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I Feel Bad for the England Players Because Their Manager Totally Blew it
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England lost to Argentina 2-1 in Wednesday’s World Cup semifinal. A heartbreaker.
They were up 1-0 in the second half and playing well, then decided to deploy the soccer version of prevent defense and fell apart after the 85th minute:
This loss was on the manager, Thomas Tuchel, who subbed off goal scorer Anthony Gordon in the 72nd minute and brought on defender Ezri Konsa. That was followed by center back and full back Dan Burn and Nico O’Reilly coming on, as England shifted into a five-man backline and decided to play a defensive low block in an effort to see out the game at 1-nil.
It’s a strategy that worked in other games, Norway and Mexico, for instance, but in Mexico they were playing with 10 men at altitude and the plan made sense, to sit back and defend endless crosses into the box. Against Norway, they scored in extra time and made the Burn sub at 111 minutes, then turtled up. No doubt they were exhausted after playing more than 100 minutes in the Miami heat.
Thing is, Mexico and Norway didn’t have Lionel Messi to break down a defensive shell. And this game was played indoors in Atlanta, where fitness and climate weren’t factors. England was playing well, matching Argentina in every phase of the game. They put both center backs on yellow cards and were largely doing well with Argentina’s physical shithousery. They weren’t getting suckered into cheap fouls or cards or scuffles. They looked really solid in the way they were handling the mental side of the game.
So I feel bad for the players, because they did really well to go up 1-0, and then their manager decided to play super-conservative and sit back in defense. If you do it in the 82nd minute, or late into extra time, so be it, but this shift came way too early, and Argentina took full control of the game and started to find a groove. They sat right on top of the England penalty area, worked the ball wide, won a bunch of corner kicks, and faced no transitional threat going the other direction.
When you look at the entirety of the tournament, England showed a lot of mettle and battled a lot of adversity. That’s not typical of English teams who, in the past, have been accused of folding when the going gets tough. These guys had to work to take out DR Congo in the Round of 32, then survived Mexico at the Azteca while down a man. That’s a character builder right there. Then they conceded first against Norway and once again battled back, this time doing it in the heat and humidity of South Florida. Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane looked world class in these games. Elliott Anderson was all over the park. Gordon played well. Jordan Pickford made some big saves in front of a backline that had some quality moments throughout.
You had this idea that maybe England would finally do it, that they had faced these challenges in the earlier rounds and walked through the fire. But the manager let them down. They could have taken out Argentina if they kept playing the way they played over the first 72 minutes. They should have gone for the jugular.
Now and forever: the only thing that prevent defense does is prevent you from winning.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com