5 Things we learned from Argentina’s dramatic comeback against England
Never bet against Argentina. If there’s one thing we learned from the World champions so far in this World Cup is that you never count them out no matter what where they find themselves in the match, the first half was absolutely hideous from a neutral perspective with neither team having a shot on target but there was a bit of needle in the game with the Argentina players going full-blooded into challenges as you’d expect. The most important thing that happened in the first half was England’s constant fouling of Messi which as we all know by now always ends in tears for whoever he’s facing, England started the second half the stronger side and did then open the scoring as Harry Kane sprayed the ball to Morgan Rogers on the right who crossed the ball into Anthony Gordon who had got ahead of Molina and side-footed England into a 1-goal lead in the 55th minute. From there Argentina seemed to wake up and began an onslaught on the England goal hitting the woodwork twice along with forcing Pickford into some brilliant saves making you think it might just be England’s day, until the 85th minute where from yet another Argentina short corner Messi played the ball to the edge of the box where Enzo Fernandez was waiting to curl Argentina level with a lovely finish. England where then stuck with barely any attackers and too many defenders for the next five minutes not including added time which ended up being nine minutes as England where hanging on to extra-time, they didn’t hang on too long as in the 91st minute Messi found himself on the right-wing and chipped a beautiful ball back-post where substitute Lautaro Martinez was waiting to head the World champions into the lead. England tried to fight back it was too late as Argentina made their fourth consecutive final in a major tournament, ridiculous stuff.
These guys just don’t know when they’re beat. There’s been spells in every knockout game for Argentina that they’ve been second best but at some point a switch just flicks and you feel like it’s inevitable they get themselves back into the game, they were obviously massively helped by England’s defensive changes so early into the game but they easily could have scored 5 or 6 in that second half missing some brilliant chances where they could have been feeling sorry for themselves but they kept at it and eventually got that equaliser from a superb Enzo Fernandez long-shot that killed England. I’ll talk about Messi a bit later on but yet again he was the catalyst for the comeback and his assist for the winner epitomises the sheer level of genius that he’s playing at, an inch-perfect cross on his weak-foot to give Lautaro basically an open-goal to head the ball into. It’s still hard to fathom what he’s doing at 39 years of age, another big reason for Argentina’s comeback was the changes that Scaloni made in the second half bringing on Nico Gonzalez and Rodrigo De Paul who both impacted the game greatly as Argentina pushed to get back into the game. I urged Scaloni to make some changes to the starting 11 in my Switzerland review and he brought Giuliano Simeone in but I don’t think it really worked as he was quite poor until he was brought off, I’d be surprised if De Paul wasn’t brought back in for the final on Sunday. Overall I just can’t help but admire the character of this Argentina side who just refuse to give in when they are losing, one game remains against the European champions. I cannot wait.
Self-sabotage of the highest order from Thomas Tuchel. In my preview on England before the tournament I said I had my reservations on Thomas Tuchel and it was for this exact reason, he was brought in as England manager to do the complete opposite of what we saw today which was cowardice at it’s finest and he deserves every bit of blame that inevitably is going to come his way. After England scored the first goal they retreated and played on the counter which is fine but once he started making changes it just turned into an absolute disaster, Ezri Konsa for Anthony Gordon in the 72nd minute was a taster of what’s to come as Tuchel went to a 5 at the back leaving space for the greatest player of all time to attack in the last 20 minutes. Dan Burn and Nico O’Reilly for Reece James and Declan Rice just to add a bit more defensive solidity to an already heavily defensive back 5, the just three minutes later they concede the equaliser and the game plan is gone. England were absolutely screwed as soon as that first goal went in and I wonder what the plan was had it gone to extra-time, he brought Rashford and Toney on after Argentina took the lead but it was far too late at that point. Like for like changes was by far the most sensible thing to do as they easily could have hit Argentina on the counter with the fresh legs of Rashford and Saka, you can say that’s in hindsight but I think it was pretty obvious for everyone watching. This was an absolutely perfect game for Kobbie Mainoo who yet again gets overlooked by a manager who thinks he knows it all, 0 minutes the whole tournament is an absolute disgrace for someone who could have offered that midfield some much needed respite in that second half. Overall yet another tournament ends in disappointment for England in a game that was right there for the taking, all they needed was some courage from their manager.
That’s the Golden Ball secured for Lionel Messi. If it wasn’t already decided before this game then it definitely is now as Messi’s two assists bring Argentina back from the brink of elimination a second successive World Cup final, I still don’t think we are deeping just how ridiculous it is that at 39 years old he still is carrying this Argentina team to a final. I’m at the point where I’m debating whether this tops what he did in 2022 as this current Argentina team isn’t as good as four years ago in my opinion, once he gets that fire in his eyes when he thinks he’s been wronged your dead and he was definitely aided by England’s subs which gave him more space on the edge of the box. The turnaround in his international career since 2018 has been astonishing after he said he was retiring following the Copa America final in 2016 which Chile won on penalties, even after the 2018 World Cup where Argentina went out to France in the Round of 16 you thought his chance in an Argentina jersey was gone but since that Copa America in 2021 it’s just been trophy after trophy for his country whether it’s the World Cup, Copa America or Finalissima. What does adding another World Cup do to an already untouchable legacy in the sport? I really don’t know.
So, it’s Spain vs Argentina in the World Cup final. In yesterdays review I said I wanted Spain vs Argentina as it has the most interesting storylines in my opinion, Messi vs Yamal for probably the one and only time in a World Cup final is just a mouth-watering proposition and one which only belongs in the biggest stage. Spain are probably favourites going into it but at this point you would be stupid to go against Argentina after what they’ve achieved over this tournament, I’m gutted that the World Cup is coming to an end but I cannot wait for this final on Sunday. We have a 3rd place play-off before then, why is that game still a thing?