England pride themselves on physicality and pressing, so facing a 39-year-old who spends much of his time walking seemed like a favourable match-up.
That assumption proved costly in Atlanta as Lionel Messi dismantled Thomas Tuchel’s side with footballing intelligence that more than compensated for any physical decline.
Messi’s reduced athleticism has long been offset by his ability to read a game faster than almost any player in history, and England felt that in full during the World Cup semi-final.
Argentina’s captain effectively operated as an on-field coach, identifying and exploiting structural weaknesses in England’s shape throughout the contest.
England started brightly, with wingers Anthony Gordon and Morgan Rogers tasked with pressing Argentina’s two central defenders, angling their runs to cut off passes to the full-backs from goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and centre-backs Cristian Romero and Lisandro Martinez.
Elliot Anderson was assigned to shadow Messi, Declan Rice tracked Alexis Mac Allister, and Jude Bellingham sat deeper than expected to monitor Enzo Fernandez closely.
Anderson performed well early on, described as snappy and early to his duels, smothering Messi effectively in the opening exchanges.
Messi responded by taking deeper positions, forcing Anderson into a dilemma about how far to follow, and his deceptive walking pace made those sudden bursts of movement increasingly difficult to anticipate.
As England’s press faded due to fatigue, Argentina gained a foothold and began moving up the pitch as a unit with growing confidence and control.
Anthony Gordon gave England the lead in the 55th minute, and Tuchel’s side held it for half an hour, but between that goal and Argentina’s equaliser England possessed only 12% of the ball.
Messi began using Anderson’s aggression against him, holding the ball to draw the 23-year-old out before flicking passes into the space Anderson had vacated for team-mates to exploit.
For Argentina’s first goal, Messi played a one-two from a short corner, dribbled infield to attract defenders, and cleverly delayed his pass until Fernandez had time and space to strike decisively without being challenged.
Enzo Fernandez struck a brilliant equaliser in the 85th minute after Messi picked him out near the edge of the penalty area, before Lautaro Martinez headed home a Messi cross in stoppage time to seal Argentina’s place in the World Cup final.
Messi also exploited Bellingham’s positioning throughout the second half, recognising that the midfielder was frequently caught high up the pitch or drawn towards the ball and leaving dangerous space behind him.
That space sat towards Argentina’s right and deep enough to prevent England’s central midfielders from closing it quickly, creating overloads on the flank that generated a stream of threatening crosses into the penalty area.
Tuchel’s switch to a back five aimed to match Argentina’s numbers in the box, but it left three central midfielders struggling to cover the width of the pitch and actually suited Messi’s chosen role perfectly.
A further change to a 5-4-1 following Rice’s substitution and Nico O’Reilly’s introduction put Bellingham in an unfamiliar holding midfield role, leading to deeper positioning and longer sprints that allowed Argentina to switch play to Messi’s right-sided zone.
Bellingham’s deep position gave Fernandez the time and space to strike from distance under minimal pressure, resulting in the corner from which Argentina equalised.
Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni and Messi had combined to create an attacking structure that gave them reliable access down the right wing with strong headers arriving into the box, and they sustained that threat for the best part of 30 minutes.
With England’s starters battling fatigue, many out of position, and facing attacks inspired by arguably the greatest footballer of all time, Argentina produced what many consider their finest period of attacking football in the tournament so far.
