Right, it’s time to wrap this thing up and head to bed. I’ll leave you with David Hytner’s report and Jacob Steinberg’s analysis from Atlanta, where England ran out of steam in excruciating fashion and were deservedly beaten by Messi’s mentality monsters.
Congratulations to Argentina, who will play Spain in Sunday’s final after achieving something truly remarkable: a World Cup victory over England that brooked no argument. Goodnight!
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I’m still reeling from this stat. In the 37 minutes between Anthony Gordon’s goal and Lautaro Martinez’s winner, England had 12% possession.
“I want to applaud the English players, not criticise them,” says Kári Tulinius. “They were the better side, until about the last drinks break. I don’t really feel sorry for them either, with maybe the exception of Jude Bellingham. No Englishman has had as glorious a World Cup this century, not since Paul Gascoigne in 1990, but I fear that the memory of his heroics will be swept under by the narrative. They lost a tight semifinal against a good team, it was neither a disaster nor a capitulation, and their journey to this match shouldn’t be forgotten.”
I agree with the broad sentiment, but Bellingham picked a bad night to play like a 23-year-old. Timing is everything: had Argentina gone 2-1 up with 10 minutes to go, maybe Bellingham would have willed an equaliser. Instead, he and Harry Kane were basically spectators for the last 20 or 30 minutes.
It’s tough; there are dozens of variables in any football match and on this occasion, for whatever reason, Bellingham and Kane left almost no trace. I think this’ll hurt more than the Euro 2024 final defeat to Spain.
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“Listen, it’s not new or interesting and I hate myself for saying it but my God, Messi was good,” writes Niall Mullen. “He could receive the ball with no space, at other times he found where the space was, and, along with all his other qualities, showed that he is an unbelievable crosser of the ball as well.
With his right foot as well. Joe Hart made an excellent point on the BBC coverage about how cold he was, even when Argentina were six minutes (plus added time) from going out. In a wildly emotional game, he was somehow able to detach himself.
I’d like to watch the last half hour again but at times it felt like Messi was running the game from the right wing. That shouldn’t be possible.
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Dan Burn talks to BBC Sport
Absolutely gutted. I thought we had the gameplan pretty well for the majority of it. But obviously, when we scored, we went a bit passive and dropped off and were ultimately punished for it. Disappointing from us. We have defended games better and seen them out. When you get that close to the World Cup final, that hurts.
England have become the nearly men of world football. In the last five major tournaments they’ve lost two finals, two semi-finals and a quarter-final. That’s preferable to being utter bobbins, as England were for much of the preceding decade, but it’s a still label that no team wants.
Lautaro Martinez's reaction
This is really emotional. The first time my dad bought me a pair of boots, I always dreamed of scoring this goal. It was really tough today. Enzo scored a brilliant goal and I’m confident this team is continuing to show what it’s made of.
England got tired. They pressed for 60 minutes and then just ran out of steam. They got their goal and then sat back. That gave us more composure to move the ball around and stretch the pitch.
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Lionel Scaloni's reaction
We are truly unique, and that’s not arrogance. From the bottom of my heart, these players led us to victory. I’m lost for words. A joy for our country, for our people.
“The first goal came from a short corner that Argentina had already tried a few times,” says Matt Dony. “The moment the ball left Messi’s boot from the quadrant, someone should have been haring out to him. They’d didn’t learn. The second goal involved Messi doing his standing-still-in-an-acre-of-space thing.
“I mean, I know he’s quite good at it, but surely defenders keep an eye out for him. Yes, the substitutions seemed worryingly passive, but both of those goals involved lapses from players. They should have been better.”
Send them home.
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We’ve had a couple of emails suggesting Lionel Messi fouled Djed Spence just before the winning goal. He seemed to accidentally catch Spence on the shin before running to retrieve the ball, and it impacted the play because Spence was unable to get out to challenge Messi. But there were no complaints from the England players. I guess it was, in the parlance of our times, a coming together.
“England went out having brought a star player who wasn’t fully fit, a young player who never played and was never going to, and having been unable display any control over a game in the latter stages of the tournament,” writes Niall Mullen. “In this crazy messed up world it’s good to know some things don’t change.”
Talking of taking young players who were never going to play, Theo Walcott is younger than Lionel Messi. Did Thomas Tuchel miss a trick?
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“At 34, this is the first tournament exit that has left me with the feeling of time running out,” writes Edan Tal. “Any advice on how to cope for the next few deep defensive concessions?”
Watch the England cricket team instead. They run towards the danger, and everyone loves them for their intrepid appr-oh.
The Argentina players celebrated their World Cup win over England with a banner saying “Las Malvinas son Argentinas”, making reference to the 1982 Falklands war.
Argentina were 1-0 down with five minutes to go of the semi-final in Atlanta but rallied and scored twice in quick succession to reach a second straight World Cup final, where they will face Spain in New Jersey on Sunday.
The banner refers to the 74-day conflict 44 years ago when Argentina and the UK fought over the territory, which is referred to as the Falkland Islands in Britain and Islas Malvinas in Argentina. More than 900 people – 649 Argentinians and 255 Britons – lost their lives in the conflict.
Lisandro Martinez and Giovani Lo Celso held up the banner, grinning, and waved to fans in the stands. It was unclear where the banner had come from.
We’re hearing unconfirmed reports that Thomas Tuchel is a German.
Yep, it’s open season on Tuchel, even though the reality of England’s fatal retreat is more nuanced. The uncomfortable truth is that a) they all bottled it to some extent and b) Argentina might have won anyway because they responded to going behind with an intensity and quality that were irresistible.
Ugh, the next few days could be pretty ugly.
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Ed Aarons’ player ratings are here
Now this is a statgasm, albeit a painful one for England fans
In the 37 minutes between Anthony Gordon’s goal and Lautaro Martinez’s winner, England had 12% possession.
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Thomas Tuchel's reaction
We’re disappointed. We were so close but we got too passive after we scored. We conceded so, so many crosses and chances and shots. We were close, but we couldn’t keep the level up after we scored.
