Томас Тухелийн удирдсан Английн шигшээ 2026 оны дэлхийн аваргын хагас шигшээд Аргентинд 2:1-ээр хожигдож, тэмцээнээ өндөрлүүллээ. Тэргүүлж эхэлсэн ч тоглолтын төгсгөлд давуу талаа алдсан нь Английн хувьд томоохон тэмцээнүүдийн үеэр давтагддаг гашуун түүх болон үлдэв.
Тоглолтын эхний хагаст Англичууд Лионель Мессиг нягт хамгаалж, төвийн бүсийг хяналтандаа байлгаснаар Аргентины довтолгоог амжилттай сааруулж байлаа. Эллиот Андерсон тэргүүтэй тоглогчид Мессиг бөмбөгтэй үед нь шахсанаар Аргентины ахлагч эхний 45 минутад 15 удаа бөмбөг алдсан юм. Гэвч тоглолтын сүүлийн хэсэгт Англичууд хамгаалалтад хэт сууснаар Аргентины дарамт нэмэгдэж, тоглолтын санаачилгыг алдсан.
Тоглолтын 75 дахь минутаас хойш Аргентин илт давуу тоглож, Английн хамгаалалтыг шахалтад оруулснаар Лаутаро Мартинез болон Энцо Фернандез нар гоол оруулж тоглолтын хувь заяаг эргүүлсэн юм. Английн ахлагч Харри Кэйн тоглолтын дараах ярилцлагадаа эхний хагаст төлөвлөгөөний дагуу тоглосон ч гоол алдсаны дараа Аргентины тасралтгүй довтолгоог зогсоож чадаагүйгээ хүлээн зөвшөөрөв. Томас Тухелийн сэлгээний шийдвэрүүд хамгаалалтад илүү анхаарсан нь эсрэгээрээ Аргентинд орон зай гаргаж өгсөн нь хожигдлын шалтгаан боллоо.
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For England, it is difficult to escape the crushing sense of deja vu.
Thomas Tuchel’s side fell to a 2-1 defeat to Argentina in their 2026 World Cup semi-final on Wednesday. Of their last five eliminations at major tournaments, four have been to the same scoreline. And just as they did almost eight years ago to the day against Croatia, they took the lead, only to see it slip away late on.
The debate will rage for days, weeks and months surrounding England’s defensive approach as the clock ticked down. To get to this very point this summer, they bunkered in and protected precious leads against Mexico and Norway, relying on towering centre-backs and tough-tackling midfielders to keep the opposition at bay.
But Argentina, and in particular Lionel Messi, presented a different challenge — one that was ultimately too much to bear.
This is the brutal reality of the World Cup, as years of meticulous preparation are defined by in-game decisions and 40 agonising minutes on the pitch. But even with the clarity of hindsight, the question is worth posing; did England go too negative, too early? Or were they simply reacting to masses of pressure from one of football’s best ever players, and one of the great tournament teams?
How did England initially quell Messi?
It has to be said that Tuchel’s side kept tabs on Messi extremely well throughout an attritional first period.
It ended with the 39-year-old losing the ball 15 times, more than in the opening 45 minutes of any match he played at the past two World Cups or Copa Americas. Both sides were risk-averse on the ball and physical off it, with a combined 19 fouls and only three shots.
England’s defensive plan was clear. Harry Kane kept an eye on Leandro Paredes, the deepest Argentina midfielder, and it was left to wingers Anthony Gordon and Morgan Rogers to press. Tuchel prioritised man-marking in central midfield, and was content to allow long balls because England had a two-v-one advantage with both centre-backs further back.
Elliot Anderson made sure he went touch-tight to Messi when Argentina tried to pass forward into him from their centre-backs, as we can see below.
Here’s Anderson doing just that, and then dispossessing Messi after he made a heavy touch.
This pressing trap stopped Argentina building through the middle and accessing Messi early.
When England did choose to retreat into a mid-block, they made sure to crowd out the Argentina captain. It’s how Anderson was yellow carded on 37 minutes, when Gordon and Kane missed tackles on Messi and Anderson fouled him, preventing the counter-attack progressing.
At times, Anderson man-marked him aggressively and would leave the far-side midfielder clear.
Of Messi’s 36 carries, only two were progressive — defined by Opta as one which moves the ball at least five metres upfield. He did complete nine of his 11 attempted dribbles, his joint-most in a World Cup match, but none of these led to a key pass or shot.
