Tag: analysis

Argentina Weren’t Just Outclassed By Spain. They Were Embarrassed.

It’s a fine thing to lose a match where you’re an underdog. But there are such things as competitiveness and losing with grace, holding your head high as you go home knowing you gave it all you had. After a lifeless showing in the World Cup final where they showed more fight with their fists than their feet, Argentina can’t do any of that.

Cover photo taken from Getty Images.

It’s a fine thing to lose a match where you’re an underdog. The other team is better than you, plain and simple.

But there are such things as competitiveness and losing with grace, holding your head high as you go home knowing you gave it all you had. We’ve seen that time and time again at this World Cup, from Cape Verde and Egypt to Norway and Mexico.

After a lifeless showing in a 1-0 loss to Spain in the World Cup final where they showed more fight with their fists than their feet, Argentina can’t do any of that.

Most well-informed prognosticators would have told you that Spain were the clearly superior side heading into the final. It didn’t take very long to realize how truly substantial that gap in quality was.

From the opening whistle, Spain were in complete control of the match thanks to their patented possession domination and boa constrictor-like defending. Having 65% possession and completing 763 passes to Argentina’s 357 felt like numbers that we could have guessed on Sunday morning.

That in and of itself was not a surprise. The shock came in just how effectively they neutralized one of the best attacking teams at this tournament, spearheaded by the so-called GOAT, Lionel Messi.

Argentina became the first team in World Cup history to not muster up a single shot in 90 minutes of play — an unfathomable stat by its lonesome. And even after the additional 30 minutes, that total sat at a measly two shots, none of which were on net. The defending champs finished without a single big chance, a drab 0.22 xG and just eight touches in the Spanish box.

Lionel Messi and Argentina had no answers for Spain on Sunday. (h/t NBC News)

It’s fair to say that Spain didn’t make the most of their attacking chances, putting many of their shots right down the middle for easy saves or failing to even convert a big chance into a shot. Still, they wound up with a whopping 20 shots, 12 shots on net and 2.29 xG with 32 touches in the opposing box.

Forget a World Cup final — that would be a shocking discrepancy if this was Spain and Curaçao. If it wasn’t for another unbelievable Dibu Martinez effort in the Argentina net, this final would’ve been over before it even started. Thank goodness Ferran Torres found the back of the net in the 106th minute, because I think Messi and company would have actually won a penalty shootout with Dibu playing like he was.

But the poor quality of play might not even be the biggest embarrassment that Argentina provided on Sunday afternoon in New Jersey. They diluted and spoiled the match with their trademark thuggery and baseless crybaby mentality, all while the referees let them get away with their usual shenanigans for quite some time.

It started early when Mac Allister leapt for an ill-advised slide tackle attempt on Dani Olmo and crunched him to the ground without making a shred of contact with the ball. A whistle blew for a foul, but no card was shown; if you’re going to use the excuse of it being “too early” in the match for a booking, then you’re beyond mistaken. A challenge like that deserves a yellow card, regardless of it being the first or 90th minute.

Fast forward a few minutes and Lamine Yamal was brought to the ground by Nicolas Tagliafico in a challenge that would get an NFL player fined for a hip-drop tackle. The 19-year old winger was grabbed by the shoulders before Tagliafico leapt into the air and got nearly parallel to the ground before dragging Yamal to the turf. Again, no yellow card despite the fact that a more “successful” challenge could’ve resulted in a game-changing injury.

Nothing to see here. (h/t AP Photo)

Color was finally shown after halftime when freshly-subbed-on Leandro Paredes pushed Rodri in the back, sending him to the ground with some admittedly unnecessary embellishment.

Enzo Fernandez was shown a yellow in the 82nd minute for simulation — a booking that he could only smile about — and it felt like he, as a key member of the Argentina attack, would conduct himself with a little more decorum, especially as extra time seemed like more and more of a certainty. But no, he leapt into Pau Cubarsi with one of the most puzzling challenges you’ll ever see in stoppage time, sending the eventual Best Young Player award winner flipping in the air. It was an easy decision for a second yellow, despite Enzo’s nonsensical petitions, wagging his finger in the air in protest.

It was a final to forget for Enzo Fernandez. (h/t The Mirror)

Playing extra time with 10 men, even Messi got in on the action to try to level the playing field by raising his hand and calling for the referee after Marc Cucurella briefly brought his hand to his mouth during a stoppage of play, appealing for a red card. It was embarrassing, akin to a school bully appealing to his teacher because the little guy finally fought back — completely beneath the station of the consensus best player ever.

And to wrap it all up in a neat bow, Paredes incited a post-game scuffle right after the final whistle, getting in the chest of Eric Garcia and eventually grabbing him by the throat leading to a mild brawl between six or seven Spaniards and Argentines. And though they stayed on the pitch for Spain’s celebrations, Argentina turned their backs to the stage while their necks were weighed down with silver medals that they neither wanted nor deserved.