[On criticism of his substitutions] We decided to go a back five because the gaps inside were far too open, they won every header, they keep crossing and crossing so we wanted to be strong in the air. Straight after the [Anthony Gordon] goal, with no substitutions, we conceded way too many crosses. We tried to help the players, but of course the responsibility is on the coach. If it doesn’t go well, it’s easy to say [the coach] was wrong.
Of course we wanted to go for the second goal, but we couldn’t keep the ball. I don’t think it was a structural problem. The match changed completely [before the substitutions]. It’s no problem, I understand these discussions are out there, that there are a million coaches who know better. I had to make a decision. That’s how I analysed the match and I take the responsbility.
No regrets, not at the moment. We were very close, we deserved to be 1-0 up – we played one of our better matches [up to that point], maybe the best match in the circumstances.
[Did we see the team you wanted at this World Cup?] I don’t know. I have no answer to that question because I don’t really know what it means. I think we saw the mentality in every match; we won a strong group; we had a lot of airmiles; we played at altitude; we played with 10 men; we played in the heat. We overcame every obstacle and we were very close today.
It’s not the moment now to analyse the full tournament – we just went out because we lost a crucial match.
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“Incredible example of how to play against the low block from Argentina,” writes Martin Widdicks. “So many great crosses, mixing up the approaches and getting real chances. Also noticeably almost no gamesmanship in the second half. I have to concede that they are the true mentality monsters.
“I suspect Spain will win on Sunday but I thought France would last time. It takes a brave person to bet against Argentina.”
Yeah that’s one of the fascinating details of the last 30 minutes – England couldn’t cope with a barrage of crosses.
Thanks Will, hello again. The more you see Lionel Messi’s cross for the winner, the better it gets. And if you need a little statgasm before bed, I think Messi now has the most goals and the most assists in men’s World Cups.
Not 100% sure on the assists though; I need to do a Raymond Kopa deep dive first.
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Right, I will hand back to Rob, who is at least slightly rested and refreshed. He’ll take you through to the finish.
Argentina players hold up Las Malvinas banner
Just in case the end of the match needed a little more needle, some of the Argentina players have displayed a banner which reads: “Las Malvinas son Argentinas” (“The Malvinas are Argentinian”). For anyone who has missed the last, well, 45 or so years of history at least, British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (or Las Malvinas, as they are known in Argentina) is disputed by the South American country.
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Kane talks up England’s sacrifices on the journey to the semis. “We’ve worked so hard to be here and the lads have given every last bit of running, sweat, blood, tears, whatever it is. So to fall short like we did today is just gutting.”
He concedes that, after the goal, England struggled to maintain the same intensity in their pressing and apply the same pressure on Argentina. “After the goal, whether it was them putting more men forward or us being able to match them man for man, it just was wave after wave and we were just trying to hold on, put the blocks in, but in the end it wasn’t enough.”
Harry Kane is first to speak to the BBC and, unsurprisingly, he is utterly crestfallen. “Just gutted, gutted for the boys, gutted for everyone: the team, the staff, the fans,” he says. “We played well for the vast majority of it. Once we went 1-0 up we just seemed to try to hold on which, at this level, is not enough, so I’m just gutted, gutted.”
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An email has landed from Krishna Moorthy: “All that I learned about football can be summed up in four words: never write off Argentina.”
Shearer adds: “He played his cards very, very early, Thomas, in the hope that England could hang on, and it’s backfired. But those decisions are the ones that make such a difference.
“We were praising him for what he did, going to five at the back, in the previous two games when England were under huge pressure. Now I guess we’ve gone the other way and are thinking: ‘Could he have just changed something different and put a bit more pace on?’ Because everything was coming back at England. They didn’t have an outlet, because whenever they won the ball they had no energy. They were physically and mentally done once Argentina got that first goal.”
As Rob takes a well-deserved break, let’s take in some of the reaction. There’s a lot of talk about Thomas Tuchel’s substitutions, with the decision to swap out Declan Rice and Reece James with just under 10 minutes of normal time remaining likely to be a point of intense debate in the coming days. Alan Shearer, speaking from the BBC commentary box, made his feelings known during the match and has done so again. “He played his hand, we knew that he was wanting to hang on,” says Shearer.
“Difference is, hanging on against Norway, or hanging on against Mexico as we were, [they] perhaps haven’t got the quality that this team have got, Argentina, in terms of their ability on the ball and their ability to punish you.”
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I’m going to hand over to Will Magee for a bit. Ta!
Spain v Argentina (Sunday 19 July) So, the 2026 World Cup final will be contested between the champions of Europe and the champions of South America, who also happen to be champions ofthe world. Oh, and there’s this little subplot too.
England sat too deep after going ahead, then compounded the problem by taking off Anthony Gordon. It meant they had no pace at all in attack; no threat on the break or simple outball. With the way the game developed, Harry Kane and to a lesser extent Jude Bellingham became an irrelevance. It feels weird to type that but it’s true.
Argentina may well have won regardless, because they responded to going behind with a focus, intensity and quality that were pretty awesome to watch. But if Thomas Tuchel had his time again, he’d surely do things differently.
It’s also possible that Tuchel didn’t want England to sit that deep, then switched to a back five when he realised they were on their last legs. Who knows.
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There’s a bit of aggro after the final whistle. Morgan Rogers is involved, Ivan Toney as well. It’s hard to see what’s happening because the TV coverage keeps cutting away.
England were tantalisingly close to their first men’s World Cup final in 60 years, 1-0 up after 84 minutes. But they were living so dangerously that their lead didn’t feel remotely secure. Enzo Fernandez wobbled a superb equaliser and Lautaro Martinez’s injury-time winner was almost inevitable.
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Full time: England 1-2 Argentina
Argentina’s mentality monsters have done it again!
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90+9 min Bellingham fouls Messi andf then gets involved with Otamendi. He’s been too emotional all night. There’s no hard-luck story for Bellingham or England, who have been given a lesson in focussed aggression.
90+8 min Kane drills a crossfield pass towards Rogers; there’s too much on it and it goes straight out of play.
