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England has been eliminated from the FIFA World Cup 2026. England missed the final for the first time since 1966 with a 1–2 defeat to Argentina in the semi-finals. England took a 1-0 lead over Argentina with Anthony Gordon’s goal in the 55th minute. Harry Kane’s team maintained this lead for a long time but in the last moments Argentina showed them the way out by scoring 2 goals.

England team lost due to being defensive

After gaining the lead, the England team started playing defensively. Coach Thomas Tuchel made changes to the XI and strategy to maintain the lead. They created a strong wall in front of the goal mouth but Argentina and Lionel Messi broke that wall easily. Enzo Fernandez scored a goal from Messi’s pass in the 85th minute to give Argentina an equaliser.

After this, in the second minute of injury time, Lautaro Martínez scored a header from Messi’s cross to seal Argentina’s victory. After taking the lead, England did not even attempt a goal, for which they had to pay the price. Tuchel’s strategic moves are being criticized after the team’s defeat. Tuchel’s ‘back five’ tactics will probably be scrutinized for years in one of football’s greatest rivalries.

It’s easy to get the decision wrong – Tuchel

After the match, Tuchel defended his decisions, saying: ‘They were hitting every header. They were continuously giving crosses after crosses so we adopted a back five strategy. Right after our goal we gave away too many crosses and too many chances to the opposition. So we tried to help but obviously the responsibility lies with the coach and if things don’t go well then it’s easy to say the decision was wrong.