The defending champion Argentina team escaped a very difficult situation in the last minutes of the match and secured a place in the second consecutive World Cup final.
England led after Anthony Gordon’s goal, but Enzo Fernandez equalized with a powerful shot from outside the penalty area. And already in added time, Lautaro Martinez headed the ball into the net and snatched a 2-1 victory for Argentina.
However, after the match, the most discussion was not about L. Martinez’s shot itself, but about what happened a few moments earlier.
Before making the assist, L. Messi was fighting for the ball with D. Spence.
During the episode, the Argentine touched the English full-back’s foot with his leg, but the referee did not stop the game.
D. Spence stayed on his feet after the collision and even tried to block the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner. But L. Messi kept the ball, lifted it into the penalty area, where L. Martinez made the decisive shot.
English fans soon flooded social networks, demanding explanations as to why the episode was not reviewed or assessed by the VAR referees.
“Messi stepped on Spence before Lautaro’s goal. Why does VAR only work when a goal is scored against Argentina?” one fan complained.
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“How could there not be a foul here?” asked another.
The third sarcastically said that D. Spence needed to fall on the grass and roll dramatically: “That worked for them the whole match.”
The referees’ decision remained unchanged, and Argentina celebrated a 2-1 victory in Atlanta and advanced to the final, where they will face Spain.
England was left to fight for third place. On Saturday, the “Three Lions” will face the French team.
After the final whistle, England coach Thomas Tuchel admitted that his team started playing too cautiously at the end of the match, while Argentina, on the contrary, felt free.
“Argentina started playing more riskily, at a better pace and probably with the feeling that they had nothing left to lose. That freed them, and forced us to retreat,” said T. Tuchel.
– We suddenly started playing as if we had a lot to lose. Of course, the responsibility lies with the coach. When things don’t go as you want, it’s easy to say that a mistake was made somewhere.”
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