Lautaro Martinez rose in the second minute of stoppage time to head Argentina into the World Cup final, leaving England captain Harry Kane ‘gutted’ after a 2-1 semi-final defeat in Atlanta that felt all too familiar.
Anthony Gordon had given England the lead, but Enzo Fernandez dragged Argentina level before Martinez’s header crushed Thomas Tuchel’s side. England have now reached the semi-final in three of their last four major tournaments and lost the Euro 2024 final to Spain – a pattern Kane admits is missing something.
“England captain Harry Kane says team is missing a final piece after 2-1 World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina.”
“We talk about knocking on the door, we’re close but we just need to find that missing piece in the final stages of the tournament,” Kane told BBC Sport. “These tournaments take it out of you, so much effort, pressure and mentality. We’re just missing that final piece.”
Kane revealed that Tuchel had delivered a message from the touchline after Gordon’s goal. “The boys are always ready for any moment in the game. When we went ahead, the message was to go ahead and get another goal,” Kane explained. “Then obviously once they scored their two goals it was to try and find something. But we couldn’t quite get the momentum back in the game.”
Tuchel switched to a 5-4-1 formation for the final 25 minutes, sending on Dan Burn and Nico O’Reilly to protect the slender lead. As Argentina pushed forward, England retreated to the edge of their own box. Kane refused to criticise the manager’s tactics, instead pointing to Argentina’s pressure.
“We struggled to get pressure on the ball. Especially first half and start of the second half, we pressed them well, we put them under loads of pressure high up the pitch which then allowed us to win balls and control the game a bit better,” Kane said. “After the goal, whether it was them putting more men forward or us not being able to match them man for…”
The England captain also admitted the team did not carry out Tuchel’s instructions as the game slipped away. For a side that has knocked on the door so often, the question of what that final piece is remains unanswered.
