Underdog Stories / Sports analysis & explainers
Why Do Teams Struggle to Defend a Lead in Football?
Why do teams struggle to defend a lead in football? England’s 2026 semifinal shows how a crowded defense can strand its striker and invite more attacks.
By Brett Hanson · Underdog Podcasts · July 16, 2026
Morgan Rogers drove down England’s right in Atlanta and sent a low ball across goal. Anthony Gordon reached it first. In the 55th minute of the July 15, 2026, World Cup semifinal, England led Argentina 1-0.
Why do teams struggle to defend a lead in football? A deeper back line can stop an opponent’s first attack. If the leading team can no longer keep the ball or threaten a break, though, the opponent gets another attack. Then another. England spent much of its lead solving the same problem until it ran out of time.
Why do teams struggle to defend a lead in football?
The score changes what each team needs. At 0-0, a side may think twice before sending an extra player forward. At 1-0, the team behind has less to lose. Its defenders can move higher, and its midfielders can take up spots closer to goal.
The leading side sees those players coming and often drops back. That can be sensible. A short gap between defenders leaves less room for a pass through the middle. It also makes crosses easier to contest.
There is a cost. Win the ball near your own goal, and you still have almost the whole field to travel. A teammate needs to show for a pass. Someone else must give the ball carrier a reason to look up. Without that help, a clearance goes straight back to the other team.
UEFA’s technical observers make this point in their study of Atlético de Madrid’s deep defending. A team sitting back needs a plan for its first pass after winning the ball. A counterattack will not be there every time; sometimes the players have to keep possession long enough to move up the field.
England’s semifinal gave that problem a face: Harry Kane. Chris Horwedel, on The Underdog World Cup Show episode “Argentina Stuns England as Messi Creates Two Late Goals,” said Kane became isolated as England retreated. Argentina could keep looking toward England’s goal because England seldom made it look the other way.
How did England lose control after Gordon scored?
Gordon’s goal had offered England two paths. Thomas Tuchel’s side could defend its lead while using Rogers and Gordon to run into the space Argentina left behind. Or it could put more players close to its own goal.
England ended up with five defenders. Horwedel said that from Gordon’s goal to Argentina’s winner, a span of 37 minutes, England had the ball only 12 percent of the time. That figure comes from his account of the match. The pattern is clear enough without it: FIFA’s match report describes England sitting deeper as Argentina’s chances grew.
Argentina did not score with its first good look. Djed Spence made a goal-saving tackle on Giuliano Simeone. Jordan Pickford saved a header from Nico González, and Alexis Mac Allister headed against the post. Each escape left England with the same job: get the ball away and prepare to defend again.
There is an awkward detail for anyone keen to blame the substitutions alone. Tuchel said England became passive in its original 4-4-2, before he changed the back line. He said Argentina found too many crosses and chances after the goal, so he tried to close the gaps with a fifth defender.
That distinction matters. The changes may have made it harder for England to get out, but the slide had already begun. England’s problem was both where its players stood when Argentina attacked and what they could do once the ball was won.
Why did Tuchel bring on more defenders?
Tuchel had something real to worry about. Argentina kept putting balls into England’s area. He wanted more height to meet them and fewer gaps between the players in front of Pickford. A coach watching repeated crosses cannot simply pretend they will stop.
“The problem was that England removed nearly every available outlet at the same time.”
Horwedel said Gordon went off for Ezri Konsa, Reece James for Dan Burn, and Declan Rice for Nico O’Reilly. Those changes gave England more bodies to guard the box. They also removed players who had helped carry the ball away from it. Gordon, after all, had just arrived at the far post to finish the move that put England ahead.
A fifth defender can win a header. He cannot, by being there, give Kane a teammate to pass to near halfway. If the midfield stays deep as well, the striker faces a long chase for each clearance. Jude Bellingham then has fewer chances to receive the ball facing Argentina’s goal, another loss Horwedel noticed.
The trap is easy to miss because each clearance feels like a small success. The ball is out. Pickford has a moment. Yet Argentina can gather it far closer to England’s goal than England can gather it to Argentina’s. Soon the defenders must win another header.
Tuchel said he did not feel an attacking change would help once England was losing its grip. That is a fair account of the decision he faced. It does not settle whether keeping an outlet on the field earlier might have made that grip easier to hold.
How did Messi find room on England’s right?
Messi did not have to beat five defenders at once. Horwedel said he drifted toward Argentina’s right and asked England the same question again: could they track him, protect the middle and still get to the next ball before Argentina did?
The first goal came from a short corner in the 85th minute. Messi passed to Enzo Fernández, who hit the ball from outside the area and past Pickford. Extra defenders were packed near the goal. They could do nothing about a clean shot from beyond them.
The winner arrived in the second minute of stoppage time. Mac Allister hit the post. Messi kept the move alive on the right and crossed; substitute Lautaro Martínez finished at the far post. FIFA recorded two Messi assists and a 2-1 Argentina win.
It would be too neat to say the formation alone lost Messi. Great players find room against well-set teams too. What made this stretch hard for England was the number of chances Argentina had to try. A blocked cross or saved header did not force Argentina to spend long defending Kane at the other end.
The finish was quick. The work before it was not. Horwedel’s account follows England from a 55th-minute lead through a long spell without much of the ball, then into two goals seven minutes apart. By the second, Argentina had made the right side feel like a place it owned.
How can a team protect a one-goal lead without inviting pressure?
It needs a way out. That may be a wide runner who can take a clearance upfield, or a midfielder who can take a pass while closely marked. The leading side need not attack with everyone. It does need to make the other team defend sometimes.
The choice is about more than four defenders versus five. A back five can work if the players ahead of it stay close enough for a pass. A back four can be pinned in just as badly when every ball they win is given away. Watch what happens next. After a tackle, where does the pass go?
England had shown it could hurt Argentina. Rogers supplied the cross for Gordon’s goal from the right, and Gordon finished at the back post. Once Gordon was gone, England lost one of the players Argentina had seen arrive in a dangerous spot. Horwedel’s criticism is sharpest there: England chose to protect the lead before it could reliably relieve the pressure.
The semifinal was not the tournament’s last result. Argentina lost the July 19 final to Spain, 1-0 after extra time. England beat France 6-4 in the July 18 third-place match. Those later games cannot tell us what one different substitution would have done in Atlanta.
The semifinal can tell us what happened to Kane. For much of England’s lead, he was upfield waiting for a ball that rarely stayed there.
The full episode of The Underdog World Cup Show is on Underdog Podcasts, with the rest of the network's shows.
People also ask
Why does defending deeper sometimes make a team concede?+
Defending deep gives the opponent less room near goal, but it can make possession hard to keep. If every clearance comes straight back, the defense faces more crosses and shots. England’s 2026 semifinal showed the strain: Argentina kept attacking after Gordon scored and finally found two late goals.
Did England’s substitutions cause the loss to Argentina?+
The substitutions may have reduced England’s ways out, especially after Gordon left. They do not explain the whole match. Tuchel said England had become passive and allowed chances before he moved to a back five. The harder question is whether the changes helped England solve that problem.
Why was Harry Kane isolated against Argentina?+
England spent long spells near its own penalty area after taking the lead. That left Kane far from teammates when his side regained the ball. With few passes or supporting runs available, a clearance toward him offered little relief, and Argentina could start another attack.
Is a back five a good way to defend a lead?+
It can help against crosses and protect space in front of goal. It works better when the team also has a plan for the ball after winning it. Without nearby passing options or a runner farther upfield, five defenders may end up facing the same attack again.