England had Argentina right where they wanted them, up 1-0 in the World Cup semifinal clash in Atlanta with just over half an hour left to go thanks to a 55th minute goal from Anthony Gordon.
However, defensive substitutions from Thomas Tuchel invited even more pressure from Argentina. Just before Argentina found their equalizer in the 85th minute through Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez, Tuchel made the decision to bring one Nico O’Reilly and Dan Burn for Declan Rice and Reece James after he had brought on Ezri Konsa a little bit earlier for Gordon.
Sitting back so desperately with a player like Lionel Messi on the hunt often backfires, and that’s exactly what happened with England, who only had 12% possession of the ball after Gordon’s goal. The inevitable happened. Just minutes after coming in to the match to replace Nicolás Tagliafico, Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martínez headed in the winner for Argentina at the far post from a right-footed cross sent in by Messi. That was the gut-punch that England has felt so many times before in international tournaments and the 60-year wait for silverware continues.
Hindsight is often 20/20, but sitting back against Messi and Argentina is always going to put you under the microscope as a manager when the stakes are so high and ramifications so costly.
Pundits have been having a go a Tuchel for the passiveness he showed in his personnel decisions in the second half that wound up costing England a date in the World Cup final with Spain in East Rutherford, New Jersey, but the players are reportedly just as frustrated. Per information from the Daily Telegraph’s Matt Law (via @iMiaSanMia), numbers of players in the England squad were “shocked” with the personnel decisions Tuchel made while England were on the 1-0 lead and the changes that followed Fernandez’s goal:
England players were shocked by Thomas Tuchel’s retreat that resulted in his team being dumped out of the World Cup by Argentina. Tuchel’s approach and his defensive changes – sending on Ezri Konsa, Dan Burn and Nico O’Reilly to try to see out a 1-0 win – surprised some players. There was belief within the squad that Argentina were there for the taking after Gordon’s goal and that they could have been hit on the counter-attack with the introduction of more pace. There was surprise that it took Tuchel until four minutes after Argentina had gone ahead to finally throw on Marcus Rashford and Ivan Toney.
Despite the concerns from the players, there’s still backing from the FA. Tuchel is set to remain in charge of England through EURO 2028 as he was brought in to be the master tactician that led Chelsea to a Champions League title five years ago.
It was moments like Wednesday’s in Atlanta that Tuchel was brought in for, but it will be back to the drawing board for now for the former Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund and Mainz manager ahead of the UEFA Nations League matches in the fall after they duke it out for third place in the World Cup against France.
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