Thomas Tuchel's defensive changes backfire as England collapses vs Argentina
· Yahoo Sports
ATLANTA — England was on top against Argentina in the World Cup semifinal, up 1-0 and looking set to play in its first final in 60 years.
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But then, midway through the second half, Thomas Tuchel decided to shut everything down.
It completely backfired.
It's typically hard to draw a straight line from a coaching decision to an outcome on the field. But on Wednesday, July 15, it was simple. England went ultra defensive too early and paid the price, losing 2-1 in a heartbreaker.
Anthony Gordon gave England a 1-0 lead in the 55th minute. As England held onto a one-goal lead, Tuchel decided to shut the game down rather than chase a second goal to kill it off.
In one sense, Tuchel's move made some sense. The England boss was in a similar situation against Mexico in the round of 16 and his move paid major dividends. England was defensively stout at the Azteca and held on for a famous 3-2 win.
But Wednesday's semifinal was a much different situation than the round of 16. For one, England was down to 10 men against Mexico. Chasing a goal to kill the game wasn't a realistic option down a man at altitude.
Secondly, and with no disrespect to Mexico, this was Argentina. The defending World Cup champions are not only a superior outfit to Mexico, but they have also made a habit this World Cup of scoring heart-stopping late goals.
But Tuchel still hooked Gordon with 72 minutes on the clock, replacing the winger with defender Ezri Konza.
With 18 minutes plus stoppage time remaining, England went into a back five. The plan very clearly started to falter immediately.
Jordan Pickford had already been called into action in the 69th minute, making a point-blank save on a Nicolás González header.
England continued to ride its luck when Alexis Mac Allister's header hit the post five minutes later. Enzo Fernández had a long-range shot that went just wide.
With his team increasingly under pressure, Tuchel made more defensive changes. Two more defenders, Dan Burn and Nico O'Reilly, came on in the 83rd minute, replacing midfielder Declan Rice and defender Reece James.
Even with six defenders on the field, nobody managed to close down Fernández for his 85th-minute equalizer from the top of the box. England was simply too deep in its own box.
The onslaught continued and when Lautaro Martínez headed home just minutes later, England's fate was sealed.
But really, it felt like it had been sealed even earlier.
"We defended probably a little bit too deep with the quality of chances that Argentina were creating," defender Dan Burn admitted after the game. "It felt like it was a matter of time."
With the game slipping away, England could not reverse its slide. The players will have to take on some of the blame for that failure, but their coach did not put them into a position to succeed.
Because of that, England will play in the third-place game on Saturday instead of the final on Sunday.
"It's a normal mindset to try and hang onto the one-goal lead," captain Harry Kane said. "But we were still 20 minutes plus stoppage time to go. It was always going to be a long time."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Thomas Tuchel's defensive changes backfire as England collapses vs Argentina