ATLANTA — England are one win away from their first World Cup final appearance in 60 years.
To get there, all they’ll have to do is beat an Argentina side looking to become the first back-to-back champion since Brazil in 1958 and ‘62.
The two sides with a heated World Cup history face off on Wednesday in Atlanta for the right to face Spain on Sunday in East Rutherford, N.J. The losers of the semifinal will meet France in a third-place match Saturday at Miami Gardens, Fla., after Spain’s 2-0 triumph over France in the first semi.
“This is as big as it gets, so I’m really excited for this week,” England captain Harry Kane told ITV this week. “I think it’s going to be a special game and what a tough team to play against but hopefully, that brings the best out in us.”
England’s World Cup history against Argentina is favorable on the whole, with a 3-1-1 record. Those two non-wins, though, are among the darkest marks in the country’s soccer history, a 2-1 loss in the 1986 quarterfinals on the infamous “Hand of God” goal by Diego Maradona, and a 2-2 penalty-shootout loss in the round of 16 in 1998, a match marred by David Beckham’s second-half red card.
Kane downplayed any notion of those past matches weighing on this England squad.
“I think it’s not something you want to focus too much on, surrounding the history. Yeah, that’s all part of it and that’s what (media members) will talk about, the fans will be involved in,” Kane said. “… It’s England versus Argentina, it’s two of the biggest nations going toe to toe. Two giants in the semifinal of a World Cup. The rest of it is just a small part.”
While Kane led the way early for England with five goals in their first four matches, Jude Bellingham has been carrying the weight of late. Bellingham has delivered consecutive braces in the last two wins against Mexico and Norway to pull even with Kane and France’s Ousmane Dembele in the Golden Boot race with six goals apiece.
But they’re all chasing Argentine superstar Lionel Messi, who is tied with France’s Kylian Mbappe atop the leaderboard with eight goals in this tournament.
Messi, 39, has already broken the World Cup records for career goals (21) and assists (10) in this year’s tournament, his record sixth appearance. But Argentina showed they are more than Messi the last time out.
He didn’t score in Argentina’s 3-1 extra-time defeat of Switzerland in the quarterfinals, snapping his record nine-match World Cup scoring streak. It was an important showcase of the squad’s depth after he scored eight of their 14 goals through the first five matches.
Despite Messi’s heroics and the rest of the team’s strides, it hasn’t yet felt like Argentina have reached their peak in the knockout stage. They needed extra time to win two of their first three elimination matches and rallied from down 2-0 in the final 12 minutes of regulation to beat Egypt in the round of 16.
“Luck was with us (vs. Switzerland),” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said, a statement which could be applied to their entire knockout run. “We must be realistic, there are things we need to improve.”
And yet, here resilient Argentina are, respectful of their toughest opponent to date but certainly not intimidated.
“They have great players, but beyond the individual names they’re a team,” Argentina defender Gonzalo Montiel said. “Our focus is on ourselves first.”
–Field Level Media