90+7 min Burn wins a couple of headers, both from long punts by Hans Segers, but Argentina get the ball away each time.
90+7 min Dan Burn is now playing as a centre-forward alongside Ivan Toney. Desperate times and all that.
90+6 min: England substitutions Marcus Rashford and Ivan Toney come on for John Stones and Djed Spence. England have three minutes to save themselves.
90+4 min England haven’t kicked off yet. De Paul has been booked after a row with Bellingham.
As good as Argentina have been, England have made a right Horlicks of this.
Moments after Alexis Mac Allister drilled a low shot against the right-hand post, Messi beat O’Reilly and curled a devastating right-foot cross towards the far post. Lautaro Martinez got between Stones and James to head in emphatically from five yards.
Argentina’s response to going a goal down, to the prospect of surrendering the World Cup, has been awesome.
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GOAL! England 1-2 Argentina (Lautaro Martinez 90+2)
Another stunning comeback from Argentina is complete!
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90 min Argentina have been irresistible since going behind. There will be nine minutes of added time.
89 min Stones needs treatment. Well, he’s receiving treatment, which means England will have 60 seconds to clear their heads.
88 min England just need to get to full time and then implement Plan C, aka anyone with pace in attack. But I’m not sure they’ll get that far – they have been under constant pressure since Anthony Gordon put them in front.
Enzo Fernandez lashes a deserved equaliser for Argentina. Messi took a short corner on the right, got it back and then found Fernandez in space 25 yards from goal. He took a quick touch and wobbled an outstanding shot into the far corner. The technique was similar to the old Juninho Pernambucano free-kick, almost striking down on the ball with the side of the foot so that it whooshes like a beach ball. It’s a brilliant goal!
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GOAL! England 1-1 Argentina (Fernandez 85)
England asked for it, and now they’ve got it.
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82 min: England substitutions Nico O’Reilly and Dan Burn come on for Reece James, who looks injured, and Declan Rice, who has been carrying an injury for about five months.
O’Reilly has gone into midfield, so it’s a back five rather than a back six.
81 min: Argentina substitution Lautaro Martinez, goal machine, replaces Nicolas Tagliafico.
80 min The entuire game is taking place in the England half. Attack and defence, invasion and repulsion. Another wicked cross, this time from Tagliafico on the left, causes chaos until England win a free-kick. I think Guehi got a vital headed touch as he stooped towards his own goal.
78 min “Pedro Porro scoring last night, Djed Spence playing out of his skin tonight,” writes Matt Dony. “Spurs’ calamitous season feels a long time ago!”
In fairness to Lads, It’s Tottenham FC, Cristian Romero did pick up a yellow card.
77 min: Chance for Argentina? Gonzalez heads this far wide from Messi’s insouciant chip over the top. The flag went up for offside once the ball was dead, but it was extremely tight so it may well have counted had he scored.
76 min Another De Paul cross is headed straight at Pickford by Mac Allister. That was a much tougher chance.
England are taking a big risk by parking the bus so early. It feels a lot like the game against Portugal at Euro 2004. But it also feels like Mexico 2026. That’s the gamble.
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76 min: Mac Allister hits the post!
England are asking for trouble here. De Paul, just on as a sub, curls a fabulous cross that is headed against the far post by the stooping Mac Allister. He did so well to find space in a crowded area; having done so, he probably should have scored.
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74 min England are now playing 5-3-2, I think, with Rogers more central alongside Rice and Anderson. And still Dan Burn is oiling his thighs.
73 min: Triple substitution for Argentina Nicolas Otamendi, Gonzalo Montiel and Rodrigo De Paul replace Lisandro Martinez, Giuliano Simeone and Nahuel Molina.
72 min: England substitution Yikes, it’s Ezri Konsa for Anthony Gordon.
70 min Time for the ad break.
69 min: Outstanding save by Pickford!
A corner comes back to Messi on the right. He flashes a brilliant cross towards the six-yard line, where Gonzalez gets in front of Guehi and powers a downward header towards goal. Pickford reacts brilliantly to plunge to his right and shovel it out of danger.
He didn’t have to dive too far, but the really impressive bit was how quickly he got down to it. He also did very well to shovel it away from the posse of players waiting for a rebound. Wonderful save.
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67 min Messi again finds Gonzalez, this time with a seductive pass along the ground. He tries to return it to Messi and Rice lumps behind for a corner.
Messi is starting to Messi.
66 min Rice doesn’t quite get hold of a low shot from 20 yards and Martinez is able to save comfortably to his right.
65 min Messi clips a typical angled cross beyond the far post. Gonzalez nods back towards the six-yard box and Stones does superbly to change direction, beat Mac Allister (I think) to the ball and head clear.
64 min: Argentina substitution Nico Gonzalez replaces Leandro Paredes.
63 min “I wonder if England scored a littel too early?” writes Thad Brown. “Looks like they are trying ot turtle up, defenddefenddefend. I don’t think that flies against the Argentina attack, not for 30 minutes at least.”
The UK commentators think they are just playing this way until the next ad break.
62 min England have barely had a kick since the goal. I’m not sure whether they’ve deliberately gone into Azteca Mode or whether they’re just being pinned back by Argentina.
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61 min A long spell of Argentina possession ends with Fernandez shooting over from distance. There are no pictures of the England dugout, but I like to imagine Dan Burn is ostentatiously stretching and oiling his thighs in Thomas Tuchel’s eyeline.
60 min Argentina have upped their intensity since the goal, at least in possession. As the godfather of MBMs, Scott Murray, would say: it’s on!!!
59 min Anthony Gordon now has a goal and three assists at his first World Cup. Decent.
57 min: What a tackle by Spence!
Simeone charges into the area and is about to shoot, probably score, when Spence lunges to make a sensational challenge. He bounces straight to his feet and celebrates wildly, and why not.
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Rice collected a clearance 25 yards from goal and flicked a simple pass out to Rogers on the right. He curled a wicked ball to the far post, where Gordon got the wrong side of Molina, watched the bounce carefully and steered a deft finish past Martinez.
