{"id":217234,"date":"2026-07-16T02:20:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T02:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/england-hearts-broken-after-argentinas-dramatic-late-double-books-world-cup-final-spot-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T02:20:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T02:20:02","slug":"england-hearts-broken-after-argentinas-dramatic-late-double-books-world-cup-final-spot-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/england-hearts-broken-after-argentinas-dramatic-late-double-books-world-cup-final-spot-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"England hearts broken after Argentina\u2019s dramatic late double books World Cup final spot – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anthony Gordon had given Three Lions second-half lead
Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez levelled before Lautaro Mart\u00ednez winner
England suffered World Cup heartache on Wednesday night with two late goals in seven minutes giving Argentina a 2-1 comeback win<\/a> and place in the final against Spain on Sunday.
Lautaro Mart\u00ednez scored the winner with a close-range header in injury time after Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez had equalised with a superb strike from the edge of England\u2019s penalty area in the 85th minute, with Lionel Messi providing the assists for both goals.
Argentina will have the opportunity to retain the World Cup<\/a> against the European champions in New York, a mouthwatering fixture that will be Messi\u2019s final appearance on the biggest stage.
Messi led the Argentina players\u2019 jubilant celebrations in front of their fans after the final whistle, with some of the squad displaying a banner which read \u201cLas Malvinas son Argentinas\u201d<\/a> (\u201cthe Falkland Islands are Argentinian\u201d) in a nod to the historical enmity aroused by this fixture.
The conflict remains a source of bitterness in Argentina<\/a> 44 years later, but the players\u2019 decision to express it may lead to disciplinary action from Fifa.
England had been minutes from making history by reaching their first men\u2019s World Cup final since 1966, and first overseas, but paid the price for adopting defensive tactics after Anthony Gordon had given them the lead in the 55th minute.
Thomas Tuchel\u2019s substitutions were criticised immediately by pundits and fans, with the head coach bringing on three defenders and switching to a back five in an attempt to preserve the 1-0 lead.
Gordon was the first to be taken off in the 72nd minute, with Ezri Konsa coming on as Tuchel instructed his players to adopt a 5-3-2 formation, with two more defenders, Dan Burn and Nico O\u2019Reilly, introduced in the 82nd minute.
The captain, Harry Kane, who is on six goals before England\u2019s third-place playoff on Saturday against France \u2013 two behind Messi and Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 in the race for the Golden Boot<\/a> \u2013 conceded England had been too defensive after taking the lead.
\u201cOnce we went 1-0 up we seemed to just try to hold on, which at this level is not enough,\u201d he told the BBC. \u201cI\u2019m just gutted for the boys, gutted for everyone, the team, the staff, the fans. We played a good game for the large majority of it.
\u201cI\u2019m just gutted because we\u2019ve worked so hard to be here. The lads have given everything \u2013 every last bit of running, sweat, blood, tears, whatever it is. To fall short like we did today is just gutting.
\u201cAfter the goal whether it was them putting more men forward or us just not being able to match them man for man, it was just wave after wave [of Argentina attacks]. We were trying to hold on, lads were putting blocks in, but in the end it just wasn\u2019t enough.
\u201cWe had a lot of good moments in this tournament. A lot of good games. Another semi-final. We talk about knocking on the door. We are close, we just need to find that missing piece in the final stage of the tournament.
\u201cThese tournaments take it out of you: so much effort and pressure and mentality and we\u2019ve shown a lot of that throughout the whole six-seven weeks we\u2019ve been together. We\u2019re just missing that final piece.\u201d
Tuchel defended his substitutions, but admitted that England lacked aggression after taking the lead and conceded possession too easily. \u201cWe\u2019re disappointed,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were so close, but we got too passive after the goal. We conceded so, so many crosses and chances and shots. We were close, but we couldn\u2019t keep the level up after we scored.
\u201cWe decided to go to a back five because the gaps were too big and [we had to] be strong in the air. Straight after the goal, with no substitutions, we conceded far too many crosses. We tried to help the players, but the responsibility is on the coach.
\u201cOf course we wanted to go for the second goal, but it doesn\u2019t help if you don\u2019t have the ball. We became too passive, we couldn\u2019t keep the ball. I don\u2019t think it was a structural problem. The match changed completely and I understand that these discussions are out there, that there are a million coaches out there who know better. I have to make a decision.\u201d
Tuchel insisted he had no regrets, but the manner of England\u2019s defeat will affect perceptions of their achievements earlier in the tournament in reaching only their fourth World Cup semi-final.
England\u2019s performances have been patchy, with a heroic win against Mexico with 10 men in the Azteca Stadium in the last 32 the undoubted high point before they scrapped to an extra-time victory against Norway in brutally humid conditions in Miami last weekend.
\u201cNo regrets, not at the moment,\u201d Tuchel said. \u201cWe were very close, we deserved to be 1-0 up \u2013 we played one of our better matches [up to that point], maybe our best match.\u201d<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anthony Gordon had given Three Lions second-half leadEnzo Fern\u00e1ndez levelled before Lautaro Mart\u00ednez winnerEngland suffered World Cup heartache on Wednesday night with two late goals in seven minutes giving Argentina a 2-1 comeback win and place in the final against Spain on Sunday.Lautaro Mart\u00ednez scored the winner with a close-range header in injury time after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":217235,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-217234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}