Thomas Tuchel: How England unravelled after Ezri Konsa substitution as familiar failings rob Three Lions of World Cup final place

Thomas Tuchel was England's gambler. A squad few others would have picked. A backs-to-the-wall win over Mexico. Starting Morgan Rogers based on "a feeling from the coach".

But ultimately, one wager has cost seemingly cost England a place in a World Cup final.

The stage was set to write history. The first draft was being written when Anthony Gordon scored from Rogers' cross - vindicating the latest of Tuchel's gut instincts.

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But in seven late minutes, everything fell apart.

In reality, the hinge was a substitution in the 71st minute.

Ezri Konsa's introduction and England's withdrawal to a back five for more than 20 minutes against the reigning World Cup champions is easy to criticise in hindsight, but felt just as questionable the moment Gordon's number was up.

England have now scored first in seven of the 13 knock-out games they have lost in the last 30 years. England are the only team this century to have taken the lead in a World Cup semi-final without making the final - and they've now done it twice.

So there was an all-too depressing familiarity as they saw just 17 per cent of the ball and had nine touches in the Argentina half in the quarter of an hour after Gordon's goal, inspiring Tuchel to introduce Konsa.

The freeze had begun to set in, but aside from Nico Gonzalez's header Argentina still had not forced Jordan Pickford into a meaningful save.

Not only did Konsa's 72nd-minute introduction and switch to a back five compound England's defensive anxiousness, it robbed them of their most direct out ball by removing Gordon.

Rogers, now theoretically playing behind Kane alongside Bellingham, managed only a solitary touch between the change in shape and Martinez's winner.

In those 21 minutes, the Three Lions' possession dropped to 7.2 per cent.

They registered eight touches in the opposition half and failed to deliver a single cross.

Presumably, Tuchel's intention was to use Djed Spence and Reece James as bombing wing-backs in the 3-4-3 he has favoured for much of his career.

As it transpired, James and Spence touched the ball just once in the Argentina half between them in the rest of the game.

Without more bodies up the pitch, England handed the ball to a team with the best player of all time itching to get on it.

Wave after wave of Argentina attacks followed Konsa's arrival as England struggled desperately to keep the ball. Even without it, Konsa did not win possession back for his side at all - but did lose it five times.

Tuchel has previously realised when his changes have not delivered and had the bravery to switch things around.

But here the head coach appeared as frozen as his players, bringing on Dan Burn and Nico O'Reilly instead of ripping up the script to introduce some of the attacking alternatives when it was clear the tide was not turning.

Perhaps Tuchel had been emboldened by the way England secured victory with 10 men against Mexico. But that would be naive against incomparable opponents.

Mexico had made their intentions clear that they would aim cross after cross into the box. But a team built on passing football with Messi primed to strike were never going to play that way. And strike he did, turning provider for both of Argentina's goals.

Tuchel was employed to take things to the next level. Under Southgate, England beat the teams they were meant to beat and came unstuck when they were underdogs. In that regard, nothing has changed.

In time it may be easier to reflect how that rousing half-time team-talk against Croatia, plus a number of bold attacking changes, and one particularly well-timed defensive intervention in the Azteca, raised hopes that Tuchel's in-game management would prove the missing piece of the puzzle that Southgate sadly lacked.

It may still prove to be at Euro 2028, after Tuchel vowed to see out his two-year contract extension.

But until then is a painful irony that it is precisely one throw of the dice too far and a reversion to the defence-first football Tuchel had promised to eradicate which will instead now haunt him, and England, for the next two years.

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