England's Unfathomable Gameplan Against Argentina: A World Cup Collapse
Gary Lineker branded England’s gameplan against Lionel Messi and Argentina “unfathomable” after Thomas Tuchel’s side let a World Cup final place slip from their grasp in Atlanta.
England were 1-0 up, 15 minutes from glory, and then collapsed. Argentina, the defending champions, did what they always seem to do on this stage: they found a way. Messi supplied two late assists, England lost 2-1, and Spain now await Argentina in Sunday’s final.
A lead, then a retreat
Anthony Gordon’s goal had tilted the night England’s way, a sharp finish that briefly silenced an Argentina support that had turned Atlanta into a corner of Buenos Aires. At that point, England looked composed, confident, and capable of managing the game.
Then Tuchel blinked.
He turned to his bench and sent on defenders. Three of them across the second half. England dropped deeper, line by line, until they were almost camped on the edge of their own box. The initiative went with them.
Argentina, sensing the retreat, cranked up the pressure. They hit the woodwork twice, the warnings loud and clear. England didn’t respond. They just sank back further.
The equaliser felt inevitable by the time it arrived. Enzo Fernandez stepped onto a loose ball, 25 yards out, and drilled a ruthless strike beyond the goalkeeper. From there, there was only one team playing to win.
Messi, with time and space he should never have been allowed, took charge of the night.
Messi given the freedom of Atlanta
Lineker, watching on, could barely believe what he was seeing.
“I found it absolutely unfathomable that, if your tactic is to sit everyone deep, you do that against the greatest player ever to play football,” he said on The Rest Is Football, pointing directly at England’s decision to concede territory to Messi.
He reeled off the numbers: most goals in World Cup history, most assists in World Cup history. A player who has spent a career dismantling deep blocks was handed exactly the scenario he relishes.
“And he moves to the right, yeah, and you play a back five, and you still don't go and get tight to him,” Lineker said. “Just put someone on him. He had so much space. He just whipped ball after ball after ball into the box.”
One of those balls finally broke England.
Deep into stoppage time, with extra time looming, Messi drifted wide, untracked, and shaped a cross of surgical precision. Lautaro Martinez attacked it, buried it, and sent Argentina back to another World Cup final.
England’s players sank to the turf. Argentina’s bench exploded onto the pitch. The contrast in conviction was stark.
Tuchel under fire
Tuchel, contracted with the Football Association through Euro 2028, is understood to retain the backing of the FA. That may hold, but the manner of this defeat has opened him up to fierce scrutiny.
The substitutions, the change of posture, the refusal to adjust to Messi’s growing influence — all of it has fed into a sense that England let this one slip by design as much as by misfortune.
Micah Richards did not spare the manager.
“Today he got it wrong,” Richards said. “And he has to accept that. They were too deep. As soon as we scored that goal, we had no outlet.”
England had the lead, the platform, and the chance to send Messi home. Instead, they retreated, invited the greatest playmaker the World Cup has ever seen to script the ending, and watched him do exactly that.
Argentina march on to face Spain. England are left with a familiar question: how many more chances like this can they afford to waste?
