Not only regretting England's 1-2 defeat to Argentina in the 2026 World Cup semi-finals, the British media also paid special attention to the fierce play of the defending champions.
Daily Mail has detailed statistics of each foul by Argentine players, saying that it is one of the factors that helped the South American team interrupt the "Three Lions'" playing rhythm.
According to Daily Mail, right from the first minutes, Argentina chose a very aggressive approach. Leandro Paredes, Enzo Fernandez, Giuliano Simeone or Nahuel Molina continuously fouled to prevent England's attacks, especially targeting Jude Bellingham and Elliot Anderson.
In the first half alone, Anderson was fouled many times when he had just regained control of the ball, while Bellingham continuously became the target of Argentine midfielders. The climax was the situation where Giuliano Simeone continuously pulled, collided and then tackled Marc Guehi in the same play.
This newspaper also pointed out that referee Ismail Elfath repeatedly reminded the Argentine player but was quite "gentle" with the cards. It was not until the 42nd minute that Lisandro Martinez became the first Argentine player to receive a yellow card after intercepting Morgan Rogers in a counter-attack situation.
In the second half, Cristian Romero continued to receive a yellow card for pulling down Bellingham to prevent a dangerous counter-attack. However, Argentina reduced the number of fouls when they switched to controlling the game, before Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez scored two late goals to help their team come back 2-1.
Daily Mail also mentioned the tense atmosphere that lasted until after the final whistle. Bellingham exchanged words with Valentin Barco while the Argentine players celebrated the victory, closing a semi-final full of emotions.
Through statistics of each foul, Daily Mail believes that Argentina has used experience and decisiveness to disrupt the rhythm of the England team's play, thereby creating a premise for a comeback in the final minutes.
