Reading the English media and social media vs the rest of world media and social media is absolutely surreal today. If you have an Instagram account, I HIGHLY recommend a scroll-through.
England:
- IT’S THOMAS TUCHEL’S FAULT! We did NOT bring him in to do what Southgate would have done with a 1-0 lead!
- We were totally in control of the game until we scored. Why did the manager leash our Brave Lions?
- The first Argentine goal-scorer should have gotten a red card in the first three minutes of the game.
- Pickford should have saved that first goal.
Everyone else
- MESSI IS FOOTBALL!
- It’s Jude Bellingham’s fault. Why did he pick a fight with Lionel Messi? What did he think would happen?
- How did Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, and Eliot Anderson not get yellow cards for their violent fouls on Messi?
- Pickford was amazing in saving two certain goals.
I just find the contrast intriguing. Especially since it tends to show how it should not be surprising that the English players would have a tendency to go conservative and play negative. Here’s one observation that I’ve only seen once, but I think may be particularly perspicacious: Tuchel was tell his players to keep pushing forward, but they wouldn’t do it after they had the lead. So his defensive substitution wasn’t his tactical plan, it was an attempt to structurally defend what he observed was the shift in the players’ collective mentality.
Also, while Bellingham is a great player, he’s a hothead and more than a bit of a stupid prick. So the fact that he was dumb enough to follow in the footsteps of those who angered Michael Jordan and Steve Smith and inspired them to new heights in big games shouldn’t be a massive surprise.
Jude Bellingham was caught slapping rival Argentinian player Valentin Barco in feisty full-time scenes following England’s World Cup capitulation in Atlanta. Bellingham aimed a slap at the back of the head of Strasbourg star Barco, who did not even play in the match, in the aftermath of the Three Lions’ late collapse and 2-1 defeat.