Lionel Messi inspired World Cup holders Argentina to a stunning comeback to beat England 2-1 on Wednesday and set up a final with European champions Spain, France 24 reports.
England had been on course to reach their first World Cup final since 1966 after Anthony Gordon fired them into the lead 10 minutes after half-time in the semi-final in front of 68,239 fans in Atlanta.
After taking the lead England retreated which invited wave after wave of attacks from Argentina which saw them eventually succumbing with less than 10 minutes left.
Messi set up Enzo Fernandez who lined up the ball before firing into the far corner to make it 1-1 in the 85th minute.
Also Read: World Cup 2026: ‘I’m A Messi Fan, I Want Argentina To Win’ –Mikel
Then in the 93rd minute Messi went past his marker on the left and sent in a superb cross which substitute Lautaro Martinez headed in from close range.
Messi now has 12 assists in FIFA World Cup matches, 10 of which have come in knockout rounds. No other player on record (from 1966) has more than eight in total at the finals.
The 2026 final between Spain and Argentina will be the first ever FIFA World Cup final between the reigning UEFA European champions, and the reigning CONMEBOL Copa America champions.
4 Comments
Was this really England, or Nigeria in disguise?
1 goal up with just 5 mins to go, and they manage to actually lose this game?
Just like Nigeria bottled it against Italy in the 1994 edition, with around 1 minute left!
Sack Tuchel. Sack him immediately. His game management stinks.
What is it with England and defeat in big games? They will beat lower ranked teams in small games. But a big team comes along in a big game, forget it. England will find a way to lose, even against the odds!
They sure managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory today! Brilliantly so!
Tonight, the pubs will be filled with Brits drowning their sorrow in liquor.
Well, they can still try for bronze. Mbappe and Co stand in their way.
Don’t even know what to think about our lovely sport football
Things are looking fixed
They scored one and became static thesame wey many matches have been lost or drawn lately in the world of football
England had alots of attacking options and knowing quite well that Argentinians are the master of comebacks
Not even the coach could talk to his guys to come out and play get the ball and keep possessions
Congratulations to the Argentinian
Actually,Harry Kane said they didn’t follow the script.The coach asked them to continue pressing and try for a second goal,instead,they abandoned their tactical instructions by trying to hold on to a slim lead.
However,the low block system they employed in the dying seconds backfired!Argentina inspired by Messi scored twice in less than 5 minutes with two quick assists from Lionel Messi.
Meanwhile,Argentina number 10’s have really peppered England.In 1986 it was Maradonna,2026 Messi!
When will it be the turn of England to avenge these cruel defeats?The supporters and players are tired of feeling the heavy weight of exhaustion and the continuous sting of falling short,is incredibly draining!
What lessons does Nigeria learn from the World Cup semifinal matches. In the last stages of this tournament, it is all about tactics. Team tactics and managerial tactics.
Firstly, the teams that are in the finals are all midfield playing teams. All the wing playing teams, England, France et al. have all been eliminated. I mention this fact, as a rebuke to the many Super Eagles fans that continually emphasise ‘wing play’.
Morocco, is today not only African champions but also Africa’s highest ranked team, and they have followed Iberian (Portugal and Spain) teams in developing midfield play as their team culture.
Even wingplay was introduced into Nigeria by the dutchman Westerhoff, and is not some tradition inherited from our ancestors.
Midfield guile destroyed France and England. Watching Argentina versus England in the 70th minute my thoughts were that this’ll show what tactical weapons Argentina has, and Argentina did not disappoint.
Argentina started off by using crosses, they did not get any result as this is not their typical game, and the English players are taller and better in the air. But the Argentine brilliance was to lull the English into believing that using crosses was all Argentina had.
As a result the English players crowded around their 6 yard box prepared to defend against crosses. This left a gap between the 18 yard and the 6 yard box. Argentina switched to shots from outside the 18 yard box, which the English crowded into their 6 yard box expecting crosses could not defend against, result 1-1.
The English now awoken to the danger of shots from outside the 18 moved personnel to defend against this leaving gaps in their 6 yard box, and of course Messi exploited this with a cross that was headed home by the pint-sized Lautaro Martinez.
It is this switching of tactics that was the Argentine master class. Lulling your opponent to believe that you only had one line of attack, causing them to shift personnel to defend against that line, and then switching to another line of attack that catches them offguard.
Spain also produced a midfield masterclass against France. Spain using a midfield diamond suffocated the transition dependent French attack of Dembele, Olise and Mbappe, controlling 51% of the ball and allowing near-zero French shots on target. completely shut down Michael Olise, who was deployed as France’s creative link. They denied Olise any space to operate, and connect with Mbappe. Without the ball, Spain used a high press coupled with a transition squeeze against the French.
While Spain, displayed a studied performance showing they had done their homework on France, Argentina showed they had many tactical arrows to draw from their quiver. i.e. Argentina did not need to do home work, they are already masters of the subject.
For Nigeria, this points to the importance of midfield versatility. For Chelle, instead of chasing for half-cooked strikers across Europe as he’s doing, he should be concentrating on developing a midfield culture along the lines of these two footballing giants.
Instead of limited midfielders that specialise on one or two onfield skills (Ndidi, Onyeka, Iwobi), he should be looking for midfielders that can do everything (Swiss knives), tackle, pass, shoot, press resistance, ball carrying, positioning and spatial awareness.
That is the way to go Chelle, Nigeria has plenty of strikers we don’t need you to look for more, concentrate on midfield development, and anyone that calls Iwobi a midfield magician is a joker! Or his worldly football knowledge is limited to his village.