That’s a fine goal. It’s also a triumph for Thomas Tuchel, who surprised us all by starting Morgan Rogers ahead of Saka and Madueke. This is why you need right-footers on the right!
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GOAL! England 1-0 Argentina (Gordon 55)
Anthony Gordon puts England in front!
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54 min Paredes overhits a pass/cross to Tagliafico, who made a good run and was on the wrong side of James.
It’s been much better in the second half. Both teams are actively trying to score a goal.
52 min Seconds later, Romero restores his reputation by pulling back Bellingham and receiving a yellow card.
51 min Romero looks in all sorts of bother when he receives a square pass 10 yards from his own goal, with Gordon and Bellingham charging towards him. In a trice he touches the ball one way to lose Gordon and then pass it in the opposite direction to beat Bellingham. That was brilliant, the kind of thing Zinedine Zidane used to do.
50 min Spence zips down the left and slides a good cross that is hoofed away by Martinez. While it’s hardly a festival of tiki-taka, it’s certainly been a brighter start to the second half.
48 min “I love when the comments are flying about Messi not having done enough, or having a poor pass completion, or not making any chances,” writes Colin Livingstone. “This is when you should be afraid.”
Agreed, although it’s also quite scary when he’s on a hat-trick after five minutes of the first half.
47 min: Pickford denies Alvarez
A long kick from Emi Martinez is headed down to Alvarez just outside the area. Spence dives in, Alvarez gets half a yard and thrashes a shot from a tight angle that is beaten away by Pickford. It might have been going wide of the near post but he couldn’t take any chances.
Moments later Alvarez has another try and hits the side netting. A corner is given so it must haved taken a deflection off the lunging England defender, Guehi I think.
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46 min There’s a false start to the second half due to a couple of England players crossing the halfway line prematurely.
This match has had everything!
“Perhaps Fifa could institute the 30-minute half-time break now, to give everyone the chance to visit the quiet room and have a lie down?” writes Charles Antaki. “The more fractious ones could be read a calming story, and the ones requiring medication given an extra dose. That won’t guarantee a good match when they come back out, but it might reduce the testosterone to manageable levels.”
They should pipe this round both dressing-rooms.
“The Fox/US commentators are desperately trying to put lipstick on this pig,” writes Chris Amirault. “‘This game has everything!’ Except shots, goals, organization, and skill. Blech.”
Anthony Barry, Thomas Tuchel’s No2, is chatting to the BBC
We wanted to be the aggressor, we wanted to be on the front foot and get after them – to show there was no inferiority complex and that we’re here to play in their half.
I think it worked until the water break. After that it was a bit more difficult for us to get the ball – they dropped Messi and Enzo outside our block and got some possession. But it’s still absolutely okay, and the evolution for us is to take this dominance and turn it into bigger chances.
The more time we spend in their half, the more tired they’ll get. I think we can open them up later on.
“The winner of this semi-final thus far would be the United States,” writes Beau Dure. “The officials are doing a tremendous job with a bunch of ill-tempered players. Both teams seem to be realising they can’t get away with their shenanigans, and the game is improving. Still not great, and it’s tempting to say they should just cancel the final, award the trophy to Spain, and let Shakira play for two hours.”
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The xG is England 0.05-0.03 Argentina. And that flatters both teams.
It was only last month that Kylian Mbappé suggested all roads may lead to Florida. He was in sufficiently mischievous mood to reveal David Beckham had been chewing his ear off about a move to Major League Soccer, dangling the prospect of a reunion with Lionel Messi at Inter Miami.
“We will see, I don’t know,” he said. “The American culture is different. There are no limits to ambitions, I like it.”
Yet Mbappé will walk out in Miami on Saturday nursing clipped wings and thwarted aspirations. The third-place playoff retains some prestige given the names involved. But it pales in comparison with the broken dream of another final; the regrets from France’s last-four exit to Spain, their third in three years against the European champions, will linger into the American summer.
Apparently this is the first World Cup game since records began (in 1966) in which there were no attempts at goal – on or off target – in the first half an hour.
Given the nature of association football before 1966, that probably means it’s the first time it’s ever happened.
Half time: England 0-0 Argentina
Or, if you prefer, England 7-12 Argentina. That’s the foul count.
There were no shots on target at either end, though Enzo Fernandez did whip a lovely long-range effort just over the bar. For the rest of the half, loveliness was conspicuous by its absence.
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45+2 min England build patiently on the right wing. Argentina force them back, first to the halfway line and then all the way to Pickford.
45 min There will be three minutes of additional muck.
44 min “This,” begins Niall Mullen, “is the longest crap 90’s football video I’ve ever seen.”
43 min Bellingham surges away from Romero, who recovers to make an excellent challenge. When Cristian Romero is showing everyone how to tackle properly, you know the game isn’t exactly one for the purists.
41 min “A hydration break in an air-conditioned stadium?” sniffs Krishnamoorthy V. “2027 Nobel for medicine to Gianni.”
That lad is a disgrace to the bald community.
40 min Argentina have their longest spell of possession in the game. When they lose the ball and England break, Rogers is basically kidnapped by Lisandro Martinez. He joins Elliot Anderson on a yellow card.
38 min: Lovely effort by Fernandez!
Messi has a long-range shot blocked. The ball ricochets to Fernandez, who takes a touch and arcs a gorgeous effort from 25 yards that just clears the crossbar. Pickford flew across goal, straining sinews he didn’t even know he had, but he wouldn’t have saved it.
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37 min James’ free-kick is punched away a little loosely by Emi Martinez. Argentina break and Messi protects the ball brilliantly before being fouled 45 yards from goal by Anderson. Another shoving match ensues, after which Anderson is booked.
36 min “Currently just gone 5am and 3 degrees here in Adelaide and I’m up and had a (very sad little) instant coffee watching the match as quietly as I can to not wake the rest of my Australian family,” writes Kathryn Mayor. “Hoping for a good result and a nap later.”
35 min Spence knocks the ball into Gordon just outside the area. He tries to slide it past the last man Lisandro Martinez, who reads it well and gets back to clear.
