Only the Brave Play are Worthy of the 2026 World Finals

JAKARTA - The Argentina national team showed the England national team that winning is not just about the final result, but about how to achieve it.

At the Atalanta Stadium, United States (US), Thursday, Argentina's way to victory was so heroic. They were like knights who never gave up.

Down a goal until the 84th minute, world champions Argentina turned it around in just seven minutes to seal their path to the 2026 World Cup final, their back-to-back finals after winning in 2022 in Qatar.

For Lionel Messi, who is referred to as the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) in the world of football, this is his third World Cup final after losing to Germany in 2014 in Brazil, as well as his fourth final with coach Lionel Scaloni, all of which ended in victory.

Brave and cowardly. Those are the words that describe the mentality of Argentina and England. Argentina played with courage after falling behind one goal through Anthony Gordon's goal in the 55th minute.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni took a risk in the player changes. He made five substitutions, two of which reduced the defensive strength to add power in front.

Nico Gonzalez was brought on in the 64th minute to replace Leandro Paredes, the La Albiceleste gladiator whose job is to keep the balance of the game and not hesitate to do dirty work to stop the opponent.

Then, Scaloni's final change came in the 81st minute when he brought on Lautaro Martinez and pulled out left-back Nicolas Tagliafico.

These two substitutions are very risky, because Argentina will lack players to hold off the onslaught of England if they launch a counterattack. Instead of getting a goal, they can even concede the second goal and lose.

However, that's the price to pay. Argentina opted for an "all-out attack", no matter what, except to get a goal.

While Scaloni's head was just waiting for when the goal would happen, Thomas Tuchel's brain was just thinking about how many more defenders he would put in to maintain the lead.

It's not entirely wrong. But what the German coach did was contrary to the British identity as a big team, which did not deserve to defend in total, let alone from the 72nd minute.

Tuchel replaced his winger Gordon with a central defender Ezri Konsa in the 72nd minute. He then added defenders for The Three Lions in the 82nd minute by bringing in two defenders taller than 1.9 meters, namely Nico O'Reilly and Dan Burn. Burn himself even has a height of more than two meters (2.1 meters).

England also played in a 5-4-1 formation, leaving the 4-2-3-1 pattern that actually managed to hold off Argentina in the first half, while limiting the movement of their megastar Lionel Messi.

Ironically, what Tuchel did backfired for his own team because his defensive tactics were blamed for Messi and his friends' success in turning the tide to 2-1 in the 90th+2 minute.

England defended too deep and invited pressure after pressure from Argentina. The absence of players in the midfield, especially when Declan Rice was pulled out, allowed the opponent to play the ball.

England's way of surviving, which only focused on decorating their penalty box with tall players, also made Messi move more freely than before.

La Pulga, Messi's nickname, got a lot of space when he moved from the right side of the striker. From this side he managed to provide two assists for his country's victory scored by Enzo Fernandez in the 85th minute and Lautaro Martinez in the 90th +2 minute.

Lautaro's goal seemed to deliver a hard blow to Tuchel, who opted for total defense by playing tall defenders to anticipate Argentina's cross passes and win the second ball.

Lautaro is only 1.74 meters tall. However, his cleverness in finding space made him free from interference when heading Messi's pass, while between him there were two taller players, John Stones (1.88 meters) and Konsa (1.83 meters).

The goal also showed Tuchel's quality as a mediocre coach. Instead of maintaining his team's playing style to continue pressing Argentina to limit their creative space, the 52-year-old coach chose to hide behind the bus parking strategy.

Moreover, the options on the bench are very abundant. There is still Bukayo Saka, Noni Madueke, Eberechi Eze, to Kobbie Mainoo, who can keep the threat of the English attack while forcing Argentina to play less comfortably behind them while they are launching an all-out attack strategy.

"For example, you are ahead 1-0 - let's say you are playing in a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 formation - then you replace the midfielder or striker by putting a defender in the last 10 or 15 minutes, so suddenly you are playing with five defenders," said Como coach Cesc Fabregas in an interview with Sky Sports in 2023.

"So, automatically your mindset becomes, 'oh, the coach wants us to defend, we have to play more backwards'. As a result, you actually invite pressure; you let the opponent have more ball possession, more freedom to attack, and become more dangerous," he continued.

"The longer they are in your playing area, yes, maybe one day you can punish them with a counterattack and score the second goal, but in 80 to 90 percent of cases, that strategy backfires," he added.

What Fabregas said is what happened to England. Tuchel's decision to retreat too deep made the Three Lions lose control of the game and was eventually punished by two Argentine goals in the final minutes.

That night, Tuchel really broke the hearts of English supporters for the umpteenth time. There was no Wonderwall song at the Atlanta Stadium, nor did the dream of returning to the World Cup final come true.

Now, they have to be content to compete again for third place against France at the Miami Stadium, USA, Sunday (19/7) at 04.00 WIB. Even though it hasn't completely erased the disappointment of failing to reach the final, a victory in the third place match will make England smile a little.

Because, it will be their best achievement in the World Cup after 1966, after two times being the fourth-ranked team in the 1990 and 2018 editions.

Spain's legendary goalkeeper Iker Casillas launched a sharp criticism for England because their coach chose a cowardly approach after scoring the first goal.

He said England's defeat in a painful way, yaitudi-comebackin the final minutes, was a deserved consequence.

"Score a goal and then defend. A cowardly approach. They didn't come out of their own penalty box and let Argentina be more free to attack. The logical result happened," Casillas said on his official X account, quoted Friday.

Casillas' words, a goalkeeper who won the 2010 World Cup and the 2008 and 2012 European Cups with Spain, also hinted that England did not deserve to advance to the final, because the final belonged to those who played with courage.

This is the principle that Spain showed when eliminating France in the 2026 World Cup semi-finals. A day earlier, Luis de la Fuente's team was not favored to win, let alone Les Bleus came with the deadliest attack line in this four-year football party, with Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, Michael Olise, Bradley Barcola, Desire Doure, and Rayan Cherki.

However, La Furia Roja is not inferior at all. They remain faithful to their identity, namely strong ball possession, short passes, and are not afraid to build attacks from behind, even though there is pressing from the French stars in the front line.

De la Fuente also did not choose to play defensively in the last 30 minutes after leading two goals through Mikel Oyarzabal and Pedro Porro. From the five substitutions, the focus of the 65-year-old coach was only to refresh his team's energy, not to change his tactics from attacking to defending. The only defender to enter was Marcos Llorente in the 84th minute, replacing fellow right-back, Porro.

The courage to maintain their identity is what makes Spain the team with the best defense in the 2026 World Cup. Not because they pile up players in front of the goal, but because they control the game through ball possession.

This needs to be learned by Tuchel, that avoiding goals does not necessarily pile up players in the penalty box, because as long as the team holds the ball, the opponent does not have the opportunity to score.

This identity also brought Spain into the World Cup final for the first time since becoming champions in 2010. This final is Spain's third consecutive final in the three tournaments they have participated in in De la Fuente's era, namely the 2024 European Cup and the 2025 Nations League.

The 2026 World Cup final will present a duel between brave teams. Argentina and Spain, the two defending champions in their respective countries, will meet in the final match at the New York New Jersey Stadium, USA, on Monday (20/7) at 02.00 WIB.

The two finalists delivered the same message. that they did not merely win because they had great players, but because their coach dared to take risks.

What needs to be underlined again is that the journeys of Argentina and Spain in this year's World Cup remind us, not only on the green field, but also in real life, that the greatest victories often go to those who dare to step forward when others choose to stay in the comfort zone.