Another semi-final ended in heartbreak for England, as they . It looked as though the Three Lions were headed for the final after Anthony Gordon’s opener, but Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez struck back in the dying moments to shatter those dreams.
“I think it's two completely different matches — it’s until the goal and then after the goal,” England head coach Thomas Tuchel said of his team’s inability to stave off Argentina’s come-back. “But it's important, first of all, that you gave everything, which we did, to respect the opponent and the achievement of the opponent and the win of the opponent. This is how sports is. And the second is then to bounce back, like always, show a reaction, learn from it.
“Argentina played with more risk, played with more rhythm, played with a feeling maybe that they have nothing to lose anymore, which freed them up and hold us back, because we obviously played suddenly with a feeling that we have a lot to lose.”
The defeat is the third for England in a World Cup semi-final, and brought with it echoes of a similar loss to Croatia at Russia 2018, when they also took the lead before going down 2-1 after extra time.
"I don't believe so much in an English thing, in a curse or whatever, or in history repeating itself in these moments," Tuchel said. "It's different coaches, different players, different situations, different opponents. So I think basically I believe in the football thing, which for me still as a football coach cost us today because I think we were just not active enough in any structure."
Captain Harry Kane echoed his coach's sentiments. "When we went 1-0 up, we seemed to just try to hold on, which at this level is not enough," the dejected Bayern Munich striker said. "We worked so hard to be here. The lads have given every bit of blood, sweat and tears. To fall short like we did is just gutting.
"We had a lot of good moments in this tournament. A lot of good games, another semi-final. We talk about knocking on the door. We’re close, we just need to find that missing piece in the final stage of the tournament.
"These tournaments take it out of you. So much effort and pressure and mentality — and we’ve showed a lot of that throughout the six, seven weeks we’ve been together. But we’re just missing that final piece."
Sources: FIFA Official
