So that is that, another England World Cup campaign falls just short. If you interested (and why should you be), I thought England went toe to toe and matched if not bettered an Argentinian team in the first half who showed much interest in gamesmanship and little in playing the game. England were at their best when they were pressing high up the pitch, Argentina came more into it whenever we sat back and gave them time to build.
After Gordon put us ahead, it all went wrong. True to form, we sat back and attempted to defend the lead for 40 minutes. An impossible task against a team of that quality and passion. I think it was a terrible, bizarre decision by Tuchel to bring on defenders.
I think there is a risk for England and English football fans though that now Tuchel will be the scapegoat. True, it was his error in the game but frankly we have not been good enough over the tournament. Our progress to the semi finals may also mask failures over the past two years, instead of building on the progress of the Southgate era, we have, if anything, gone backwards.
In reality, the team have done well to maintain a fourth place ranking in the world. However, there is quite the gap between them and truly elite teams (the top 3 of France, Spain and Argentina).
In this article though, I wanted to pick up on a couple of reactions and wider implications for us. First, one response was that the tactical decisions by Tuchel were a mistake but everyone makes mistakes. That’s true however, note two things first, it was a mistake that everyone could see. Secondly, it was a mistake in regards to the kind of decision that Tuchel is paid for
We can too easily hide behind “noone is perfect and we all make mistakes” to distract from the point that there are mistakes we should not make because they are the very things we have responsibility, skills and training for.
Secondly, my Scottish friends were quick to tell me that England had been humbled. Now, I’m not sure why the Scots are so keen not just for England to be beaten but also to be humbled. There is a joke running that at least Scotland have a team in the final, so committed have some been to supporting England’s opponents at each stage.
Additionally, I don’t see how you can describe getting to within a few minutes of a world cup final and taking Argentina all the way as humiliating. Yes England were outplayed in the later stages but if anything, we did much better than expected.
I suspect this comes from presumptions, that England and the English need taking down a peg or two. This I think is to conflate the bravado of fans and the tabloid media with the disposition of others. To be humbled suggests that you start with a level of arrogance. That might be true of the so called golden generation but doesn’t reflect most of the current team or the wider nation.
A couple of lessons to be drawn from this are as follows. First, it is fascinating to see how others perceive you. It might be different to how you see yourself. Secondly we should be careful about the presumptions we hold concerning others.
Both of these lessons matter for healthy Gospel mission.
Faithroots 