Five minutes from the final to devastation: Tuchel’s substitutions backfire as Argentina punish England

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16 July 2026

England

are no strangers to heartbreaking near misses, but even this felt tougher to take than most. Five minutes from a first

World Cup

final in six decades rapidly turned into a devastating defeat.

Argentina

deserve credit. La Albiceleste are world champions for a reason and have shown throughout this summer that defeat or circumstances are never accepted.

See-sawing games against Cape Verde and Switzerland were navigated in extra time, while the heart shown to overcome Egypt after trailing by two will be immortalised if Lionel Scaloni's side defend their trophy this summer.

have that chance against Spain this weekend.

For

, it's a fourth semi-final or final defeat in a major tournament since 2018. A new head coach arrived to lead this mission and has earned praise for the path to his stage, but

Thomas Tuchel

must shoulder a large part of the blame for their Argentine collapse.

This was a tale of two coaches and their substitutions, and Tuchel got his wrong.

After Anthony Gordon's opener,

almost immediately retreated. The high press that had stood out from the first whistle evaporated, with the

Three Lions

getting deeper and deeper.

Ezri Konsa's introduction for the goalscorer after 72 minutes saw

shift shape, a five-man defence set out with one mission: protect the lead.

By the time Dan Burn and Nico O'Reilly arrived with eight minutes of normal time to go, the

had four natural centre-backs and two full-back options on the pitch.

England were showered with adulation for their backs-to-the-wall late defending against Mexico in the last 16. Reduced to 10 men after Jarell Quansah's red card, a deep defensive line dealt with a storm of pressure at the Azteca Stadium.

But

are not Mexico. The

world champions

have a stellar cast of attacking talent, and Scaloni's switches paid dividends.

Rodrigo De Paul's deliveries under limited pressure caused panic in the penalty box. Alexis Mac Allister crashed two efforts off the post, while Jordan Pickford was forced into an outstanding save low to his right.

England invited immense pressure, and eventually it told. When Enzo Fernandez's strike from distance flew past Pickford, it felt inevitable.

Tuchel's changes had left

in a chaotic state, and the

were unable to regroup. What had been an even game was now one-way traffic for

, with a late winner soon after.

Predictably, it was

Lionel Messi

at the heart of it. A deceptive dip onto his weaker right side and a perfect cross for Lautaro Martinez. The header was emphatic.

advance.

In the aftermath,

Harry Kane

admitted England's attempt to hold onto their lead was not good enough, even if he absolved Tuchel of blame.

"I'm gutted,"

Kane said

. "I'm gutted for the boys, I'm gutted for everyone, the team, the staff, the fans. We played a good game for the large majority of it.

"Once we went 1-0 up we seemed to just try and hold on, which at this level is just not enough, so I'm gutted.

"We worked so hard to be here. The lads have given every last bit of running, sweat, blood, tears, whatever it is, so to fall short like today is just gutting."

Tuchel had insisted there was no mentality issue with

after beating Norway, but the

retreated in apprehension when leading on Wednesday night.

There's a balance to be found when protecting a lead, and

could not find it. The wait for silverware, agonisingly, goes on.

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