Messi does it again as defensive subs cost England

England vs Argentina was chock-full of storylines. These two nations had famously faced off in some thrilling encounters over the previous decades, yet this was the first to happen this late at a World Cup. It had famously been 60 years since the English men’s national team had won a major tournament. On the other side, Argentina were getting closer to doing something not seen since Brazil in 1962, which is winning back to back World Cups. Not to mention, the greatest player the sport has ever seen (Lionel Messi) was trying to further bolster his already airtight GOAT resume with another title.

There’s no way of sugarcoating it; the first half between these two sides was mostly defined by the physicality inflicted on one another. There were cynical challenges left and right, including Enzo Fernández channeling his inner UFC fighter with a forearm on the back of Elliot Anderson’s head in the opening minutes. It was fascinating seeing Giuliano Simeone rack up fouls without any punishment. England weren’t innocent bystanders in this, but Argentina did what they’ve done the entire tournament; testing the limits of their cynicism (dicey tackles, yelling at the ref, faking injuries, etc) on officials. The fouls committed map below from Yash on the first half makes for an amusing visual.

If you squint hard enough, there were the outlines of an actual match being played. Argentina tried to bait England into pressing them, with England conceding space on the flanks in the hopes of preventing central overloads. England found a bit of success on the left side from Djed Spence trying to win his individual duels and Anthony Gordon’s off-ball activity. Even still, very little actually occurred during the first half. England and Argentina combined for three shots, with none of them coming close to being a big chance. There were no shots from either side in the first 30 minutes, which had not happened before in a World Cup match since 1966 according to Opta.

Things began to open up in the second half. Interestingly, both England and Argentina found success early in the second half from going long against each other’s pressing attempts. Emiliano Martínez lobbed it towards Simeone in a 2v2 alongside Julián Álvarez, who collected the loose ball and got two shots towards Jordan Pickford on the near post from the wide area of the box. England did one better by opening the scoring from a similar situation in the 54th minute. Harry Kane collected from deep, and tried to hit it in behind towards Morgan Rogers. They won the second ball and it was circulated to Rogers on the right side, and he played an inviting cross towards the far post. You can say that Gordon’s stutterstep dash towards the ball was an example of good movement, yet also think Nahuel Molina could’ve done more with his scanning to better recognize his surroundings.

Argentina created some dangerous moments in the period following Gordon’s goal before the second hydration break. Messi’s subtle reverse pass bypassed three English players and helped grease the wheels for a partial breakaway from Simoene, which forced Spence to make a heroic last ditch tackle. Argentina created a high turnover deep in England’s own third and was quickly passed in Messi’s direction in the box. On another day, that could’ve been a good shooting opportunity. The 68th minute saw Argentina create their best chance from the second phase of a corner, as Messi collected the loose ball to play a dangerous cross towards substitute Nicolás González. His header from close range forced an impressive reaction save from Pickford.

England were wheezing heading into the second hydration break, which then saw Thomas Tuchel make a contentious substitution with Gordon off for Ezri Konsa. Taking off one of their reliable outlets in Gordon emboldened Argentina to set up shop in the final third, not having to worry about an attack going the other way. It was also a questionable decision when accounting for Argentina’s ability to dissect low-blocks throughout the tournament, powered by Messi’s decision making. Further defensive substitutions were made in the 82nd minute with Dan Burn in for Reece James, and Nico O’Reilly for Declan Rice.

With England retreating into a meager 5-4-1 low block around their own box, it invited dangerous crosses from Argentina with the ample amount of time and space allowed on the ball. You would not confuse what was on display with the solid low blocks seen previously at this World Cup. Unsurprisingly, Alexis Mac Allister nearly equalized from his headed attempt in the 75th minute, squarely hitting the post. Eventually, Argentina broke through in the 84th minute from a long range shot by Fernández, in which he had time to fire. For the good things you can say about Pickford during the 2026 World Cup, he could’ve and perhaps should’ve done better on Fernández’s attempt.

By this point, England was hanging on for dear life against wave upon wave of attacks from Argentina. The “keep it at 1-0” gameplan became more tenuous with every passing second. Mac Allister hit the post from the edge of the box, and then Messi did Messi things by curling in a ludicrous cross (with his weaker right foot no less) for Lautaro Martinez to head in the winner during added time.

It would take a long time to get over this match if I were a supporter of England. This was a beatable Argentina side that they had a 1-0 lead over, yet they retreated immediately afterwards instead of being more proactive. They essentially dared the team with the greatest player ever to create chances against a sub-standard low block, and it obviously worked in Argentina’s favor. The players should not be let off the hook for their own passivity defensively even before the defensive substitutions, but what happened here will be a part of Tuchel’s legacy. Instead of them playing Spain in a major tournament final once more, the honor goes to Argentina. We’ll either see Argentina win back-to-back World Cups, or Spain pull off an incredible feat of holding the Euros and World Cup in succession for the second time.

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