England's World Cup dream ends as Argentina reaches final

England’s World Cup dream ended with a 2-1 semifinal loss to Argentina on Wednesday, as two late goals flipped the game and shut down another bid to end the country’s 60-year wait for a second title. The defeat sent Argentina into Sunday’s final against Spain, while the morning’s political chatter shifted to Andy Burnham’s prospective cabinet and the search for his next chancellor.

Argentina completed the comeback with a goal in the 85th minute and another in second-half stoppage time, turning a 1-0 deficit into a decisive victory. For England, the result carried the weight of history as much as the sting of the night itself. The national team’s only previous World Cup title came in 1966, and this latest run ended one step short of the final again.

The football loss sat alongside an equally sharp move in Labour’s internal jockeying. Burnham is poised to appoint Shabana Mahmood as chancellor when he takes office next week, a shift that would put the current home secretary in line for HM Treasury after earlier talk had placed Ed Miliband at the front of the queue. Burnham’s allies had also considered John Healey and Yvette Cooper for senior roles.

Mahmood had wanted to stay at the Home Office to keep pushing her immigration reforms, but Burnham now sees her as a strong choice for the Treasury and as a figure who could help hold together support across Labour’s wider machine. The change would mark a clear break from the early expectation that Miliband would take the finance brief, and it would place one of the party’s most prominent ministers at the center of Burnham’s first team.

For England, the defeat extends a long and familiar wait. For Labour, the next week brings its own test of timing and authority, as Burnham moves toward office with his top economic post still the subject of careful calculation.