Once again at a major tournament, England took the lead against quality opposition and failed to keep hold of it. This is how they fell short in familiar fashion.
England have done it again.
In quite impressive fashion this time, they’ve thrown away their World Cup dream and they only have themselves to blame.
Credit where it’s due to Argentina, who fought back valiantly, and deserved to win this feisty meeting with their bitter rivals, but there is no question that England let a monumental opportunity slip. They had a huge chance to beat the world champions and make it to the World Cup final for the first time since 1966. Instead, they threw away the lead they held until 85 minutes in to break the record for the latest a team has led in a World Cup semi-final but gone on to lose inside 90 minutes.
The saddest thing about this most painful of defeats is how clear it was – at the time – that Argentina’s goals were coming. England sank back immediately after Dan Burn and a left-back in Nico O’Reilly for Alexis Mac Allister had already hit the post and planted another header straight at Jude Bellingham or Morgan Rogers managed all night.
This wasn’t a failure of Burn’s; it’s unfair to blame him for the problems caused by Tuchel’s decisions. But his performance and complete lack of influence on the game are illustrative of just how badly the latter part of this match went for England.
There was no attempt with the substitutions to address the fact England were doing a miserable job of trying to keep the ball. They had no out ball and nobody even attempted to carry the ball far enough up the pitch to give the defence even the slightest break from Argentina pressure. Would Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford or even both have given them more chance of doing that?
It might seem easy to suggest it after the act, but it also appeared obvious to many of us while the game was unfolding, too. As Argentina piled forwards, space would have opened up for fresh attackers to exploit. Instead, Tuchel waited until after England had gone 2-1 down to try addressing his side’s lack of threat.
England under Tuchel were meant to be different. Having established themselves as a team who consistently goes deep in major tournaments under Gareth Southgate, they were supposed to now look at home under pressure against the best.
But they showed beyond any doubt here that the same problems remain. Just as was the case against Croatia in the 2018 World Cup semi-final and the Euro 2020 final against Italy, England went ahead but could not deal with the pressure and expectation that came with a lead, and went on to lose. They have now been eliminated in all seven of their World Cup knockout games since 1998 against an opponent ranked among the top 10 teams in the world.
7 – England have been eliminated every time they have faced a top 10 ranked nation in the knockout stages of the FIFA World Cup since 1998 (7/7).Obstacle. pic.twitter.com/TsO5i5eZR5
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) July 15, 2026There appears to be a deep-rooted problem with England’s mentality that they struggle to get past. It seems bizarre to say it but, based on how dreadful they were after going ahead, England might have done better in this match had Gordon turned Rogers’ cross wide of the post.
Had that happened, they may well have felt buoyed by that moment and been given belief that they could find a goal. They would have continued to try to create chances.
The only problem is that had they then found that goal, they still would have turned to the same defensive approach to sit on their lead, and the evidence in Atlanta very much suggested they were incapable of protecting it, even if they had had to for much less time.
If England are ever to succeed on the biggest stage, they need to start acting like a team who deserves to be in the latter stages of this tournament. Without doing so, they will never become one.
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How England Threw Away Their World Cup Dream Opta Analyst.
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