Reigning champions Argentina came from behind to beat England 2-1 and reached their second World Cup final in a row, where they will face Spain.
Anthony Gordon put England ahead in the 55th minute but Enzo Fernandez equalised 30 minutes later and Lautaro Martinez headed in the winner in stoppage time from Lionel Messi’s cross.
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It broke the hearts of England who bow out in the semi finals for the second-straight World Cup.
The reaction in the United Kingdom was swift and savage.
England coach Thomas Tuchel came in for heavy criticism over his tactics.
Tuchel played his cards in the 72nd minute by taking off goal scorer Gordon for defender Ezri Konsa.
Towering centre back Dan Burn, who was one of the heroes of the Round of 16 win at the Estadio Azteca against Mexico, replaced fullback Reece James, while O’Reilly came on for midfielder Declan Rice shortly after.
But England was unable to hang on for dear life this time around with more than half an hour proving to be too much time to repress the Argentine advances.
“Once we got the first goal, we didn’t look to go for the second goal,” former England captain Wayne Rooney said on the BBC.
“For the players, and for me, Thomas Tuchel made the decision, and when you make the decision it is a gamble. The gamble he made was to go with five at the back, which allowed them to dictate the game.
“We have to be honest. The decisions that Tuchel has made cost us tonight.”
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While former England defender Micah Richards added on the BBC: “Thomas Tuchel was brought in to be the difference. Tactically, we all thought he got it wrong today.
“When we went to five at the back. I thought we could have kept the momentum going and brought on wingers. Ultimately, we didn’t have the answers.”
Speaking on Sky Sports, former Arsenal forward Paul Merson continued the pile-on on Tuchel.
He noted how in 2018 under Gareth Southgate, England paid the exact same price for trying to sit on a 1-0 lead while playing Croatia.
“I’m really lost for words,” he said.
“Gareth took a lot of stick for being defensive – and I thought he did well – and Tuchel has come in and done the same as Gareth. I don’t know what is going to happen. I understand it in the Mexico game when we are down to 10 men and we are going to be under the cosh, but here we had to throw something different at them. We’ve got to learn from it and look forward to the Euros.
“I understand Gareth being a defensive coach, he was a defender, so naturally he is going to be defensive. But I didn’t think that about Tuchel and I thought he would throw something different at Argentina and put the pressure on them. But all it was was we are going to defend here and when they did score we had a lorry load of defenders on the pitch.”
Former Ghana international Kevin-Prince Boateng shared similar sentiments on SBS.
“This was the best moment for England and the worst because they stopped playing football after that,” he said of Gordon’s goal.
“Argentina come back out of that situation, you know Enzo Fernandez, he did it twice already striking the ball very hard, you have to close him down.
“Jude Bellingham tried, but it is too much time for a player with his quality. It is an easy assist for Messi.
“Argentina in this moment was just on top of England the whole time and it was just a matter of time until that ball passes through and hits the back of the net.”
Tuchel took over as England manager last year on an initial deal that took the German manager through to the end of this World Cup.
But he recently signed a two-year extension taking him through to the 2028 Euros, which England will co-host with the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Tuchel can be sacked by the FA before then if a final four finish is deemed unsatisfactory, however, with chief executive Mark Bullingham confirming recently that the manager’s deal contains performance clauses.
“There’s performance clauses in every single contract at the FA, but I’m not going into any detail of what they are,” Bullingham told reporters earlier in the tournament.
As for whether there is a break clause which Tuchel can activate, he added: “We can hold him to the contract.”
The win for Argentina was not without controversy, however,
Argentina’s equaliser Enzo Fernandez was involved in a fiery moment in the first half with England midfielder Elliot Anderson.
Anderson had a tussle with Lionel Messi, after which Fernandez appeared to strike the back of Anderson’s head. It led to a fiery exchange between both teams with Jude Bellingham remonstrating over the incident.
Fernandez, however, escaped without a card and VAR did not get involved.
It sparked a stunned reaction from past England players, commentators and pundits.
“That’s an awful challenge. That’s a really bad challenge. This is getting tasty,” former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
“Enzo Fernandez has absolutely clattered into the back of him there.”
Boateng, meanwhile, played into the conspiracy theories surrounding preferential treatment for Argentina.
“I believe this is a situation, maybe it’s not as brutal, but maybe any other nation it would be looked at by VAR,” he said on SBS.
“But I see Argentina is favoured by the referees.”
Naturally there was adulation for Messi who took over in the second half as Argentina surged to victory.
The superstar was in everything, providing the cross for the winning goal as England buckled under pressure.
“How do you close down Messi? You can’t. You can’t do it for 90 minutes,” Boateng said on SBS.
“They did a great job for 55 minute, 60 minutes and this felt like he just warmed up and then warmed up and he gave us two assists. You can’t close him down. That’s why at 1-0 up you can’t stop playing football.
“And I don’t know why they did that. If it’s Tuchel or if the players were tired, what the reason was. But you can’t stop at a stage like that against a player like that. You can’t just stop and try to defend for 30 minutes. It’s going to be impossible.”