Heartbreak in Atlanta: Late Argentina Double Ends England's World Cup Dream

Football can be the cruellest of sports, and it chose the third minute of stoppage time in Atlanta to prove it. England were five minutes from extra time in a World Cup semi-final they had led when Argentina struck twice, through Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez, to win 2-1 and end a dream that had carried a nation through an extraordinary American summer.

For long periods at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, England were the better side. The breakthrough, when it came on 55 minutes, was beautifully worked: Morgan Rogers, one of the revelations of this tournament, drove at the Argentina defence and delivered a cross that Anthony Gordon met at the far post to tap in. England led a World Cup semi-final, and the travelling supporters dared to believe that the shadow of 1966 might finally lift.

The pattern had been set in a first half of rare tactical discipline from Thomas Tuchel's side. England ceded possession without ceding control, funnelling Argentina towards the flanks and trusting their defensive shape, and when the openings came they were the clearer ones. Gordon's goal felt like the reward for a plan executed to the letter, and for half an hour after it England managed the occasion with a maturity that belied their years.

Eight minutes that broke English hearts

Argentina, champions in 2022, do not panic. They probe, they wait, and they trust their pedigree. With five minutes of normal time remaining, Enzo Fernandez found a yard of space outside the box and drove a shot through the crowd of bodies and in. Worse was to come. In the third minute of stoppage time, Lionel Messi, thirty nine years old and still the game's most persuasive voice, curled a cross of perfect weight onto the head of Lautaro Martinez, who nodded the winner. England's players collapsed where they stood.

There is no shame in any of this. Messi's influence endures because genius endures, and Argentina's streetwise excellence in the decisive minutes was the product of a decade spent winning the biggest prizes the sport offers. England did not lose this semi-final so much as it was taken from them by masters of the craft, and there is a difference, even if it does not feel like one this morning.

Pride, properly understood

Perspective will come slowly, but it will come. England reached the last four of a World Cup on foreign soil, beat Mexico in the Azteca with ten men and broke Norway's resistance in extra time. They were five minutes from taking the champions of 2022 into extra time in a semi-final. Thomas Tuchel has given this team structure and steel; Jude Bellingham has given it stardust. Only three times before had England reached a World Cup semi-final; this run matched the feats of 1990 and 2018 and fell a single step short of 1966. A second semi-final in the last three World Cups is not failure. It is the foundation on which winning teams are built.

There remains one more match. France await in the bronze medal play-off in Miami on Saturday evening, kick-off 10pm BST, a chance to leave this tournament with medals around their necks rather than regrets. Argentina go on to face Spain in the final. England's players will watch it with heavy hearts. Bellingham, who had dragged his team through these knockout rounds almost single-handedly at times, was inconsolable at the whistle, and he was not alone: thousands of England supporters remained in their seats long after full time to applaud a side that had given them the run of their lives. They should watch the final, all the same, with heads held high.