Rio Ngumoha might travel to Qatar in November for the U17 World Cup (Credits: Imago Images)
England’s stunning World Cup exit at the hands of Argentina has triggered a full-blown feeding frenzy south of the border, and Scotland is watching with considerable relish.
Thomas Tuchel would probably call the collective Scottish reaction schadenfreude, a word he knows well from his homeland.
The sheer savagery of the backlash to England’s World Cup exit against Argentina has been, through Scottish eyes at least, truly something to behold.
Having feared the worst for so long, Scotland ultimately dodged its own armageddon, or more accurately, kicked it down the road for the time being.
The biggest irony is that Tuchel adopted the same caution-at-all-costs approach that brought Steve Clarke’s World Cup campaign to such a disappointing and costly anti-climax.
Much like Clarke, Tuchel promised a more emboldened version of his team after a succession of close but no cigar moments under Gareth Southgate.
When a place in the final was there to be seized, Tuchel’s decision making became inhibited by stage fright, which is precisely what happened to Clarke at a critical point in Scotland’s Group C campaign.
Clarke and Scotland were dealt a brutal hand, placed in the same group as two top-ten nations in Brazil and Morocco.
Clarke’s on-the-spot resignation minutes after Scotland’s fate was sealed seemed like the actions of a man whose head was clouded with regret.
Tuchel was also visibly bristling with indignance and defiance in the immediate aftermath of England’s exit in Atlanta, adding another layer of anger to the ongoing post-mortem.
He accepted little or no accountability for the defensive second-half substitutions that sent his side into retreat shortly after Anthony Gordon had opened the scoring.
It remains to be seen whether his instant positive self-assessment will become more nuanced over the coming days, once he has had more time to reflect on events.
It would come as no surprise if Tuchel doubles down and concludes he took his squad as far as their talents would stretch by leading them into the last four.
The biggest problem he faces right now is that the rest of his adopted country has no wish to hear it, never mind empathise with it.
England seems unable to accept that Tuchel’s team came up against a superior opponent in the defending world champions and, in Messi, the greatest player to ever kick a ball.
Messi may be 39 years old and losing a battle that not even he can ultimately win, but this little magician remains capable of bending time and holding it back.
When he was needed by his nation, he stepped forward yet again, twisting away from Djed Spence, ragdolling Kane, and skinning Spence a second time before being clumsily brought down by Elliot Andreson.
It was from Messi’s set-up work that Enzo Fernandez whipped home Argentina’s equaliser from the edge of England’s box with only five minutes to spare.
It was from his perfectly measured cross that Lautaro Martinez headed the South Americans into Sunday’s final in New Jersey, where they meet Spain.
Messi has a date with destiny to attend to, and given that fate appears to be ushering him forward, maybe Tuchel, Bellingham, and Kane never really stood a chance.
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