Five minutes. That is all that stood between England and their first World Cup final since 1966, and Argentina ripped it away in the cruelest way possible. Final score: England 1, Argentina 2. But that scoreline lies about how brutal this actually felt if you watched it live in Atlanta on Wednesday.
- Anthony Gordon put England ahead in the 55th minute off Morgan Rogers’ cross
- Enzo Fernandez ripped a 25-yard equalizer past Pickford in the 85th minute
- Substitute Lautaro Martinez headed in Lionel Messi’s stoppage-time cross to finish it
- Argentina now face Spain in Sunday’s final, England get the third-place consolation prize against France
You know that feeling when your team is one substitution away from history, and then it just evaporates? That was England’s night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, in front of 68,239 people who watched a dream die in real time. Even the officiating had a milestone attached. American referee Ismail Elfath became the first man from the United States to run a men’s World Cup semi-final. Small comfort for England fans this morning.
Gordon Scores, England Panics
For about thirty minutes, this felt like the night. Gordon buried Rogers’ cross in the 55th minute, and suddenly an entire country let itself believe again. Jordan Pickford backed it up with a huge save on Nicolas Gonzalez in the 69th minute. It was the kind of stop that makes you think fate is on your side.
Then Thomas Tuchel did the thing England fans have watched their managers do for decades. He got conservative. Back five, sit deep, hold on for dear life. “We decided to go to a back five because there were too many gaps and they were far too open,” Tuchel said afterward. That is a very polite way of admitting the plan backfired.
Alexis Mac Allister hit the post twice trying to punish that decision before Argentina finally got there. Harry Kane said it best when it was over. “Once we went 1-0 up we seemed to just try and hold on, which at this level is just not enough,” he said. Honestly, Harry, we have heard that sentence before and it never gets easier.
Messi Does Messi Things, Argentina Does Argentina Things
Fernandez scored the equalizer, a rocket from outside the box in the 85th minute that Pickford had no chance on. That alone would have been a gut punch. Then Messi, at 39 years old, decided he was not done making moments happen.
He drifted wide and found a pocket of space nobody else could see. Then he clipped a cross to the back post, and Martinez met it with his head in stoppage time. Martinez started the game on the bench. He ended it sprinting toward the corner flag with the guy who set him up. This is what Argentina does. They always seem to have one more twist left. This team has made a habit of finding it against England specifically, and that only adds to the pain this morning.
Lionel Scaloni has leaned on this squad’s resilience all tournament, and he has never been shy about invoking the history between these two countries. Nobody in an England shirt wants to hear that history lesson again, not after this one.
What This Means Going Forward
England now play France on Saturday in the third-place match. It is the sporting equivalent of a participation trophy after missing the real one by inches. Kane is 32. Chances like Wednesday’s do not come around every cycle, and you could hear that math in his voice after the final whistle.
Argentina gets Spain in Sunday’s final after Spain beat France in the other semi. Messi gets one more shot at a second World Cup, maybe his last. If he lifts it after a night like this, nobody can say he did not earn every bit of it.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Final score | England 1-2 Argentina |
| Venue | Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta |
| Attendance | 68,239 |
| Referee | Ismail Elfath |
| Next for England | Third-place match vs France, Saturday, 22:00 BST |
| Next for Argentina | World Cup final vs Spain, Sunday, 20:00 BST |
This is the part of football nobody warns you about when you fall in love with the sport as a kid. You get so close you can taste it, and then five minutes take it all away. But that same five minutes is exactly why we keep coming back for more.
