Henry Winter’s World Cup Diary, Day 32
Order the latest World Football here
In the wake of such an outcome, journalists have countless responsibilities. Within an hour of working full-time, I first submitted my match report, finished Radio 4 at the whistle (you know it’s a serious event when they’re involved), created a podcast with the legendary Tim Vickery and posted two short reaction videos online. Often there’s a cathartic element to it, almost a therapy, to get all the emotions surrounding the performance and the outcome out of my system. Not this time. The anger remains.
It persists because it’s a wasted opportunity. Consider this quote: “They are more afraid of quitting the game than they are excited and hungry to win it.” Thomas Tuchel’s words came back to haunt him. This is what the new England manager said about the England team under Gareth Southgate in an interview with ITV on March 20, 2025. Tuchel is preparing to lead England for the first time against Albania at Wembley. He actually claimed England were too afraid of winning Euro 2024.
In fact, they were very cautious when it mattered most, and much of the criticism for this was directed at Southgate. At Atalanta, however, England once again dug deep to defend their lead, but failed again. Tuchel’s defensive substitutes are largely responsible for this.
Of all the statistics, what made Tuchel’s disastrous second half coaching performance was the fact that they had just 12 per cent of the ball in the 37 minutes between Anthony Gordon’s goal to put England ahead and Argentina to regain the lead.
37 minutes cost England their chance to reach the World Cup final. Thirty-seven minutes of passivity, rest, defenders coming on, hoping to hold on.
Tuchel is supposed to be an elite coach who banishes fear. Instead, he injected it into a team that needed to be more proactive. Gordon’s introduction deprived England of any chance of an outside ball. Tuchel hinted at defensive issues. How dare he put some of the blame on the players. Hopefully Tuchel admits how he missed out.
⚽ ⚽
Has Harry Kane retired? No. Despite Kane’s disappointing form at Atalanta, he remains the best player in England’s attack. The 34-year-old may also have rights to Euro 2028. But the significance of the 2030 World Cup is too great. That’s one of the reasons why England fans are so angry about this wasted opportunity.
⚽ ⚽
A great deal of research has gone into goalkeeper preparation for penalty kicks. So it’s fascinating to see a picture of Jordan Pickford’s water bottle plastered with details on how to respond to an Argentinian penalty kick. “Left feint – right dive” is Pickford’s advice to Messi. “Dive left” was Pickford’s instruction when facing Gonzalez Montiel. In the 2022 final, full-back Hugo Lloris rushed the ball to the left against Montiel, and the Argentinian full-back had already diverted the ball in the other direction. He also moved to the right of Roma goalkeeper Bono as he helped Sevilla win the 2023 Europa League final. Not all advice is accurate.
⚽ ⚽
There was always going to be limited interest in the third place race (now the bronze medal race). Ellosico. Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe may be interested in competing for the Golden Boot, but little else. In five hours last night, the price fell from $1,900 to $767 to $691. If this continues, ticket prices may be lower than the $250 for official FIFA-approved parking spaces. 23 minutes until Miami Stadium.
⚽ ⚽
I walked out of the stadium surrounded by a sea of blue and white. This is the foot traffic of Argentinian fans wearing Messi jerseys. What was particularly striking was how many families and couples there were. It’s worth remembering that when people criticized the Argentinian support they were a bunch of Malverns who hated the UK. I was walking back to the hotel with a friend who supports England and he very sportily stopped a few Argentinians on the way to congratulate them and wish them well in the final. In return, they are very charming and almost comforting. Good luck to them against Spain.
⚽ ⚽
All of this represents a huge marketing opportunity for Mulinsen. Having one of their players, Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi, as the star of the World Cup, mainly on their soil, is a huge coup that they will surely use to move up the league. Messi may even win the World Cup again and win the Ballon d’Or and Golden Boot. Major League Soccer still needs to convince a large portion of the American public. Messi can help with this challenge.
Catch up on the rest of Henry Winter’s World Cup diary here