Déjà vu for England fans, the cup is not coming home yet

The wait for the cup to ‘come home’ is going to stretch beyond 60 years now, but the question is: when will it ever come? That thought must be uppermost among the dejected England football community the morning after a gifted generation of youngsters, marshalled by Harry Kane and a tactically astute Thomas Tuchel, failed to defend their slender lead in the FIFA World Cup 2026 semi-final against a ruthless Argentina in Atlanta.

It’s a bitter aftertaste that at least five generation of English stars have been familiar with, but what makes it doubly painful was the manner it which it came this time. The Three Lions were five minutes from a possible place in the final after 1966, the only year they actually won the cup, when Leo Messi inspired a sensational comeback with two goals in seven minutes — a habit with him in the past two weeks.

Tuchel has been copping severe flak for asking his boys to retreat into a shell in the last quarter — and the two defensive changes — and it will remain a question of ‘what-ifs’ in months to come.

From Gary Lineker to Jamie Carragher, the decision to replace scorer Anthony Gordon (72nd minute) and Declan Rice (82) with defenders Ezri Knosa and Nico O’Reilly respectively, were "unfathomable" and "astonishing tactics". An afterthought which may now polarise opinions because Argentina had already started to wrest control after trailing from the 55th minute onward, and the German coach possibly saw merit in a five-man defence line to counter the by now famous Messi late charges.

The headlines in English print media, meanwhile, had a familiar story to tell — a grim reminder of an identical 2-1 extra time heartbreak against Croatia after going up 1-0 in the 2018 semi-final. 'Kaned by Messi', said tabloid Daily Star while the Daily Mirror said, 'Shattered: England unable to hold onto lead as dream ends in tears'.

 A defiant Tuchel, who has the English FA's backing to continue until Euro 2028 despite the exit, said: “I think it’s two completely different matches — it’s until the goal and then after the goal. But it’s important, first of all, that you gave everything, which we did, to respect the opponent and the achievement of the opponent and the win of the opponent. This is how sports is. And the second is then to bounce back, like always, show a reaction, learn from it.

“Argentina played with more risk, played with more rhythm, played with a feeling maybe that they have nothing to lose anymore, which freed them up and hold us back, because we obviously played suddenly with a feeling that we have a lot to lose.

‘’I don’t believe so much in an English thing, in a curse or whatever, or in history repeating itself in these moments,’’ said Tuchel, who succeeded Gareth Southgate in January 2025. ‘’It’s different coaches, different players, different situations, different opponents. So I think basically I believe in the football thing, which for me still as a football coach cost us today because I think we were just not active enough in any structure.’’

Captain Kane echoed his coach’s sentiments. ‘’When we went 1-0 up, we seemed to just try to hold on, which at this level is not enough,’’ the dejected Bayern Munich striker said. ‘’We worked so hard to be here. The lads have given every bit of blood, sweat and tears. To fall short like we did is just gutting.

‘’We had a lot of good moments in this tournament. A lot of good games, another semi-final. We talk about knocking on the door. We’re close, we just need to find that missing piece in the final stage of the tournament. These tournaments take it out of you. So much effort and pressure and mentality — and we’ve showed a lot of that throughout the six, seven weeks we’ve been together. But we’re just missing that final piece.’’