ESPN’s Taylor Twellman on Argentina’s Latest “Crazy!” World Cup Rally

Argentina has now reached a World Cup final without leading a single knockout match after 90 minutes. Taylor Twellman has watched every second of it and still cannot explain the trick.

"I don't know, Rich. I really don't," the ESPN analyst said. "To think that in the knockout stage they have not led after 90 minutes."

His best attempt at an answer is not a tactic. It is a feeling. "There's just an extra 5% that you cannot measure. You cannot quantify when you play with the greatest of all time," Twellman said. "There's an extra bit of belief that you just can't quantify, and you have to play an absolute perfect 90-plus minutes to knock them out."

England did not play a perfect 90. They played a very good 55, scored, and then handed the game back.

Twellman's issue is not that Thomas Tuchel went defensive. It is when he did it. "What he did is not wrong. When he did it, is absolutely unequivocally wrong. And anyone that was watching the game knew that right away." Six and a half minutes after the goal, England had all 11 players behind the ball, Harry Kane camped on top of his own 18-yard box, and 14 percent possession.

"Scared money doesn't make money, Rich," Twellman said. "You say to Messi, go float wide right. You're going to have all the time in the world to see the game, and you're going to find the pass that you need to."

Lionel Messi found it. The cross that broke England came off his right foot, over seven English defenders and Jordan Pickford, past the head of John Stones, onto exactly the forehead he wanted. Twellman posted the still frame himself. Four Argentine attackers, seven defenders, a goalkeeper, and everyone in the building convinced Messi was cutting back to his left.

"It's a dream ball, easy finish," Twellman said. "He's got over 800 assists in his career. You see why."

He is less forgiving of Tuchel's postgame posture. After the Norway match, the manager criticized his own players for winning ugly. After the semifinal, he called the tactical questions unfair, deflected, and said he had no regrets. "You cannot have your cake and eat it, too," Twellman said, adding that the English media will not let it go.

Jude Bellingham, on the other hand, gets Twellman's full endorsement, including whatever he said to Messi that produced that now viral nod. "I love it," Twellman said. "I don't care who you are on the other side of the field, I'm going to try to beat your brains in." He also noted that Tuchel was rumored four months before the tournament to be weighing whether to leave Bellingham home, and that England does not reach the semifinal without him.

The match had real venom. Off-ball nonsense, players talking with their mouths closed, head contact that should have drawn cards, and a Rodrigo De Paul confrontation with Bellingham that only produced a yellow for De Paul. "This is the most contentious World Cup rivalry," Twellman said.

Spain awaits, and Twellman is stunned by how flat France looked against them. He noted Spain has played six of seven matches in climate-controlled stadiums, more than England, Argentina and France, and looked fresher for it. "Spain has been the best team in the tournament," he said, even with Lamine Yamal quiet.

His prediction for Sunday is not about tactics either. "New York, New Jersey stadium will be Buenos Aires on Sunday at 3:00 in the afternoon."