England’s 60-year wait goes on after another semi-final collapse
England led their World Cup semi-final and lost it late to a Messi-inspired Argentina, and sixty years on from 1966 the wait drags on. Thomas Tuchel was hired to end it, which is why this one lands as a failure.
Jul 18, 2026
For about forty minutes in Atlanta, England let themselves believe. Anthony Gordon had swept them in front early in the second half, Argentina were rattled, and a first World Cup final in sixty years was sitting right there. Then Lionel Messi decided otherwise. Two assists, two goals in seven minutes, and England were left staring at the turf again. Enzo Fernandez levelled it with a thumping strike from distance in the 85th minute, and Lautaro Martinez headed in the winner in the 92nd. So near, and then, as ever, not.
The same ending, over and over
The details change but the feeling does not. This was England’s fourth World Cup semi-final, and they have now lost the last three, in 1990, in 2018 and now in 2026. The 1966 win, the only trophy this country has, drifts further out of view every time. What made this one worse is how it happened. England did not get outplayed and outclassed. They led, they froze, and they conceded twice in the closing stages to the one player on the planet you least want to hand a late opening.
There is a cruel symmetry to it. In 2018 they scored first against Croatia and lost. In 2026 they scored first against Argentina and lost. Getting your nose in front used to feel like the hard part. For England it has become the setup for the fall.
Tuchel has to wear this one
Thomas Tuchel was not hired to reach semi-finals. The Football Association brought him in after Gareth Southgate walked away, a proven winner handed one job and one job only, to end the wait at this World Cup. By that measure, and it is the measure he accepted, a semi-final is not progress. It is a failure with a nicer name.
What will gnaw at him is how it unravelled. Nursing the lead in the closing stages, he turned cautious, sending on defenders to hold what England had rather than chase a second goal, and the retreat invited exactly the pressure that undid them. He said afterwards he had no regrets. He is entitled to say it, but the substitutions will be replayed for years, because they fit the oldest English habit of all, trying to hold what you have instead of going to win. Southgate lost two European Championship finals doing a gentler version of the same thing. This is not only a Tuchel problem. It is just his turn to carry it.
A hollow way to sign off
And now comes the cruellest little insult the tournament offers, the third-place play-off against France in Miami on Saturday, a game nobody wants to play and nobody will remember. England will field a changed side, the crowd will be flat, and the result will mean nothing. It is the football equivalent of being asked to tidy up after your own leaving party.
The bigger questions can wait until the plane home. Whether Tuchel is the man to take this into the next cycle, whether a golden generation is quietly ageing without a medal to show for it, whether England will ever learn to be bolder when it matters. For now there is only the familiar ache, sixty years and counting, and the sense that this was as good a chance as they have had in a long time. They will not get many better.