Henry Winter’s World Cup Diary, Day 31
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Reporters have myriad duties in the wake of such results. Within an hour of full-time, I’d first filed my match report, done Radio 4 on the whistle (and you know it’s a serious event when they get involved), done a podcast with the legend Tim Vickery and posted two short reaction videos online. Usually, there is a cathartic element to that, almost therapy in getting all emotions around a performance and result out of my system. Not this time. The anger persists.
It persists because this was such a wasted opportunity. Consider this quote: “They were more afraid to drop out of the tournament than having the excitement and hunger to win it.” Thomas Tuchel’s words come back to haunt him. This was the new England head coach’s take on England under Gareth Southgate in an interview with ITV on March 20, 2025. Tuchel was preparing to take England for the first time against Albania at Wembley. He effectively claimed that England were too afraid to win Euro 2024.
They were, indeed, cautious when it mattered most, and much of the criticism for that was levelled at Southgate. And yet here in Atlanta were England defending deep again, defending a lead again, unsuccessfully again. And Tuchel was primarily responsible for it with his defensive subs.
Of all the statistics that damn Tuchel’s second-half disaster-class of coaching was the fact that they enjoyed only 12% possession in the 37 minutes between Anthony Gordon scoring to give England the lead and Argentina regaining the lead.
Thirty-seven minutes that cost England the chance of reaching the World Cup final. Thirty-seven minutes of passivity, of sitting off, of defenders coming on, and of hoping to hold on.
Tuchel was supposed to be this elite coach who banished the fear. Instead he injected it into a team that needed a more front-foot approach. Gordon going deprived England of an out-ball. Tuchel hinted at issues in defence. How dare he place some of the blame on the players. Hope Tuchel acknowledges how he missed up.
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Is it time for Harry Kane to retire? No. As disappointing as he was in Atlanta Kane is still comfortably the best England have in attack. He probably still has the 2028 Euros in him, at 34. But the 2030 World Cup will be too much. That is one of the reasons why there is so much anger amongst England fans at this wasted opportunity.
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Loads of research goes into goalkeepers’ preparation for penalties. So it was fascinating to see pictures of Jordan Pickford’s water-bottle plastered with details of how to react to individual Argentinian players’ penalty-taking. “Fake left – dive right” was the advice for Pickford for Lionel Messi. “Dive left” was the instruction to Pickford when faced with Gonzalez Montiel. Full-back Hugo Lloris dived left against Montiel in the 2022 final – and the Argentina full-back had already transferred the ball the other way. He’d also gone to the right of Roma’s keeper, Bono, in winning the 2023 Europa League final for Sevilla. Not all advice is accurate.
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Interest in the third-place play-off – now the bronze medal match – is always limited. El Losico. It may have interest for Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe in the race for the Golden Boot but little else. They’d dropped from $1900 to $767 to $691 in the space of five hours last night. If that continues a ticket might cost less than the FIFA-approved official car parking space of $250. And you still have a 23-minute to the Miami Stadium.
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I walked out of the stadium surrounded by a sea of blue and white. It was a human river of Argentina fans in their Messi shirts. What was particularly noticeable was how many families and couples there were. It’s worth remembering that when people criticise the Argentinian support as a mass of English-hating Malvinistas. An England-supporting friend and I walked back to our hotel and he, sportingly, stopped a couple of Argentinians along the way to congratulate them, and wish them well in the final. They were utterly charming, almost consoling, in return. Good luck to them against the Spanish.
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All of this is a giant marketing opportunity for MLS. To have one of their players, Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi, as the star of the World Cup, mainly on their soil, is a huge coup and one they will surely exploit to promote the league. Messi could even win the World Cup again, and also take home the Golden Ball and Golden Boot. MLS still needs to convince much of the US public. Messi could help that challenge.
Catch up on the rest of Henry Winter’s World Cup Diary here