Spence, who has been excellent, helps to keep Argentina penned in. Eventually Molina fouls Bellingham just outside the area on the left.
Breaking news: an attempt at goal!
33 min Rice clips the free-kick to the far post, where Stones gets above Lisanrdo Martinez but can only head wide. A tough chance under pressure.
That was the first attempt at goal at either end
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32 min Bellingham comes alive with a winding run infield from the left. Fernandez is having none of that nonsense and legs him up 25 yards from goal. He certainly should have been booked by now.
29 min “I’m not sure I agree Bellingham has been too emotional,” writes Joshua Keeling. “He’s been remarkably restrained given how horrible Argentina have been. We know he’s got a temper, so let’s hope he keeps that up.”
Polite disagreement is good disagreement.
28 min Pickford gives the ball away from the restart. England get away with it when Alvarez’s admittedly awkward pass is miscontrolled by the stretching Messi.
28 min Let’s try that one again.
Hydration break: England 0-0 Argentina
If you’re just joining us, it’s been utter crap. But these pictures are great.
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25 min When the corner is taken, Simeone is penalised for putting hands on Pickford.
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23 min Bellingham, who has been far too emotional in the first quarter of the game, is penalised for a late challenge on Mac Allister. It’s taken short and given to Simeone, who runs at Spence to win Argentina’s first corner.
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22 min Argentina have had a couple of promising moves in the last few minutes. Messi has been relatively quiet, an observation I’ll regret when he roofs one from 30 yards just before the hydration break.
20 min A nice little move from England, involving the football. Eventually Rogers plays in the overlapping James, whose low cross on the run is too close to Martinez.
Rogers and Gordon have been England’s brightest attackers. And Spence, but that’s a given these days.
18 min Spence makes a fine run down the left, forcing Enzo Fernandez to come across to usher the ball out for a goalkick. Good defending.
16 min There were six combined fouls in the opening 10 minutes of England-Argentina, tied for the most in any game this World Cup (France-Sweden), according to ESPN Insights.
15 min Great minds think alike, and so do Zach Neeley and I.
I’d think trading fouls over and over benefits the less talented team, which imho is definitely Argentina. England should try to not get caught up and focus on taking their shots at Emi Martinez, who has let a lot of them through this tournament.
14 min Simeone is flagged offside. Pickford runs out of his area to knock the ball out of Simeone’s hand; he simultaneously makes contact, no more than a shoulder charge, and Simeone goes over.
England’s players need to take some of those benzos that David Beckham hasn’t been flogging. This kind of game surely suits Argentina more than England.
14 min A spontaneous solid chorus of boos at Walthamstow Trades Hall as soon as Gianni Infantino was shown on the screen.
13 min “Watching the coverage, I’m almost, almost, finding myself buying into the jingoism,” writes Matt Dony. “I mean, I don’t think I can actually shout in support of England, but maybe I can quietly hope they win? That’s ok, isn’t it? Argh, now Benedict Cumberbatch is doing his thing on the BBC! He’s brilliant! I’m going to have to remind myself just how Welsh I am at some point, before I lose the run of myself…”
12 min Rogers throws Paredes (I think) to the ground after being on the receiving end of what looked a naughty challenge. At the same time there was an off-the-ball grapple between Anderson and Fernandez. This is a bit pathetic, on both sides.
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11 min “I still can’t believe,” writes Sean Orlowicz, “Paraguay have made it to the semifinals.”
I can’t believe it’s Paraguay v Paraguay in the semi-final of a World Cup.
10 min James fouls Tagliafico, then Simeone fouls Anderson, then Anderson fouls Fernandez. This is comical, a Hackney Marshes job.
8 min Rice’s corner is headed away comfortably by Romero. Then an England player commits a foul, already the fourth or fifth of the game. Not sure who the offender was but that wasn’t my point.
7 min Rogers runs at Tagliafico to win the first corner of the game. England have started pretty well.
5 min There’s already a sense of menace about this game. If it finishes 11 v 11, I’ll eat an entire copy of Shree Haricharitramrut Sagar.
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4 min Fernandez caught Anderson on the back of the head with a straight arm, a point Bellingham is making to the referee. No yellow card either way. My instinct is Fernandez is a bit lucky to get away with that.
I forgot to say that this is an air-conditioned stadium, so conditions are in complete contrast to England’s quarter-final in Miami.
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3 min Plenty of challenges already flying in, and now there’s a shoving match near the centre circle. It was sparked by a late challenge on Anderson by Enzo Fernandez. Looks like a storm in a teacup.
2 min “Hi Rob,” writes Giovanni Cafagna, “my Mancunian wife and I are sitting in a bar on a Greek island. We had a lovely day at the beach, plenty of delicious food, now waiting for the match to begin. I reckon England will go through somehow. My wife reckons Kane and Bellingham sent off and penalty awarded thanks to the latest trend of throwing yourself in front of an opponent trying to clear a high ball in the penalty area, getting barely touched, rolling about as if hit by a Patriot missile. Sounds plausible doesn’t it.”
The good news is that, come the 2030 World Cup, the players will all have IMU sensors from head to toe so we’ll know whether they were touched.
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1 min Argentina, wearing their change strip as in 1986* and 1998, kick off from right to left as we watch.
* I bet they didn’t buy this one from a local shop, though.
It’s hard to be certain when you’re watching on TV, but it sounded like their were loud boos during both anthems. Either that or, somewhere in the world, Joe Root has scored another century.
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Peter Oh writes from across the pond
I’m a bit miffed at both of these sides for unleashing a torrent of TV ads here in the US, with David Beckham and Lionel Messi are mercilessly hawking beer, hardware, banks, burgers, batteries, cell phones, computers, chips (i.e., crisps) and who-knows-what-else.
Frankly, I’m surprised that the sponsors of the stadium haven’t done an ad campaign with Sir David called Benz it Like Beckham.
Beckham’s flogging benzos now?!
“This is just a match, OK?” said Maradona. And then he repeated himself several times, just as Scaloni would decades later.