It’s sad that this is what the defending champions have been reduced to. From Messi’s studs-on-calf challenge against Algeria not resulting in a foul, to the disallowed Egypt goal and subsequent claims of racism by Hossam Hassan, to the wild red card that sent off Breel Embolo of Switzerland and finally provoking Jude Bellingham of England and all the ballyhoo of the final. Argentina provided so much excitement to this tournament with their late-game heroics, but we will only remember them for their non-football antics that sullied an otherwise memorable run in Messi’s last hurrah.

Lionel Messi couldn’t ride off into the New Jersey sunset. (h/t Getty Images)

The 2026 FIFA World Cup was the biggest, most grandiose edition of the globe’s greatest competition to date. It was filled with heartwarming stories, unlikely heroes and incredible theater with some of the best games we’ve ever seen. The past six weeks in North America provided some of the most indelible sights and sounds in history, and we will never forget this incredible tournament on home turf.

For Argentina — the defending champions who are led by perhaps the greatest player to ever touch a football — to have gone out so sad and disgraced is equal parts unsurprising and disappointing.

German football legend Toni Kroos said it best on Twitter yesterday after the Spanish victory: football won.

Still Not Home: England Fumbles Away World Cup Semifinal To Argentina

For 30 minutes, it looked like it might finally happen. But Thomas Tuchel’s tactics turned an attempt to defend a lead into a willing loss of control. Bending your defense out of structure invites pressure, chances and chaos. England weren’t trying to win — they were trying to not lose.

For 30 minutes, it looked like it might finally happen.

After a wonderful connection between Morgan Rogers and Anthony Gordon in 55th minute put England in front of Argentina, 1-0, at the World Cup semifinal in Atlanta, the Three Lions knew what they had to do — spend the next half-hour and change keeping the ball out of their net.

And for 30 agonizing minutes, they succeeded. But it always felt like Argentina were closing in on that elusive equalizer, especially with their attacking subs now in the fold.

On cue, Enzo Fernandez ripped a screamer into the top left corner from about 25 yards out to knot the game in a tie in the 85th minute. And a mere seven minutes later, a picturesque Lionel Messi cross was laid right on the forehead of super sub Lautaro Martinez for the stoppage time winner, sending Argentina back to the World Cup final to defend their title against Spain.

It’s the latest installment in a knockout run littered with drama and late-game comebacks for Argentina, and their resilience deserves to be celebrated. But I can’t help but feel like England lost this game more than the defending champions won it.

Forget the fact that they only took five shots and accumulated a mere 0.53 xG. They got on the board first thanks to a lovely ball from Rogers and a really difficult finish from Gordon. After that, their lone responsibility was defending that lead. Easier said than done, sure, but the manner in which they went about it can be pinpointed as the reason for this result.

England manager Thomas Tuchel almost immediately shifted the shape of his squad, opting to put five men at the back and play as deep as possible to prevent Argentina from scoring. Three defenders were subbed on in a 10-minute span before the equalizer as his squad was consistently playing nine or 10 deep. He probably knew that the blitz was coming, seeing what happened to Egypt in the Round of 16, but the emphasis was on preventing goals, not preventing chances.

Thomas Tuchel will rightfully face a fair share of criticism for his second-half tactics.

But bending your defense out of structure can create its own problems. You invite pressure, you invite chances and you pretty much invite chaos.

England essentially never held any meaningful spells of possession after scoring; they just let Argentina put together attack after attack. By the end of the match, Argentina had 1.84 xG, 64% possession, over 250 more accurate passes, triple the number of shots (15) and four times the amount of touches in England’s box (28). Jordan Pickford kept a couple of attempts out of the net, but he was never going to keep that up until the full time whistle.

The dam was bound to break eventually. And when it did, England were flooded.

It’s one thing to want to defend your lead, it’s another to play on your heels entirely. It felt like Tuchel just let Argentina have their way, putting too much trust in his defense — which hasn’t exactly been the strongest — and living with the results. That’s no way to win a game of this magnitude.

It’s like folding at the river with two kings because you fear the man across from you has pocket aces. You’re not trying to win, you’re trying to not lose.

Still, it doesn’t help that England got nothing offensively from start to finish. Only one big chance in the match, a mere seven touches in the Argentina box and two shots on goal isn’t going to cut it in a World Cup semi. Aside from the long ball that set up the English goal — Harry Kane was virtually nonexistent with just 26 touches, none of which came in the opposing box — and no successful dribbles. Jude Bellingham picked the worst time to turn in his worst shift of the tournament, only garnering a single successful tribble while losing over half (7-of-13) of his ground duels.

Jude Bellingham and England let this one slip away.

