eyes of one of England’s greatest forwards, handed the initiative to Lionel Messi on a silver platter. The defending champions did the rest, turning the game around late to win 2-1 and book a final against Spain on Sunday.
England retreat – and Argentina smell blood
Anthony Gordon’s strike had put England in front and briefly sent belief surging through the travelling support. For a spell, Argentina looked rattled. The holders hit the woodwork twice but England still had something to cling to: a lead, and a plan.
Then the substitutions came.
Tuchel introduced three defenders in the second half, dropping his side deeper and deeper. The effect was immediate. Argentina began to dominate the ball, Messi drifting into pockets of space, the pitch tilting inexorably towards England’s penalty area.
The pressure finally told. Enzo Fernandez stepped onto a loose ball from 25 yards and drove it past the goalkeeper to level. England, pinned back and with no outlet, suddenly looked as if they were hanging on for extra time rather than fighting for a place in the final.
They didn’t make it that far. In stoppage time, Messi, given room again on the right, delivered the kind of cross he has been sending for nearly two decades. Lautaro Martinez met it, and England’s tournament was over.
Lineker: “Absolutely unfathomable”
Watching on, Lineker was stunned by how England chose to defend one of the greatest players the game has seen.
"I found it absolutely unfathomable that, if your tactic is to sit everyone deep, you do that against the greatest player ever to play football," he said on The Rest Is Football, referencing Messi’s freedom in the decisive moments.
For Lineker, the numbers only underline the madness of it.
"I think he's just cementing that game after game after game. Most goals in the World Cup, most assists in the World Cup. And he moves to the right, yeah, and you play a back five, and you still don't go and get tight to him.
"Just put someone on him. He had so much space. He just whipped ball after ball after ball into the box."
England did neither: they sat deep, but without a dedicated shadow on Messi. The result was a master creator operating with time and grass in front of him in the closing stages of a World Cup semi-final.
Tuchel under fire, backing intact
Tuchel is understood to retain the support of the Football Association. His contract runs through Euro 2028 and there is no suggestion, at this stage, of a change on the bench.
The manner of this defeat, though, has triggered a wave of criticism. The narrative is not about being edged out by a moment of genius, but about a coach who invited trouble and watched it arrive.
Micah Richards did not sugarcoat his assessment.
"Today he got it wrong," Richards said. "And he has to accept that. They were too deep. As soon as we scored that goal, we had no outlet."
England, a goal up in a World Cup semi-final, chose to shrink rather than seize the game. Argentina, with Messi at the controls, did what serial winners do.
The question now is not whether Tuchel stays, but how he convinces a bruised nation that, next time the stakes are this high, England will play to win rather than play not to lose.