Maradona persisted with that narrative, his teammates remember, until the two teams walked out of the tunnel at Estadio Azteca the next day.
“Diego was walking in line with us,” Argentina defender José Luis Brown recalled before his death in 2019, “and he started raving. He says: ‘Let’s go, yeah? These motherfuckers killed our neighbours, they killed our relatives.’ I understood, obviously … After the anthems, nobody said anything. We hadn’t said anything about that before the game but we’d all been thinking about it. We just went out there and ran.”
I have measured my life in World Cups. The first blurry moments of childhood memory, the passing into adolescence, starting university. Each tournament marks a season of life. Each one is also associated with potent, formative emotional events: Roger Milla dancing around the corner flag when Cameroon became the first African team to reach the quarter-finals in 1990; Roberto Baggio’s devastating goal that knocked out a Nigeria that had been on a thriller streak in 1994; Zinedine Zidane’s tragically ignominious head-butt in 2006 during his last-ever match. But this World Cup has felt different from the start.
In Atlanta, Georgia, these men are about to take the field
England (4-2-3-1) Pickford; James, Stones, Guehi, Spence; Rice, Anderson; Rogers, Bellingham, Gordon; Kane.
Subs: Trafford, D Henderson, O’Reilly, Konsa, Saka, Rashford, Chalobah, Burn, Mainoo, Watkins, Madueke, Eze, Toney.
Argentina (4-1-3-2) E Martinez; Molina, Romero, Lisandro Martinez, Tagliafico; Paredes; Simeone, Fernandez, Mac Allister; Messi, Alvarez.
Subs: Musso, Rulli, Senesi, Montiel, Barco, Lo Celso, Palacios, Gonzalez, Almada, De Paul, Paz, Otamendi, Lopez, Lautaro Martinez, Medina.
Referee Ismail Elfath (United States)
All together now, with arms in the air: One Jude Bellingham, there’s only one Jude Bellingham …
Unless, that is, you happened to find yourself in Shoreditch, east London, on Wednesday, where a dozen young men who looked vaguely like the England midfielder gathered for a lookalike contest almost as competitive as the one currently continuing in the US.
For England football fans who dream of cloning their rampaging match-winner, the event might have offered a glimpse of a fantastical future. Bellingham has scored six goals in as many games in the competition, and another one of him in England’s midfield would surely not go amiss.
The prize for the Jude-iest Jude? Not, this time, a gold trophy of two figures holding the globe, but a Deliveroo voucher to the value of £1,966 – an always-welcome reminder of the six long decades since England last got its hands on the World Cup.
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There are dozens of subplots tonight. The race for the Golden Boot is the most important of the least important.
In all the acrimony, the wars, the deep history going back to the British invasions of 1806 and 1807, the Hand of God and the boot of Beckham, there is also an acknowledgment from those closest to the struggle that England and Argentina make perfect footballing sparring partners.
Described as the only trans-continental derby, a rivalry hewn in politics and history as well as football folklore, most Argentinian footballers’ eyes light up when talk turns to England.
Take Diego Simeone, now the belligerent Atlético Madrid coach, but once the arch nemesis of David Beckham, the man who feigned collapsing to the ground when a foolish flick caught him at the 1998 World Cup, thereby altering the trajectory of that game through Beckham’s red card.
“I love playing against the English,” Simeone told me in 2002 when he and his then-wife, Carolina, hosted me at their sumptuous Rome villa for an interview before that year’s World Cup encounter between the two sides.
“English football is always more open, aggressive and passionate. Whether you win or lose against English teams, you always feel it’s been a proper contest. The first time I played against them was at Wembley in 1991 … ”
At this point, Simeone rolled up his trouser leg and pointed to a scar on his shin. “I’ve still got a souvenir from Stuart Pearce from that day. Great game.”
ITV and BBC are planning to screen Fifa’s controversial half-time show in full from Sunday’s final at the New York New Jersey Stadium, but remain in the dark over how long it will last.
The Guardian revealed last month that there were concerns among broadcasters at the length of the half-time spectacle, which has been curated by Coldplay’s Chris Martin and will feature Madonna, Shakira and the K-pop boyband BTS. They are planning for the interval to last between 25 and 30 minutes.
Both UK rights holders have decided to broadcast the show in full because, with the requirements to set up and remove the stage from the pitch, they anticipate having sufficient time to analyse the game as well.
There’s been little sign of any animosity between the two sets of supporters as we approach kickoff in Atlanta, with England and Argentina fans sharing a chat around this magnificent stadium. While those from South America outnumbered their English counterparts on the streets last night, there are plenty of white shirts behind one of the goals and they gave England’s players a massive roar when they came out to warm up earlier. Not long to wait now...
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“I’ve spent years reading your live blogs reminiscing about 90s football and Manchester United,” writes Edan Tal. “Now you tell me you don’t like right footers on the right wing?! Maybe Beckham really has been on the telly too much lately.”
I should have said I no longer like right footers on the right wing. I’ve done the work; I’ve grown.
Thanks Niall, hello again. Twenty minutes to kick off; I wonder what this guy is up to.
Time to hand back to Rob Smyth, to take us through whatever awaits in the next 90/120/+ minutes. Enjoy the game, if that’s the word (it probably isn’t) …
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It is both a gift and a curse that Argentina are a team of moments. They have sailed close to the wind in all three knockout games, but can always feel confident somebody will pull a rabbit from the hat. Messi provided those on demand in the group stage before bailing his team out with Egypt scenting victory. Lautaro Martínez stepped up with a beautiful cross for Fernández’s winner in that game.
When Switzerland looked too stubborn, the previously ineffective Alvarez seized the day with a leading contender for goal of the tournament. The concern for England is that Argentina can be drifting through a game, their routes to goal clogged up and rhythm disrupted, only for one of their big names to deliver stunningly. “Ultimately we always find the solutions,” Scaloni said. There are some eventualities that can never completely be planned for.
“A funny quote for you,” Thomas Tuchel says as he prepares to lead England in the World Cup semi-final against Argentina on Wednesday but peeks back at a subject that has attracted a few column inches of late. “You don’t have to be a horse to be a good jockey.”
