England left with regrets as World Cup final dream dies at hands of Messi magic amid questionable tactics
Messi magic for Argentina sets up final against Spain as England face France for bronze
After 60 years of hurt, England won’t be able to assuage the pain on Sunday night in New Jersey. They will instead play for a bronze medal against France on Saturday, the night before football’s greatest occasion.
While the French can have few complaints given the paucity of their performance against Spain on Tuesday night, England will have to somehow pick themselves up off the floor. With five minutes of normal time left, they were edging closer to a first World Cup final since 1966.
Lionel Messi took kick-off to start the game and he had the last say. Okay, the little genius didn’t score but he assisted twice, first setting up Enzo Fernandez to whip a right-footed shot past Jordan Pickford after 85 minutes and then crossing for substitute Lautaro Martinez to plant a header firmly into the net two minutes into time added on. How late it was, how late. And how cruel. The wait goes on for England.
The game won’t necessarily linger long in the memory for the quality of the football. England struck first through Anthony Gordon ten minutes after the interval but could not withstand what everyone knew was coming: wave after wave of Argentina pressure.
Morgan Rogers, who was named in the starting line up as a reward for his impact in the quarter-final win over Norway, delivered an unerringly accurate ball from the right and Gordon managed to get on Nahuel Molina’s wrong side before side-footing into the net.
As well worked as this goal was, it seemed fitting that the game didn’t seem set to be remembered for an act of genius that might have been expected from the likes of Messi. Rather, it looked likely to be defined by a sliding tackle by England full back Djed Spence on Giuliano Simeone. Or perhaps for a save by Pickford that saw the Everton keeper scoop a header from substitute Nico Gonzalez off the line after 68 minutes. Some were already mentioning the point-blank stop in the same breath as Gordon Banks against Pele and Brazil in 1970.
While Pickford’s clubmates are playing a friendly against Dundee at Dens Park on Saturday he will be preparing for a third and fourth play-off. It isn’t what he deserves. But what can you do when Messi is in the building? You can’t always get what you want. Rolling Stone Mick Jagger was also present in Atlanta as Argentina got their ya-yas out.
There will be regrets, however, chiefly manager Thomas Tuchel's seeming decision to hold on to a 1-0 lead against a team as streetwise as Argentina. Taking off Gordon for defender Ezri Konsa after just 72 minutes was baffling.
England lived so dangerously. Alexis Mac Allister saw a header crash back off the upright after a brilliant ball from the right from another substitute, Rodrigo De Paul, as Argentina threw everything at their Auld Enemy. The Liverpool midfielder also saw a shot hit the other post just before his side’s winner.
The Argentina players were straining every sinew, for Messi, their talisman, as much as for themselves it seemed. The desire is so strong for the 39-year-old to spearhead perhaps what will be regarded as his crowning glory: back-to-back World Cups. This incredible feat is still a possibility though Spain will be the toughest of tough opponents. La Roja will be wary of their opponents turning the match into a street fight because there will only be one winner.
Playing in a swirly dark blue and black change jersey based on a style of folk painting native to Buenos Aires, Argentina showed little of the expected artistry. There was little from England either, for that matter.
Tuchel had predicted an “emotional” game. It was all that and more. Although not quite as ugly as the so-called ‘shame game’ of 1966, when Argentina skipper Antonio Rattin initially refused to leave the pitch after being sent off, it was tetchy and attritional and also goalless at half-time, not surprisingly. There was not even a single effort towards goal until after the half-hour mark, when John Stones sent a header past the post from a free-kick while a ruck of players wrestled in the six-yard box beside him. Oh for a bit of Diego Maradona, devilish craft or otherwise.
It was almost if as both teams had registered Paraguay’s recent performance against France and thought: hold my beer.
Simeone, whose father Diego was involved in the incident that saw David Beckham sent off in these teams’ last-but-one World Cup meeting in 1998, was like a coiled spring.
Both anthems were booed by the opposition fans, the way some might say it ought to be. Such healthy disrespect appeared to herald a proper football match, one deserving of a venue such as the Bombonera in Buenos Aires or Wembley. Instead it was transplanted to Atlanta in the Peach State, as Georgia is known for the high-quality nature of this soft fruit grown there, and a stadium most readily associated with NFL, which might have been what we were watching.
Peaches bruise easily and so the setting seemed especially apt given the risk the players would be turning black and blue following the kind of start that made all the war references pre-match appear not quite so wildly inappropriate. Leandro Paredes left something on Bellingham to provoke a smile in the English midfielder. Fernandez tangled with Elliot Anderson. Pickford clashed with Simeone, a sly nudge from the former resulting in an exaggerated reaction from the latter.
The first hydration break arrived and it was hard to think of a single passage of play worthy of the stage. Niggly fouls studded the game. It wasn’t a case of Messi struggling to get involved. More that he probably didn’t want to.
The same perhaps applied to Harry Kane, another key player reduced to almost spectator status. Jude Bellingham, England’s other great hope, seemed to relish the rules of engagement. As talented a player as he is, he also likes the rough stuff, which is one reason why he is such an effective performer. He couldn’t do what Messi managed, however.
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