Simply put, if you told anyone that Kane and Bellingham would combine for 0.02 xG (all from the former) today, nobody would have picked England to win. As such, they got the result they deserved.

It’s a shame for an English team that inspired so many with their grit and determination all tournament long. And it may have been their best shot at ending their 60-year trophy drought; who knows what Harry Kane’s fitness will be in four years’ time, and England’s best young players not named Jude still have a long way to go. But that’s a story for 2030.

And so we have our matchup in the 2026 World Cup final; La Roja vs. La Albiceleste in a game with no shortage storylines and intricacies that we’ll get into as we get closer to Sunday.

In the meantime, England will play France on Saturday for the proverbial bronze medal of the tournament, living with the devastation that they could have finally brought football home this year.

Spain’s Semifinal Masterclass Proves They’re The Best Team In The World

Dominance at the highest level isn’t frequent, and that makes it all the more emphatic and impressive. It makes you feel something — either awe or envy or even gratitude that you get to witness greatness. Spain just gave us that feeling in spades, proving they are the best footballing nation in the world.

Cover photo taken from NBC News.

It’s fairly easy to ascertain when you’re watching the best in the world at something. Dominance at the highest level isn’t frequent, and that makes it all the more emphatic and impressive. It makes you feel something — either awe or envy or even gratitude that you get to witness greatness.

Spain just gave us that feeling in spades, proving they are the best footballing nation in the world and punching their ticket to their second ever World Cup final with a 2-0 win over France.

An early penalty from Mikel Oyarzabal and a beautiful second-half finish from Pedro Porro provided the Spanish the cushion they needed to seal away the French, who looked as rattled and discombobulated as they ever have under Didier Deschamps.

I said in yesterday’s preview that Spain were more than capable of making France play their brand of football, suffocating them in the midfield and squeezing out their defensive opportunities while making the most of their attacking chances. But I could never have seen that formula come to fruition as prominently as it did on Tuesday afternoon in Arlington.

Though possession and passing totals were near dead even, this felt like one of the more lopsided contests between two squads of such high quality that I can remember. The Spaniards converted their 10 shots into 1.63 xG (helped by the aforementioned penalty) while France accrued a measly 0.30 xG from just as many attempts. They simply looked flustered from the word go, physically and mentally outmatched by the first side to match their intensity at this tournament.

Kylian Mbappe had absolutely nowhere to go with the few chances he had on the ball with just three successful dribbles out of eight, only accruing a drab 0.09 xG. Ousmane Dembele was a ghost until a couple of late brute force shots on net to try and muster up any sort of offense. Michael Olise closed out a brilliant tournament with a whimper, losing possession a whopping 2o times and failing to conjure up a single successful dribble with only 0.07 xA en route to being hooked after 72 minutes. Bradley Barcola essentially did an hour of cardio before being subbed out in the 57th minute.

In short, Spain shrunk one of the greatest attacking units we’ve ever seen into the most miniscule of threats.

Nowhere to run. (h/t Athlon Sports)

It’s a masterclass in midfield management and defensive dominance. Marc Cucurella was outstanding with seven defensive contributions and four tackles while winning four of seven ground duels. Rodri and Fabian Ruiz were infallible as always with a combined 13 defensive contributions, eight tackles, 12-of-19 ground duels won and 4-of-4 aerial duels won (all by Rodri). And Pedro Porro netted the aforementioned dagger in the 58th minute, slipping behind the sleeping French defense after a cheeky give-and-go with Dani Olmo.

It certainly helped that Spain’s attack put in a shift that was par for the course for them at this tournament, if not a little bit better. Oyarzabal continued his scoring ways while Dani Olmo picked up a massive assist and completed 29 of his 30 passes. But most importantly, Lamine Yamal left a much more tangible impact on the wing, winning the first-half penalty and keeping the French fullbacks honest with a couple of really good-looking runs — one of which led to a brilliant goal that was disallowed for a slight offside. It feels like his best is yet to come, and he’s in for a massive performance in the final on Sunday.

He just keeps scoring. (h/t Evening Standard)

France will undoubtedly be doing some soul-searching after having it snatched. This was a classic exposé of their deficiencies in midfield and defense — 90 minutes to completely forget if you’re anyone not named Adrien Rabiot, who didn’t even play the second half on a yellow card. Losing William Saliba to injury after 30 minutes didn’t help, but the seeds were already planted for the back line to be decimated. Lucas Digne in particular will face a healthy dose of criticism for his awful challenge which conceded the penalty and generally poor play.

But this is not all on any one Frenchman. As a collective, it was one of the worst performances they ever could have put together. And that’s why Spain deserve all the flowers for making it happen when it looked like France could and would bulldoze everyone in their path en route to another world championship.

Now, it’s La Roja who fit that description.

I certainly don’t envy England or Argentina. Your prize for grinding out a semifinal win is playing this Spanish team in the final? Sounds more like a punishment.