2026 WC USA (et al): Worldwide Opponents Watch [all R's]

Watched the recording a bit late, and thus arrived here late, but I see that several of you guys pointed out (some stronger than others) the idiocy of England bunkering to the extent that they did as early as they did. I've been watching World Cups since 1978, and this is one of the more bizarre (in terms of how an elite team elected to essentially give a game away) games I can remember. When Tuchel went into that deep bunker with so much time left... and Argentina started forcing great saves from Pickford and hitting the post, I absolutely knew how this thing was going to play out. It wasn't difficult to see it coming. And yet Tuchel let the assault waves just keep coming, failing to put any pressure on the ball whatsoever ??? ... AGAINST THE WORLD CHAMPIONS. ??? Great strategy there. I've never really rooted strongly for England before, but I sure was today, so this was pretty disappointing. England could have been a nice story, even if they hadn't been able to beat Spain (and I doubt they could have). Oh well.

 

“Blue meth” making chemistry teacher? Just go for something stronger lol

 

What they should do is fire Tuchel and hire Pep. But they won’t.

 

Apparently they're sticking with him... Yikes

NEW: Thomas Tuchel has the full backing of the FA, and chief executive Mark Bullingham, despite that crushing semi-final defeat here in Atlanta. Will remain in charge of the England side for Euro 2028. Story to follow on @TimesSport

— Matt Lawton (@Lawton_Times) July 15, 2026

 

Yeah they won’t fire him after making their third semifinal in 60 years. But Pep would absolutely take the job and no one questions if he’s a better coach than Tuchel.

 

He blamed the players, just like he used to at Chelsea. What a maroon.

 

To say nothing of the last two Copa America finals. Hell of a run.

 

Donna Karan once said that the sexiest men she knew were Buddhist monks and they were all bald, so gentlemen shouldn't be afraid to lose their hair. Words I've lived by since I decided to go close-cropped 15 years ago.

 

I wonder how much of that is also due to regression under pressure and a well-drilled Argentina team responding to the challenge. I don't like to read too much into national character debates, but Argentina, to my mind, played much more like a team where everyone knew their role and England did what English teams in many sports have done for decades - fold under pressure.

The times England teams have won big matches in any sport have been the exception rather than the rule, and in many cases it took something extraordinary (Martin Johnson and Clive Woodward being at their absolute peaks in the Rugby World Cup, Freddy Flintoff being absurd in the 2005 Ashes + Glenn McGrath suffering a freak injury, winning a ODI World Cup via the Super Over, etc). But those are the exceptions rather than the rule for English teams.

 

12% - Average possession between Anthony Gordon's opener and Lautaro Martínez's winner (55th to 92nd minute):

12% - 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England
88% - 🇦🇷 Argentina

Trapped. pic.twitter.com/J5S9wlHCpx

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) July 15, 2026

This has probably been shared already but if so, it’s worth repeating. You can’t do that against a team as good as Argentina with only a 1-goal lead and expect to hold on.

 

Who knows? If he can win the Euros - and they've lost the final twice - then that would move the page for them. It worked for Spain and it worked for Messi's Argentina.

 

Well, I was wrong about this one. I thought that if England got the lead, they were good enough at parking the bus that they could hang on for a win. Turns out parking the bus against Mexico is a different ballgame than parking the bus against Argentina.

I generally dislike England, but I did enjoy watching Bellingham play. He's a great all-around player.

 

the WC does a great job separating the men from the boys in a single game, the moment is either too big for your talent and ambition or the other team is.

mentality as much as anything is at risk with the national sides in ways it isn't with clubs, for better I'd argue as a fan. 100% @aveslacker

As an aside, Messi doing the "ok, bet" grin at Jude after Jude's trash talk, with Messi then going off to drive the win, is as good as a sports meme gets. That's like pissing off Michael Jordan. These guys are not playing around.

 

Do we hate losing as much as Messi and the Argentines hate losing?

 

No

 

I wonder if a few more years of Poch could help with that or if the culture is too hard to change. Still, USA used to be a tougher out, even if we were weaker then.

 

No, and it's not even close.

 

Argentina hates losing almost as much as Shoresy and the Jims hate losing

 

Can we brainstorm some ideas on how to rage bait England fans right now

 

low hanging fruit is the Falklands, Argentina had that covered though.

 

I do. But maybe he’s talking about the players.

 

It's just "MLS"

 

It doesn't matter.

Psychological crap in sports only matter when the talent levels are similar.

 

Did anyone else see the Argentinians shouting their national anthem and think England is just not ready for "this".

 

I’ve said this before but watching Messi is what it was like to watch Jordan in 98. You know he’s the best ever, the team is running on fumes, and it just feels like they will just find a way. And like I thought England was going today, but I couldn’t shake the thought in the back of my head that Argentina was just going to find a way. And I feel the same way about Sunday also.