It was a very good game. Very chippy in the first half, as expected, but like the France-Spain semifinal, one of the more entertaining matches of the Mondiale. England’s goal was magnificent, but it didn’t escape either manager’s notice that it was against the run of play. I thought at the time – not after the fact, like a lot of commenters now that the results are known – that it was a big mistake to switch into a defensive mode and try to hold on against the very experienced reigning World Champions.
I actually thought Argentina was a bit sloppy and careless, particularly at the back, until after England scored. In addition to sparking the change in England’s tactics, it also served to focus the Argentines; they would have scored almost right away if it weren’t for a fantastic return and last-ditch tackle by Jed Spence.
I thought the game was over after that 15-second span when Argentina nearly scored three times. Pickford was playing out of his mind in the English goal, but what works against teams like Mexico and Norway was never going to work against Argentina. They could have scored 7 times in the last 20 minutes, and only two posts, Messi deciding to waste time at the very end, and Pickford’s heroics kept the final score from being worse.
I thought England did very well against a better team, and while I would have gambled on trying to score a second goal and winning the game outright rather than trying to hold on, I understand why Tuchel decided to go defensive and it’s entirely possible that the end result would have been even worse. Again, England’s goal was against the run of play and Argentina was both a little unlucky and a little defensively lazy on the goal and the action leading up to it.
The fundamental problem, which so few professional managers understand, is that the cost of the mentality shift is seldom worth the benefit from having more men in the box. This is especially true when trying to defend against a team with at least five players capable of scoring outside the box and several excellent crossers. Messi is rightfully being praised for his two assists, but the low crosses being repeatedly whipped in from the right side by #4, I think it was, were simply lethal. Frankly, I thought England did extremely well to avoid committing any fouls and giving up any penalties in the last 20 minutes.
Anyhow, we’ll discuss more on tonight’s Darkstream, which will be devoted to discussing a) the World Cup, b) the upcoming AI campaign, and c) possibly a new song.