I've watched many match analyses, and everyone's criticizing Tuchel. I think that's just hindsight. It's obvious that before Tuchel's substitutions, the England players were already intimidated by Argentina's momentum, spontaneously retreating to defend. Coupled with exhaustion and England's history of faltering in crucial moments of major tournaments, and considering there was still half an hour left in the game, Tuchel's decision to substitute defensive players was reasonable. Given England's strength, it's difficult to withstand Argentina's massive counter-attacks while also launching effective counter-attacks. Without strengthening their defense, they probably would have conceded a goal much earlier. Criticism of Tuchel should also focus on his inadequate defensive arrangements; he neglected to defend against long-range shots from outside the box, and even his crosses weren't properly defended. Okay, but that's also because they had Messi on the other side. Against any other team, they could have held on. English fans and media keep criticizing Tuchel, but what they should really be thinking about is why their players have such weak willpower and are so mentally fragile. They've changed so many coaches, yet the same problem persists, and they're still blaming the coach—it's quite ridiculous. This is actually related to the culture of praising players in British football; after all, praising players generates traffic and value. So the fault definitely isn't with the players, it's always the coach's. The British know how to manage a league, but applying the same approach to the national team will inevitably lead to consistently missing the point and failing to achieve a breakthrough.

It seems like there's a lot of worrying cracks for South America looking forward.

Brazil still produces stars, but hasn't produced a team capable of winning since 2014 (and we all know how that WC went for them). Basically every attack from Argentina in the knockouts has been routed through Messi, and the rest of their midfield and attack skews old. Colombia is at the tail end of a golden generation, while Chile and Uruguay's golden generation is long past. Ecuador is the only youthful team in the continent.

Europe's youth development seems unassailable at this point, with African diaspora players benefiting from that network. Meanwhile it seems like youth development in the Americas is falling further and further behind, and their squads are much older than the European ones as they're relying on older talent that's already been through European club competitions.

For their most recent matchups, this is how many players 25 years old or younger were on the pitch over the course of the game:

Ecuador: 9

Germany: 7

Netherlands: 7

England: 6 (Gordon, Bellingham, Rogers, Anderson, Spence, O'Reilly)

France: 6

Brazil: 5

Spain: 5

Switzerland: 4

Argentina: 2 (Simeone and Fernandez)

Colombia: 1

Uruguay: 1

In four years, these players like Bellingham, Lamal, Cubarsi, Haaland, Doue and Olise are going to get better. Who will Argentina have? Let alone Uruguay or Colombia.

Just so everyone knows, I'm well aware that theres a huge asterisk next to the Olympics as its heavily age restricted. But that doesnt make the award any less prestigious. Its also a good indicator of the rising youth talent.

Also to add, Spain had come close before by winning back to back euros in 2008 and 2012 as well as the 2010 world cup, but failed to make it to the gold medal match in Beijing and London.

This is more of a cultural post for those who want to know a little more about how we Argentines process these emotions, from the longest drought to absolute glory.

The song I posted is called "No Me Arrepiento de Este Amor" (I do not regret this love), originally by one of Argentina's greatest cumbia singers, Gilda, whose life was cut short in 1996 by a horrific traffic accident, and covered by Argentina's famed punk band Attaque 77.

The current Argentine fan song for the 2026 edition of the World Cup is based on the rhythm of the song and is a fantastic rendition, merging digestible and easy to learn lyrics to one of the most memorable songs ever put to music.

The lyrics of the original are very much in tune with our national sentiment when it comes to the Albiceleste:

No me arrepiento de este amor,

Aunque me cueste el corazón,

Amar es un milagro y yo te amé,

Como nunca jamás lo imaginé,

Translation:

I do not regret this love,

Even if it costs me my heart,

Loving is a miracle and I've loved you,

In a way I would have never imagined,

Anyways, I wanted to write this to sort of move away from the drama and vitriol of the current games and do something positive.

Does your country have something similar?

