{"id":6781,"date":"2026-07-16T17:35:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T17:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=6781"},"modified":"2026-07-16T17:35:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T17:35:48","slug":"england-was-good-at-the-world-cup-but-as-always-not-good-enough-bring-it-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=6781","title":{"rendered":"England Was Good At The World Cup But, As Always, Not Good Enough Bring It Home"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            POPULAR SEARCHES\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            BROWSE BY\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14><strong>ATLANTA STADIUM \u2014<\/strong> The body wasn\u2019t even cold when the inquest began.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>How could England lose after leading Argentina with just minutes to play in Wednesday\u2019s World Cup semifinal? Why did Thomas Tuchel\u2019s 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?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>There is a simple answer to all of these questions: England just isn\u2019t good enough.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>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 \u2014 which will face the Spaniards in Sunday\u2019s World Cup final in a battle between FIFA\u2019s two top-ranked men\u2019s squads \u2014 England\u2019s 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\u2019t some fluke.<\/p>\n<p><span>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)<\/span> <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Blame Tuchel for this particular failure all you want. The English media have been calling for the German\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>It\u2019s almost as if they have forgotten that their opponent on the other side of the ball was the reigning world champion, boasting 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>It\u2019s not like England didn\u2019t <i>want<\/i> to score again.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>&#8220;When we went ahead, the messaging was to go again and get another goal,&#8221; a devastated Kane said before leaving the field on Wednesday. For the life of them, they just couldn\u2019t do it. Because it\u2019s impossible to score when you can\u2019t keep possession of the ball.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>And that\u2019s what still separates England from the game\u2019s true elites.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>For all of England\u2019s 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\u2019s choice of substitutions, but it\u2019s not like he had someone on his bench with the Velcro touch of someone like La Roja\u2019s Rodri, who is damn near impossible to dispossess without fouling.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Tiny margins determine winners and losers at this stage of any major competition.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>When Spain took the lead over France in Tuesday\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>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 Mart\u00ednez as an outlet even when the English were pressing with abandon.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span>Lionel Messi and Harry Kane duel during the 2026 World Cup semifinal match between England and Argentina. (Photo by Rico Brouwer\/Soccrates\/Getty Images)<\/span> <!--&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>\"In the culture, basically, of the Argentinian team \u2014 of South American teams \u2014 ball possession plays a crucial role,\" Tuchel said during Wednesday\u2019s post-game press conference. \"Ball possession, taught from a young age. It's in their DNA, and it demands a lot of natural self-confidence to always want the ball, to always be in the gaps, to always define yourself through the ball possession.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>\"That's then a crucial thing,\" he continued, \"to show the courage to take the ball away from these teams in the crucial moments when you're under pressure. You need to get every little decision right. You need to get the angle, the body positions right. You need to get your decision-making right in little two-against-ones, three-against-twos, to really overcome the first line of pressure, to not be intimidated, to not be physically bullied. Because Argentina has in their culture this mix between being very physical and also strong on the ball.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>England only has the first part of that formula. Unless or until its culture catches up, the World Cup or European Championship trophy is never, ever \"coming home.\"\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Soccer, at its core, rewards the team that takes better care of the rock. That\u2019s how a tiny country like Croatia, with a population of fewer than four million people \u2014 about the size of greater Minneapolis \u2014 has reached as many World Cup semifinals since gaining its independence in 1991 as England, with almost 60 million inhabitants, has over the same period.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>It\u2019s why England was unable to beat Belgium, a nation four times smaller, in the third-place game in 2018. It\u2019s why the Three Lions will be the clear underdog against France on Saturday in Miami in this World Cup\u2019s bronze-medal match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Player for player, man for man, England still lags behind the very best when it comes to the most basic skill there is. And until it admits that, things will never change.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>Harry Kane and his England teammates after losing the 2026 World Cup semifinal match to Argentina. (Photo by Michael Regan - FIFA\/FIFA via Getty Images)<\/span> --><\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>In the lead up to the 2022 World Cup, I nearly fell out of my chair when an English journalist I won\u2019t name wrote that &#8220;England\u2019s young players are the envy of the world,&#8221; as if France and Spain aren\u2019t producing higher-quality talent on an industrial scale every year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Maybe the whole country needs to get out more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>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 \u2014 maybe even very good \u2014 they&#8217;ve consistently proven an inability to hold a candle to any of the perennial title contenders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>And that\u2019s why England is going home without the trophy once again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY ATLANTA STADIUM \u2014 The body wasn\u2019t even cold when the inquest began. How could England lose after leading Argentina with just minutes to play in Wednesday\u2019s World Cup semifinal? Why did Thomas Tuchel\u2019s team stop attacking the moment Anthony Gordon put the Three Lions ahead with 35 minutes of regular time [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}