2026 World Cup: I still feel the pain of ’98 but this could be different for England – Alan Shearer

I don’t think Argentina have played great football to get this far, but they have scored great goals. It is an experienced and street-wise team, and they are the current champions.

They are not as good as they were when they won four years ago, but what they have been good at is always finding a way to get the result when they need it.

Obviously, raising Messi will help. Everything Argentina do goes through him, and when they win the ball, they always look for where he is.

How do you stop him? Well, using someone like DJ Spence to mark man-to-man and track where he goes would be one option, but I think England will stick to the same shape they’ve used in the previous six games.

So instead of focusing on following Messi, one could be closer to him to limit the space whenever one or two of our players get the ball.

There are other battles taking place on the field. For England to win, we need to do more than keep Messi quiet, but if we can do that, we have a better chance.

If I’m still going to mention Messi, I should also talk about our superstars. Harry Kane has been brilliant Jude Bellingham is running the race of his life.

Like Messi, Bellingham has won four man-of-the-match awards – or FIFA’s best player – so far, which is unbelievable.

Both are in contention for player of the tournament and both are match winners. You have to think, whoever makes it to the finals, one of them will play a big role.

I’d back England to succeed – I think we’ll be good enough to beat Argentina because we’ll cause them more trouble than they’ll cause us – but there’s no way I’d expect it to be straightforward.

Our games in this World Cup so far have not been easy or comfortable, except maybe the second half of our opening game against Croatia, and I don’t see this game being any different.

I’ll be there again, commentating with Guy Mowbray and my message to viewers back home is to brace yourself – it could be a fun night for us all, but it’s sure to be a tough ride.

Alan Shearer spoke to BBC Sports journalist Chris Bevan