England kept making sure to overload the central channel in the second half, often with Kane coming deep to support. By the 60-minute mark, Messi had only created one chance and none of his three crosses had found a teammate.
What changed late on?
But there is an inevitability about Messi and Argentina, who have now scored 11 goals after the 75th-minute mark this tournament.
He was afforded plenty of freedom as his opponents dropped deeper. Between Gordon’s opening goal and Lautaro Martinez’s eventual winner, England controlled just 12 per cent of the ball.
It allowed Messi not only to get into his favourite half-space positions more frequently, as we can see from the map below, but also drift into wider spaces, where he could combine with teammates and work his way down the flank into crossing positions.
From there, the quality of Argentina’s ball-striking saw them make inroads despite England’s compact shape.
Ten minutes before their opener, Rodrigo De Paul found plenty of space down the right to whip a dangerous ball into Mac Allister, who hit the post…
… while all but one of England’s outfield players were camped inside the penalty area when Fernandez received the ball to shoot 10 minutes later.
Tuchel’s substitutions clearly reflected his intentions to sit back and absorb pressure as the game wore on, but it would not have been his plan to cede territory so quickly.
Instead, it was Argentina and their head coach Lionel Scaloni who forced the issue, finding inventive ways to push England back even as they tried to keep on the front foot.
“We struggled to get pressure on the ball,” said Harry Kane after the game. “In the first half and the beginning of the second half we pressed them well, put them under loads of pressure that helped us win the ball high and control the game better.
“After the goal, whether they had more men forward or us not being able to match them man for man… it was wave after wave. Lads were putting blocks in but it wasn’t enough.”
One way in which Argentina pulled apart the England press was to empty their front line and overload the right flank. In the below example from the 64th minute, Julian Alvarez and Messi both drop into the pockets, and instantly command the attention of Rice, Anderson, Kane and Bellingham, leaving Enzo Fernandez (white marker) in space to shoot.
His attempt shot flew over, but it was a sign of the mounting pressure.
Along with that, Argentina used a strategy that proved useful against Egypt — using delayed runs to attack a defence that dropped deep.
It forced England into uncharacteristic mistakes. Below, Anderson is worried about a run by either Mac Allister or Messi and runs towards Marc Guehi, who has to point for him to go forward again.
Scaloni’s decision to take off Leandro Paredes and Nahuel Molina for Rodrigo De Paul and Gonzalo Montiel in the 72nd minute added another dimension to their right-sided overloads like the one below where they have three players against Djed Spence and Rice.
De Paul constantly shifted between midfield (as seen above) and the wider areas, seamlessly interchanging with Messi. Argentina also pegged England back with relentless running on the opposite flank when they had possession. Below, three players run forward but Alvarez retreats and Argentina work it wide to the open Montiel with ease. England have six players back and no means of applying pressure on the open players.
The move ended with Mac Allister heading straight at Pickford from another high-quality De Paul cross from the half-space after Montiel passed it back.
The moments before Fernandez’s goal were yet another warning sign that England were falling too deep.
Nicolas Otamendi, Mac Allister, Lautaro Martinez and Montiel all run forward and England have eight players around the box to mark three players.
That leaves Fernandez, Messi and De Paul in space. The ball goes to the Chelsea midfielder, who picks it up, drives and shoots, forcing Pickford into a save. The resulting corner led to Fernandez’s equaliser, with England again caught too deep.
Tuchel has repeatedly said at this tournament that he has not always been able to watch other matches live because of training and travel. If he had seen Argentina’s comeback from 2-0 down in the round of 16 over Egypt, he might have thought twice about the deep defending and back five.
Scaloni’s side showed then that they can go round and over teams even as they sit deep, with Messi’s in-swinging cross for centre-back turned emergency striker Cristian Romero making it 2-1. Another back-post ball led to the equaliser, and then a 92nd-minute Fernandez header sealed the win.
Argentina might be slight — their starting XI was, on average, nearly eight centimetres shorter than England — but they compensate for that with outstanding deliveries from the wings and runners into the box.
England did use a back five well to see out the win against Mexico (from 74 minutes onwards) and in the second half of extra time versus Norway, but England were forced back even earlier this time.
Tuchel did not help that feeling of inferiority with the substitutions he made, and England were punished by higher-quality opposition.
