Argentina’s locker room after that wild World Cup semifinal win wasn’t just about Lautaro Martinez’s stoppage-time winner. There was genuine confusion about what England was doing. And not the good kind of confusion. The kind where you keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and it just never does.
According to sources close to the Argentina camp, Lionel Scaloni had spent the whole week preparing for England’s speed on the counter. He was braced for Bukayo Saka or Noni Madueke. Maybe both. He had gameplans for the exact moment when England would stretch the pitch and expose his backline’s biggest weakness: space in behind.
Then Anthony Gordon scored in the 55th minute and suddenly none of that mattered.
Tuchel’s substitutions raised eyebrows
Instead of pushing for a second goal, Thomas Tuchel started handing out defensive instructions like candy. Ezri Konsa came on for Gordon in the 72nd minute, and England went to a back five. Then Dan Burn and Nico O’Reilly replaced Reece James and Declan Rice in the 82nd. Argentina players looked at each other on the field and basically said: wait, that’s it?
By the time Enzo Fernandez ripped that equalizer from distance in the 90th minute, England had barely touched the ball. Stats show England held just 12 percent possession between Gordon’s goal and Martinez’s winner. Twelve percent. At that point Scaloni felt comfortable enough to pull left-back Nicolas Tagliafico for Martinez in the 81st minute, shifting Nico Gonzalez to left-back. He didn’t need a specialist defender anymore because England had no interest in attacking.
Tuchel finally brought on Marcus Rashford and Ivan Toney in the 90th minute, but by then the damage was done. England had already handed Argentina all the momentum and invited them to camp out in their half.
England players had their own doubts
Harry Kane didn’t sugarcoat it afterward. He basically said trying to “hold on” to a 1-0 lead at this level isn’t enough. Marc Guehi was even more direct, telling reporters it felt like the mentality shifted to “go back, defend” as soon as they scored. That’s not a great look when your own captain and center-back are saying the same thing publicly.
Argentina players were especially baffled that neither Saka nor Madueke saw a single minute. They’d been reminded of both guys’ speed at halftime, and the staff kept waiting for one of them to appear during the hydration breaks. Instead they watched England drop deeper and deeper, basically waving Argentina forward.
The FA is reportedly still backing Tuchel, with chief executive Mark Bullingham privately expressing satisfaction with the manager’s overall performance. Tuchel signed a contract extension in February that runs through Euro 2028, which England will host. But if the idea is to evolve some cultural issues within the team — specifically the instinct to retreat instead of pushing forward — this semifinal felt like a step in the wrong direction.
One Argentine player summed it up simply: we kept waiting for them to hurt us, and they never even tried.
Leave a Comment