It is a line made famous by Arrigo Sacchi in 1987 when he was appointed as the manager of Milan despite being a relative unknown and having had no professional playing career. It worked out pretty well for Sacchi, just as it has done for Tuchel, who was forced to hang up his boots as a 24-year-old after a knee injury. He played no higher than the Bundesliga 2 with Stuttgart Kickers and spent time at SSV Ulm, a semi-professional club in the third tier. “I had a mediocre career at best,” Tuchel says.
On Lionel Messi’s ill-fated international debut in Budapest in 2005, when he was (very harshly) sent off 45 seconds after coming off the bench for swinging an arm at the Hungary defender Vilmos Vanczak, he received only two passes. Both came from Lionel Scaloni. It may not be much, but those two passes were the first contact in a relationship that may culminate in Argentina becoming only the third nation to successfully defend the World Cup.
Messi has spoken of Scaloni as one of the first members of the squad to truly welcome him. After he had scored against Serbia and Montenegro in the World Cup group stage in 2006, when at the age of 18 years and 357 days he became the youngest player to play for Argentina at the tournament, the first player to come up to Messi in the tunnel, grabbing him from behind in a congratulatory hug, was Scaloni. The former West Ham full-back is only nine years Messi’s senior but there has been an almost paternal aspect to their relationship ever since.
What has followed has been a story of implausible success as, after years of frustration, the greatest player of his generation, arguably one of the three greatest ever to play the game, has been coaxed to triumph on the greatest stage by a coach who essentially got the job by mistake.
With kick-off just under an hour away, a last look back at Tuesday’s semi-final. This World Cup had looked like a battle between brilliant individuals until Spain delivered the finest team performance of the tournament against France. Sid Lowe has more:
Thanks Rob, and hello everyone – you’ve obviously heard there’s a football match on. The big surprise in Argentina’s line-up is the inclusion of Giuliano Simeone, a direct right winger and the son of Diego who, of course, has his own place in this rivalry.
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This could be a very long night, so I’m going to rest my peepers and hand over to Niall McVeigh for a bit.
Team news
Thomas Tuchel isn’t going to die wondering. He has made three changes to the side that started against Norway, including both full-backs. Reece James, Djed Spence and Morgan Rogers come in for Ezri Konsa, Nico O’Reilly and Noni Madueke.
Argentina make one change from the win over Switzerland, with Giuliano Simeone replacing Rodrigo De Paul in midfield. Simeone’s only tournament appearance to date was in the 3-1 win over Jordan. He’s a more natural wide player than De Paul, so Argentina could play a lopsided system with Mac Allister tucked in on the other side. Like the T-shirt says, tactical symmetry is overrated.
England (4-2-3-1) Pickford; James, Stones, Guehi, Spence; Rice, Anderson; Rogers, Bellingham, Gordon; Kane.
Subs: Trafford, D Henderson, O’Reilly, Konsa, Saka, Rashford, Chalobah, Burn, Mainoo, Watkins, Madueke, Eze, Toney.
Argentina (4-1-3-2) E Martinez; Molina, Romero, Lisandro Martinez, Tagliafico; Paredes; Simeone, E Fernandez, Mac Allister; Messi, Alvarez.
Subs: Musso, Rulli, Senesi, Montiel, Barco, Lo Celso, Palacios, Gonzalez, Almada, De Paul, Paz, Otamendi, Lopez, Lautaro Martinez, Medina.
Referee Ismail Elfath (United States)
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After confirmation that match 102, one of the World Cup semi-finals, would be England v Argentina, the 1982 Falklands/Malvinas conflict was mentioned at Lionel Scaloni’s press conference. “No, no, no,” the Argentina head coach tut-tutted emphatically. “This is just a football match. Let’s not look for other stuff. It’s a football game against a great team, with a great manager who I admire. But it’s a football match. End of.”
The Argentina midfielder Rodrigo De Paul concurred: “We understand it’s a football game that transcends; it brings back memories of what Diego did. We sing songs about our Malvinas heroes, mainly to remember them, but we have to understand that it’s a football match and that the Malvinas have to be discussed elsewhere. What happened was an atrocity and we always remember the fallen, but what we want is to win this match to get to the final.”
There may more curveballs from Thomas Tuchel, with Djed Spence and Reece James expected to start as the full-backs. If so, that would mean Tuchel has picked a different back four for each of England’s seven World Cup games.
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England v Argentina: the Robert Mitchum derby
I love this piece so much that I want to have a messy, century-long break-up with it.
For a second there, it felt as if this was going to be a rerun for France of the Human Rights World Cup final. Conceding a penalty at the end of the first quarter and looking lost for most of the game, Les Bleus would eventually click. Kylian Mbappé would lock into PlayStation mode, thundering down the left-hand side before cutting in to erase the two-goal deficit. It would be another game for the ages, going beyond normal time – but Luis de la Fuente’s lads weren’t keen on any drama. In reality, Spain put on a suffocating display of control, even if there was little between the two sides in terms of possession. France, the great entertainers of this Geopolitics World Cup, are off home … though not before a jaunt to Miami for the bronze medal game.
Football Daily feels for Didier Deschamps, who has had to contend with a personal loss away from the game. This was a man who wanted to play his shots on the way out, a teacher wheeling out the TV and snacks on the last day of term for his class. Deschamps did what England supporters used to plead from Gareth Southgate, opting to Take The Handbrake Off. And with it came an exhibition. Michael Olise’s immaculate through ball for Mbappé against Senegal, Ousmane Dembélé cutting in from the right against Norway, their entire display against Sweden. And yet the French end with their worst World Cup finish since 2014. L’Équipe, having turned the telly off and thrown the sweets in the bin, finished marking the homework: twos for Olise, Dembélé and Lucas Digne for their semi-final showing; a three for Mbappé. Brutal.
England’s defenders will face an extreme challenge when they come up against Lionel Messi in their World Cup semi-final. It is not just that he is the greatest player of all time but the almost unique way in which he plays.