Save yourself some time and thought by not arguing with anyone. Because if you try to talk about something that isn’t the basic narrative or glazing, they will respond with: “Copium” or “x has rattled you hasn’t he” or just insult you for the fun of it. Also usually no one backs down and realises they are wrong so there is no point in discussing.
I am not against the usual banter and do not propose not talking about anything, but rather pointless debates like: should Bellingham have slapped Barco, who wins the ballon dor, is Yamal good despite having one goal (I’m not taking any position)… just stop or be more civil when you talk

England 1-2 Argentina — MatchPal post-match thread

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1. Diogo Costa (Portugal)
2. Jordan Pickford (England)
3. Gregor Kobel (Switzerland)
4. Orlando Gill (Paraguay)
5. Yassine Bounou (Morocco)
6. Unai Simón (Spain)
7. Mostafa Shoubir (Egypt)
8. Ørjan Nyland (Norway)
9. Matt Freese (USA)
10. Camilo Vargas (Colombia)

......

1. Vozinha (Cape Verde)

This is FIFA's official list and not mine, please don't be rude to me or anyone. Also if you wanna know where any goalkeeper is ranked that isn't on this list, Ill look for it

What do you think? On one hand I feel it keeps players more accountable and reduces human error of the referee but on the other hand I feel it can be overused where they check everything where the game gets a lot less entertaining and is always in review.

Do you think it’s better or worse? Sometimes I feel they should just let the game be played.

Personally I think for a really close call I think it should be used but I don’t think everything should be examined as it ruins the excitement of the game.

I am reading some comments around the social media that Tuchel is as bad as Sven, but to put things in perspective; Sven never had major meltdowns like Tuchel had.

- in 2002 England met one of the best brazilian teams ever; David Seaman with a gaffe in goal

- in 2004 England lost to penalities to Portugal, and Sol Campell got a winning goal disallowed.

- in 2006 England lost to portugal penalties again and Rooney got a red card during the game

I mean, yes England didnt made the semi-finals but all these games were a bit unlucky.

Sure they have done worse in terms of where they ended up losing in the competition. But even in their worst losses I don’t remember them losing like that where they conceded 2 goals in quick succession to lose the match.

In previous years many players have received a "bump" after their performance for their country in the world cup. James Rodriguez in 2014, Wout Weghorst in 2022 to name a couple. (Dont get mad at my examples, i dont claim to have an encyclopedic knowledge of footballers)

Who's performance these past few weeks is going to see them move to a larger than expected club in the next 6-12 months?

I am ready to get this party started.

Argentina feels on top of the world. They're on the precipice of a fourth consecutive major tournament victory. They find new dramatic ways to snatch victory in seemingly every game and the team has truly been the embodiment of "they just know how to win".

But not long ago that wasn't the case.

Think back to July 2019. Argentina has just been eliminated 2-0 by Brazil from Copa América. This marked 26 years since they last won a Copa and 33 years since they'd won a World Cup. The year prior featured a disastrous 2018 World Cup performance in Russia where they drew with Iceland, got battered by Croatia, and were bounced by France in a rather flattering 4-3 Round of 16 match. This came on the back of two consecutive Copa América final losses (that feels a long time ago doesn't it Chile), heartbreak in the 2014 WC final, a demoralizing 4-0 quarterfinal against Germany, and plenty of other tournament losses in the 2000's. After a decade and a half of international failures, there was serious concern that Messi would retire without a major tournament victory.

Wow did that narrative change.

What are other national teams that so abruptly changed the narrative surrounding the team? Spain of the late 2000's seems like another obvious example.

So I thought Barca has the most number of players but found it is Atletico with 9 or 10 depending on how you count.

They got from Argentina

1. Julian Alvarez
   
2. Giovanni Simeone
   
3. Mark Pubill
   
4. Nicholas Gonzalez
   
5. Thiago Almada
   
6. Nahuel Molina

From Spain
1. Marcos Llorente
2. Mark Pubill
3. Alex Baena
4. Alex Grimaldo (Joined in July)

Also De Paul plays in Miami but in my brain he still feels like an Atletico Player.

Is this some sort of World Cup Record?

Might be a dumb question, but I was wondering if Messi is fitted to play in Barcelona like the old days. Would his performance be as good?

Edit: I'm taking in a hypothetical setup, I'm not saying he should go and play for Barca, there are probably a million reasons why that could not be of his interest (money, family, personal preference). I was just asking if he could perform in a competitive league.

Currently the NOAA has an Air Quality Alert for East Rutherford, NJ (where Metlife aka New York/New Jersey Stadium) is located until Saturday, if this extends into Sunday, could we see FIFA postposing the final?

England vs Argentina — MatchPal match thread

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