Yet again, Argentina came from behind to snatch glory and reach back-to-back World Cup finals. You count Argentina out at your peril. This team likes to make things difficult for themselves before they get in gear and start playing. Anthony Gordon put England ahead in the 55th minute, but from that point on it was all Argentina. And guess what? It was Lionel Messi with two more assists in the tournament.
Never Count Argentina Out
The first goal from Argentina came from the boot of Enzo Fernandez in the 85th minute, and then two minutes into stoppage time Lautaro Martinez scored the winner. Questions will be asked about Thomas Tuchel’s tactics as he made very defensive substitutions which did not work. Once Argentina got the equaliser, England were just defending, and it was just a matter of time before Argentina scored again.
England only managed 12% possession from the time they scored until Argentina scored their equaliser. Tuchel brought on Dan Burn, Ezri Konsa and Nico O’ Reilly, all defenders, after England went 1-0 up. The tactic was clearly to defend their lead, but with England dropping deep they invited pressure and Argentina capitalised. It was too negative from Tuchel; England should have gone for the second goal; instead, they will now play France for third place.
