England has been in this position before, but never quite as close. The Three Lions were just five minutes of normal time from reaching the World Cup final on Wednesday evening in Atlanta before it all fell apart. Truthfully, it had started to unravel long before the 85th minute.
The first half of the semifinal at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta was essentially a write off—a bitty, nervy scrap that produced a combined xG of 0.07 but 19 fouls, with Argentina’s Giuliano Simeone, in his first start of the knockouts, making it a personal mission to ensure as little soccer as possible was played.
