ATLANTA STADIUM — The body wasn’t even cold when the inquest began.
How could England lose after leading Argentina with just minutes to play in Wednesday’s World Cup semifinal? Why did Thomas Tuchel’s team stop attacking the moment Anthony Gordon put the Three Lions ahead with 35 minutes of regular time remaining? What kind of mental block keeps preventing England from winning a major international trophy, a streak that will now extend to at least 62 years?
There is a simple answer to all of these questions: England just isn’t good enough.
The country that invented soccer is good at it, sure. Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane are legit superstars, guys capable of starting for any team on the planet. But compared to elite national teams like France, Spain and, of course, the Lionel Messi-led Albiceleste — which will face the Spaniards in Sunday’s World Cup final in a battle between FIFA’s two top-ranked men’s squads — England’s team overall is a second-class citizen on a global level and has been for at least half a century. The record of futility isn’t some fluke.
Ezri Konsa and Thomas Tuchel look dejected during the 2026 World Cup semifinal loss to Argentina. (Photo by Harry Langer/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images)
Blame Tuchel for this particular failure all you want. The English media have been calling for the German’s head since the final whistle sounded on yet another disappointing World Cup exit for the Three Lions, slamming what they viewed as his overly defensive second half tactics.
It’s almost as if they have forgotten that their opponent on the other side of the ball was the reigning world champion, which boasts the best player ever, and that Argentina has done more winning in the last four years alone than England has in its entire history. Far better teams than England have been unable to stop Messi from imposing his will on the outcome over the last two decades.
It’s not like England didn’t want to score again.
“When we went ahead, the messaging was to go again and get another goal,” a devastated Kane said before leaving the field on Wednesday. For the life of them, they just couldn’t do it. Because it’s impossible to score when you can’t keep possession of the ball.
And that’s what still separates England from the game’s true elites.
For all of England’s fight and physicality and pedigree, the three other semifinalists at this World Cup are all just far superior technically with the ball at their feet. Say what you want about Tuchel’s choice of substitutions, but it’s not like he had someone on his bench with the Velcro touch or someone like La Roja’s Rodri, who is damn near impossible to dispossess without fouling.
Tiny margins determine winners and losers at this stage of any major competition.
When Spain took the lead over France in Tuesday’s other semifinal, that match was effectively over. Including stoppage time, Les Bleus were behind on the scoreboard for more than 70 minutes of that contest, and yet, Spain still had the ball for the majority of the time.
England, in contrast, had just 36 percent of possession against Argentina in a game that was deadlocked for more than an hour. Meantime, La Albiceleste passed the ball around with ease even inside their own box, using keeper Emiliano Martínez as an outlet even when the English were pressing with abandon.
Lionel Messi and Harry Kane duel during the 2026 World Cup semifinal match between England and Argentina. (Photo by Rico Brouwer/Soccrates/Getty Images)
In the lead up to the 2022 World Cup, I nearly fell out of my chair when an English journalist I won’t name wrote that “England’s young players are the envy of the world,” as if France and Spain aren’t producing higher-quality talent on an industrial scale every year.
Maybe the whole country needs to get out more.
Because while the import-dominated Premier League is the best domestic circuit by a landslide, while the place the sport occupies in mainstream culture in Britain is second to none, while the Three Lions are good — maybe even very good — they’ve consistently proven an inability to hold a candle to any of the perennial title contenders.
And that’s why England is going home without the trophy once again.
