Argentina Beat England to Reach World Cup Final

After going ahead, England dropped deeper and tried to protect its lead. Coach Thomas Tuchel made defensive substitutions in the 82nd minute, sending on defender Dan Burn for Reece James and Nico O'Reilly for midfielder Declan Rice. Fernandez scored three minutes later. The changes drew sharp criticism: the Daily Mail's chief football reporter rated Tuchel 3 out of 10 and wrote that he had made defensive changes too soon. Argentina's players described the same pattern from the other side. "They pressed for 60 minutes and then just ran out of steam," Lautaro Martinez said. "They got their goal and then sat back." According to the data company Opta, it was only the second time this century that a team scoring first in a World Cup semi-final failed to reach the final. The other was also England, against Croatia in 2018.

England's wait for a first World Cup final since 1966 now stretches to 60 years. "Once we went 1-0 up, we seemed to just try and hold on, which at this level is not enough," captain Harry Kane said. Defender Dan Burn told reporters he was still numb and had been in shock at the final whistle. Argentina, the defending champions, have won every knockout match late in this tournament, scoring decisive goals in the 111th minute against Cape Verde, in stoppage time against Egypt and in the 112th minute against Switzerland. They now face Spain, who have conceded only one goal in the entire tournament and beaten three top-10 teams — Portugal, Belgium and France. Victory on Sunday would make Argentina only the third men's team to win consecutive World Cups.