England were on the verge of reaching the World Cup final for the first time since 1966.
England were leading 1-0 against reigning world champions Argentina when the clock inside the Atlanta stadium struck 84 minutes - and then everything went horribly wrong.
Enzo Fernandez equalized in the 85th minute, before Lautaro Martinez headed in the winning goal in the 92nd minute. Both goals were scored with assists from Lionel Messi.
Just like that, England's World Cup dreams were dashed.
The English struggled to create the lead, which Anthony Gordon gave them in the 55th minute. Then they retreated and paid the price.
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England manager Thomas Tuchel's decision to play defensively backfired spectacularly.
Instead, it is Argentina that qualifies for Sunday's final match against Spain.
But should England have attacked even after the 1-0 lead?
They didn't do that and had only 12% possession from the time they took the lead until conceding the second goal.
Tuchel only brought on strikers Marcus Rashford and Ivan Toney until extra time, while defenders Ezri Konsa, Dan Burn and Nico O'Reilly came on after England took the lead.
"We are devastated," former England captain Wayne Rooney told BBC Sport.
"It started with the coach and the decisions he made. He was very passive. Against this team, world champions, you won't succeed. This was the biggest test and we failed it."
Why did England sit idly by when they had control of Argentina? And were Tuchel's second-half tactics to blame for England's failure to reach the final?
England have shown character in this World Cup, coming back from behind to defeat Congo and Norway in the quarter-finals.
"The difference is against Norway or Mexico. They don't have the quality that this Argentina team has in terms of ball skills and the ability to punish," former England captain Alan Shearer told BBC Sport. "Tuchel played his cards too early and it backfired."
England seemed to have taken complete control of the semi-final against their old rivals when Gordon scored the winning goal.
England fans celebrated a lot, but then their team chose to sit back and defend.
"This was a disaster from coach Thomas Tuchel," Chris Sutton, who won the Premier League with Blackburn in the 1994/95 season, told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"You can't expect to defend for 30 minutes against the quality that Argentina had. It all depends on the coach. He made the changes. He was negative, so the question I'm going to ask is how can you trust Thomas Tuchel to take this team forward?"
England has been eliminated by Argentina in the past.
Who can forget Diego Maradona's goal called "Hand of God" in the 1986 World Cup or the defeat in the 1998 World Cup that hurts so much?
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However, England have no one but themselves to blame for Wednesday's defeat.
"Norway and Mexico panicked against England," former England goalkeeper Joe Hart told BBC Sport. "I didn't see any panic from that Argentina team."
What were the changes that frustrated England fans so much?
With England leading 1-0, many expected Tuchel to direct his players to score another goal. But instead, the German made three changes in defence.
He replaced Konsa in the 72nd minute in place of Gordon - switching to a five-man defence, before making further defensive reinforcements 10 minutes later with the introduction of Burn and O'Reilly.
Tuchel brought on Rashford and Toney, but that turned out to be too little, too late.
Former England defender Micah Richards told BBC Sport that "when England scored the first goal, they should have looked for the second."
Even Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez admitted there was a change after the first goal, as England calmed down and sought to defend.
"Sometimes when you're winning, you have to move forward," Martinez said. "You can't change the game plan. I think they did and they brought in extra defenders."
Tuchel has improved England compared to their performance at the 2022 World Cup.
But this England team is filled with many exceptional individual players like Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham.
England captain Kane, who will turn 36 at the 2030 World Cup, said England could have done more.
"I'm just devastated because we've worked so hard to be here and the boys have given every last bit of run, blood, sweat, tears. We put them under a lot of pressure up the pitch, which allowed us to win the ball and control the game a little bit better."
Rooney added that "if you're an attacking player and you see the changes the manager is making, you lose confidence". "You start thinking 'oh no, are we going to sit back for that long? How are we going to get through this?'".
Asked if he made decisions that turned out to be wrong against Argentina, Tuchel said the changes were a reaction to England becoming "too passive".
"We decided to use a five-man defence to close the gaps," Tuchel said. "The responsibility is with the coach. When things don't go well, it's easy to say it was a mistake. We were very close. This is not the time to analyse the whole tournament."
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Despite reaching the semi-finals, Tuchel's tactics and choices will be criticized after failing to reach the final, despite being in the lead.
"On the biggest stage, he made a mistake and he has to admit it," Richards said.
