England lost 2-1 to Argentina at the World Cup on Wednesday, ending Thomas Tuchel’s team’s dreams of winning a major title as their lead in Atlanta was blown away.
Gary Neville was disappointed after England lost to Argentina (Image: Stick to Football)
Gary Neville and Roy Keane are embroiled in an explosive row over England’s exit from the World Cup. The Three Lions lost 2-1 to Argentina on Wednesday night, ending their dreams of another big trophy.
Coach Anthony Gordon brought Thomas Tuchel’s side to the front in the second half, giving England a dream of reaching the men’s World Cup final for the first time since winning in 1966. But late goals from Enzo Fernandes and Lautaro Martínez sealed the holders’ comeback into Sunday’s final against European champions Spain.
England will play France in the third-place match on Saturday night. This marks the end of a memorable tournament for Tuchel’s team.
And former England players Neville and Ian Wright, along with former Republic of Ireland star Keane, gave their thoughts on the defeat on Stick to Football. You can read the full story of Neville and Keane having a heated argument over how England should deal with Lionel Messi below.
The full story of Neville and Keene’s argument
Neville started by questioning why Tuchel didn’t assign a specific player to deal with Messi’s drift to the right flank.
“For some reason he (Tuchel) didn’t just turn to Nico O’Reilly and say, ‘I don’t care who’s inside you, stay with (Lionel) Messi when he’s outside you and don’t let him go,'” Neville said. “Guys, mark him and when he comes out of here, force him back inside because if you go to the middle he can’t cross there.”
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“The moment he goes out there, he’s where (Kevin) De Bruyne used to be, where (David) Beckham used to be. He’s basically putting in those wicked crosses.”
Keane shot back, “Listen to yourself, cool the jets,” to which Neville replied, “You don’t need to cool the jets. How can you mark him without going?”
Keane added: “Don’t you think teams have been doing that for the last 20 years? What makes him great? If you’re marking Messi and you remember the game coming to an end and he scored with five minutes left, so 60-odd minutes, whatever…”
Roy Keane tried to explain why stopping Lionel Messi is not easy (Image: Stick to Football)
Neville: “No, Roy.” Keane: “Okay, let’s get this over with. If you go towards Messi, whether it’s O’Reilly or whoever, Messi will cross.”
Neville: “Stand next to him so he doesn’t get there.” Keane: “Football isn’t like that. You can’t stand next to people.”
Then Ian Wright got involved and said, “Gary, what you’re saying is they’ve got to stop the ball from getting to him.” Neville: “What I’m saying is that it’s difficult to man-mark Messi, but you can stop him from marking. In that area, Nico O’Reilly, Jed Spence too, stand next to him and let him go…”
Keene: “So what happened in the last 20 years?” Neville: “Roy, what I’m saying is, you can stop it.”
Keene: “All the great coaches and players have done that, because he says, ‘You can stand next to him.’ But I’ll shimmy a little bit or move around.”
Neville: “No, no, stop him from getting the ball out and let it go somewhere else, let it drop deeper and go into the middle.” Keane: “But what do you tell him when he finally figures it out?”
Neville: “You’re dead.” Keene: “Of course you’re dead. So what you might end up saying to him is, ‘Show me his right side.'”
Neville: “When he got the ball and did his magic, he did a little one-two, he made a little run, he ran and followed, he passed and ran, he swung off his right foot and he was like, no more, it’s over.” Keane: The first goal came from a corner kick. So it has nothing to do with Messi or the space, it’s just that the players switched off.”
Neville: “I think it went off in the middle.” Keene: “Of course it went off, but why would you turn it off? Because we’re putting our hands on our knees, looking at each other, blowing.”
