England manager Thomas Tuchel's earlier rant about mentality came back to haunt him and his team in a World Cup semi-final loss to Argentina, Cathal Kelly writes.Agustin Marcarian/Reuters
After his team had won in the quarter-finals, England coach Thomas Tuchel got into a confusing fight with a sideline reporter from ITV.
After complaining about England’s sloppy approach, Tuchel became angry when the reporter used the word “mentality.”
“Mentality? This is pure mentality. How can you ask about mentality now? This is pure mentality,” Tuchel fumed. “There is no mentality problem. This is pure mentality.”
You knew then what the problem was – mentality.
Lionel Messi grins after ending England's pursuit of World Cup glory.Dylan Martinez/Reuters
How else would you describe what happened to England on Wednesday? Once again, they had the chance to slip their reputation as international sport’s greatest self-defeatists. Once again, they passed it up.
The only thing missing from Argentina’s two-goal comeback in the last 15 minutes was a sense of peril. You couldn’t know how it would turn out, but you kind of knew. England’s players certainly did.
Lionel Messi was the hero again, but it was Argentina’s indomitability that stood out. They are the anti-England.
Much was made beforehand about the jiu-jitsu quality these two teams traditionally bring to their head-to-head encounters. None of the players on the field would have any familiarity with that. Argentina hadn’t played England at a World Cup since 2002.
But a strong sense of history drew them both into an early series of comical clashes. You won’t see this many flying elbows at church-basement wrestling.
Argentina is used to playing this way. England is not. So the first thing that put the English at a disadvantage – machismo.
Wednesday's semi-final got off to a physical start, as referee Ismail Elfath showed a yellow card to England's Elliot Anderson in the first half of play in Atlanta.Jacob Kupferman/The Associated Press
England scored in the 55th minute. Wild celebrations. Celebrities in the stands going nuts. Beers flying back home.
Do they have TV where these people live? Do they show the games on them? As well as the final scores?
Because if they do, there is no way that England scoring at that point against that opponent in that game should make an English fan anything but terrified. It would have been better news if Argentina had scored with half the game remaining. Because England sometimes wins from behind, but it always loses from ahead.
The English players did that thing you should never do, in any sport – they laid back. Tuchel subbed off the goal scorer, Anthony Gordon, for a defender. With the score tied, he put on two more defenders. I guess he thought he’d make the other side prove it.
World Cup coaches bring personal style to the sidelines – with mixed results
Cathal Kelly: Forever trailing in European soccer's wake, Canada should just stick to hockey
Maybe this isn’t a terrible strategy against Mexico or Norway. It is against Argentina.
When you watch them play, one is reminded of the most memed scene in the horror film Weapons. It’s the one where a dozen or so demonically possessed children relentlessly pursue a witch through a series of houses, crashing through doors and windows, before finally catching and eating her.
When you play Argentina, they’re the children (they are about the same size) and you’re the witch. Once activated, they are relentless. In particular, Messi.
The first Argentina goal was a long-range strike from Enzo Fernandez. It would be more forgivable if Fernandez had not launched two or three shots just like it earlier, and only just missed. At it once again, he was given all the space he needed to take a Messi pass, settle it, wind up and knock the stuffing out of the ball.
At that point, England moved even further back. If Argentina had scored a third, the England back line might’ve ended up perched on the crossbar.
The winning goal was laser-guided off the foot of Messi and onto the head of Lautaro Martinez. Martinez is 5-foot-9. The England player standing directly in front of him, John Stones, is 6-foot-2. This is what Messi can do. In the final phase of the game, England’s players carried on as if they’d never seen him play.
Argentina players hold a banner declaring the Falklands are Argentine as they celebrate their win over England.Amanda Perobelli/Reuters
Afterward, Argentina’s team held up a banner saying they owned the Falkland Islands, while Tuchel went full meltdown mode.
“We were so close, but we got too passive out there,” he said.
What about the defensive substitutions when the game was still in the balance?
“Millions of coaches of the game who know better.”
What went wrong?
“They won every header. They kept crossing and crossing.”
Any regrets?
“At the moment, no regrets.”
Elliot Anderson buries his head after Argentina's go-ahead goal, matching the sense of dread England fans felt in the final minutes.Erik S. Lesser/The Associated Press
They can put that line on his England tombstone. Tuchel still has two years left on a recently re-upped contract. That’s now worth about as much to him as a crinkled-up candy bar wrapper.
As usual, someone will be need to be blamed for this. Guess which German it will be?
For England, the loss is more than sporting. It is existential.
In recent years, it has dominated a home Olympics and a women’s Euros. It has won the cricket World Cup. It has the Lionel Messi of darts.
It wins the Premiership, Silverstone and Wimbledon every year by virtue of owning them. Many of the world’s richest sporting traditions are England’s, now and forever.
But everyone feels England is in decline, and nothing signals it more clearly to the rest of the world than its national men’s football team. The one trophy it really wants, and it keeps blowing it in the most painful ways possible. Kind of like its governments.
Now it’s on to the runner’s up game on Saturday. It’ll be a victory if either team – England or France – show up. Third place might as well be last place for these two.
What’s the lesson learned for England this time around? Don’t get pulled into your opponent’s style of game, don’t celebrate early wins, don’t hang back when you have the lead and, at all costs, avoid Argentina, both in soccer and in war.
So, the same lessons they’ve been failing to learn for the past half century or so.