The 39-year-old is renowned for ambling around for much of a game, saving his energy for when truly required. It makes him incredibly difficult to defend against. Messi finds pockets of space that appear harmless when the ball is not in his orbit, but he springs to life when an opportunity to produce presents itself.
It helps explain why no player at this tournament has ended their ball carries of at least five metres with as many shots and key passes combined. Messi has delivered 22 such moments through knowing exactly when to step up a gear.
That’s an intriguing decision from Thomas Tuchel. I don’t love right-footers on the right wing but I can see the logic. I suspect Rogers has been picked to play a hybrid role to stop England being overrun in the centre of midfield.
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Rogers expected to start semi-final
We are expecting Morgan Rogers to start on the right for England after his fine cameo against Norway. I think it’s a good move from Thomas Tuchel. England are carrying some weary bodies but Rogers should give them an injection of energy and is tactically smart.
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Argentina's route to the semi-final
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Group J Algeria 3-0, Austria 2-0, Jordan 3-1
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Last 32 Cape Verde 3-2 (AET)
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Last 16 Egypt 3-2
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Quarter-final Switzerland 3-1 (AET)
Life moves pretty fast, and we forget the games that never were. So let’s take a beat and recallthat England were a hair’s breadth from playing the holders Argentina in the final of Italia 90.
Imagine the hype before that game, given it was only four years after football’s most infamous injustice: Terry Fenwick playing the full 90 minutes against Argentina when he should have been sent off at least four times the Hand of God.
This interview with Bobby Robson ahead of the semi-final against West Germany is one for lovers of nostalgic poignancy.
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England's route to the semi-final
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Group L Croatia 4-2, Ghana 0-0, Panama 2-0
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Last 32 DR Congo 2-1
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Last 16 Mexico 3-2
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Quarter-final Norway 2-1 (AET)
Thomas Tuchel believes England will face an Argentina team “fuelled by history” in their World Cup semi-final in Atlanta on Wednesday. It will be the sixth time that the nations have met at the tournament with the previous three coming after the Falklands war of 1982.
The most controversial game was in the 1986 quarter-finals when Diego Maradona scored his “Hand of God” goal and Argentina won 2-1 en route to the title. Argentina triumphed on penalties in the last 16 in 1998 when David Beckham was sent off. Beckham gained a measure of revenge four years later when he scored from the penalty spot for a 1-0 group-stage victory. England won 3-1 at the group phase in 1962 and 1-0 in the quarter-finals in 1966, when they went on to become champions.
“I saw somewhere on the internet the incredibly valid point that this England team aren’t actually scarred with memories of bad days against Argentina,” writes Eddy Nason. “Even old man Jordan Henderson was -4 years old for the Hand of God. Us oldie fans however...”
Yeah, I don’t think that particular scarring – lived or historical - is a problem in the way it is for, say, England cricketers when they go to Australia. The more relevant scarring comes from the semi-final and final defeats in the last eight years and the historical reality that England usually go out to the first really big team they face. I’m 99.94% sure that the only time England have beaten a higher-ranked team in a knockout game was the quarter-final against Spain at Euro 96, and they should have lost that game.
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Wednesday night, Atlanta Stadium, 101 games down, three left to play, and finally it makes sense. Bring on The Countdown, that moment just before kick-off in every one of those quietly fascinating World Cup matches where suddenly the world’s most excited man is bellowing over the PA system in a state of outraged, crowing transport, like the last voice you’ll ever hear before the American century explodes in a ball of inanity, fried chicken and porn.
“NAYYYN!! EEEIGHYYT!! SEEEVEERRN!! …” the world’s most excited man shouts, prelude to some cautious rolling possession, maybe an early back-pass, and an agreeable reminder that the game itself will not be stage managed. You want quiet bathos? This World Cup will deliver the greatest goddam quiet bathos the galaxy has ever seen.
Except, not this time. Send for the excited man. Fire up The Countdown. A World Cup that has been undeniably gripping on the field of play finally has an occasion so layered and so luminous that, frankly, countdown guy feels about right, even a little understated.
England versus Argentina for a place in the World Cup final. Is this the biggest game international football can throw up? Argentina-Brazil has more majesty. Germany and the Netherlands is always good. Spain-France is the state of the art when is comes to talent and quality, if not quite depth of feeling in the football sphere.
But for energy, ghosts, weight, the iconography of colours and shapes, this is right up there, an event that feels less like a football match and more like a weather front about to break, a cultural throb, a gravity pulse.
Squint a little and it feels as though the whole World Cup has been a countdown to this point for England and Argentina, a sense of dramatic inevitability even before you get on to the online conspiracy theories (which are also having a moment right now).
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Preamble
There’s been so much hype about this match that it’s important we put it in perspective. It is, after all, only the biggest game ever played in football’s greatest cross-continent rivalry.
The history of England v Argentina could already fill a Netflix three-parter, albeit without the chill. It includes the Hand of God in 1986, the Hand of Plod in 1966 and the Hand of Hod a multi-faceted epic in 1998 – but this is the first time they’ve met in the semi-final or the final of a World Cup. For both countries, defeat is so unthinkable that it hurts trying not to think about it.
In movie-poster terms, this is mentality monsters v mentality monsters. England and Argentina have wheezed into the semi-finals, relying on collective defiance, individual brilliance and a team spirit that even Steve Archibald might grudgingly acknowledge. Given the stakes and the in-built intensity of this fixture, it’s hard to see that changing today. Great performances can wait until 2030.
The unspoken fear for both teams is that this is effectively a second-place playoff. Spain will be strong favourites in the final after taking care of France with an authority and synergy that gave some of us a sheen of smugness. But disbelief is easily suspended when you are this close to glory, and right now millions of England and Argentina supporters just want the chance to worry about potential death by tiki-taka.
In a few hours’ time, one of these statements will be true.
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England are in their first men’s World Cup final since 1966.
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Argentina are one game away from becoming the first team to retain the men’s World Cup since Brazil in 1962.
The other one? It happens only in dreams.
Kick off 8pm BST/3pm EST/5am AEST
