England and coach Thomas Tuchel can blame themselves for the World Cup semi-final defeat

Reduction can be extraordinarily beautiful at its best.

Declan Rice will be the first Nicolás Tagliaficolta to the remaining loose ball.

Rice doesn’t try magic tricks but passes the ball on the outside Morgan Rogersille.

Rogers takes possession of the ball with one touch. Then he lifts his head and finds himself running towards the back post Anthony Gordonin.

Rogers crosses to Gordon, who directs the ball into the goal.

Reduction is incredibly effective at its best. After all the extraneous has been pruned away, what remains is the essential.

In England’s case, that means four touches to blow Argentina’s defense to pieces in five seconds.

Looking back on the hit, it seems as inexorable as fate.

Gordon’s hit feels like a victory at the moment of birth. Until then, the match seemed like a typical one-goal match. There has been a lot of emotion, but few places.

However, the opening goal is not a victory. It is the beginning of defeat for England.

Coach Thomas Tuchel draw the wrong conclusions from the hit.

Throughout the tournament, the coach has proclaimed the importance of courage. However, when the truth comes, England turns into a turtle retreating into its shell.

Simplification is terribly dangerous at worst.

The most difficult part is not pruning. The most difficult thing is to understand what is essential.

Tuchel throws the baby out with the bathwater. He believes that the most important thing is the plastic wash basin.

World Cup semi-finals seemed like two different ways to protect the lead. Spain and England can be thought of as boxers with a points lead.

Spain reacted to the lead by dancing into the opponent’s reach and jabbing in his face.

England responded by throwing themselves into the ropes for five counts to take the blows.

The pressure is increasing all the time. In the 69th minute, the goalkeeper Jordan Pickford saves England with his ghost fight.

Immediately after the fight, a drink break begins. Tuchel has a full toolbox at his disposal: five substitutions, three substitution events and a three-minute commercial break.

Tuchel takes a hammer from his toolbox and hits his knee with all his might. Goal scorer Gordon leaves the field. He will be replaced by a defender Ezri Konsa.

Up until now, Gordon had brought at least some sort of offensive threat. Now it’s gone. The turtle is deep in its shell.

The opponent is perfectly involved in Argentina’s game plan. Coach Lionel Scaloni can hardly believe his luck.

Argentina continues his tinkering. Sometimes Pickford gets in the way of bets. Sometimes the ball stops in the post.

Some other team might think today is not their day. Argentina, on the other hand, smells blood. The turtle’s shell is already cracking. The pace of Moukar’s attacks only accelerates.

A team’s own mythology can be a huge asset. Argentina is a team that has not lost a playoff game in the 2020s. It has come from two goals behind to win against Egypt in this World Cup.

Argentina believe they will win. No. Faith is too weak a word. Argentina is somewhere between faith and knowledge.

England, on the other hand, drifts somewhere where hope and despair are no longer separated. Faith has turned to fear.

Then the fear turns to terror.

Enzo Fernandezin the shot starts from the edge of the penalty area, but hits exactly the right spot.

The shell breaks.

The game is tied, but Argentina’s mental and game superiority is shocking.

Naked turtle runs around in terror. It can’t run.

Argentinians know what to do. The shell is gone. The turtle is defenseless. Now let’s make soup.

England should attack, but have long since forgotten how. It has six defenders on the field but no ability to defend.

Argentina hits the post again. Lionel Messi has time for the return ball. He gets up on the edge of the penalty area and crosses.

174-centimeter Lautaro Martínez heads the ball into the goal through the middle of England’s defenders.

The soup is ready. All that was left of England after the reduction was the broth.