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Tango in the finals of the World Championship for the second time in a row
The Argentinian team, under the leadership of its coach Lionel Scaloni, used a deadly weapon against the Egyptians to qualify for the final match of the World Cup for the second time in a row.
Argentina qualified for the 2026 World Cup finals after defeating England 2-1 in the semi-finals at the Atlanta Stadium on Wednesday.
3 changes in English
The coach of the English national team, the German Thomas Tuchel, started the match with 3 changes in the quarter-final match with the Norwegian national team.
Tuchel decided to play Bryce James in the position of right defender at the expense of Ezri Konsa, and Jed Spence started on the left at the expense of Nico O’Reilly.
The most notable change took place in the attack area, where Morgan Rodgers participated on the right wing at the expense of Noni Madueke.
The composition of the England team was as follows.
Goalkeeper: Jordan Pickford
Defensive Line: Rhys James, Mark Geahy, John Stones, Jed Spence
Midfield: Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham, Elliott Anderson
Forward: Morgan Rodgers, Harry Kane, Anthony Gordon
Argentinian one change
Argentina, on the other hand, made one change to the starting line-up that faced Switzerland in the quarter-finals, but it was a fundamental change.
The coach of the Argentine team, Lionel Scaloni, brought Giuliano Simeone into the field at the right wing position, at the expense of the central midfielder Rodrigo De Pauli.
With this change, Argentina’s playing style theoretically changed from 4-4-1-1 to 4-3-3, but in reality it did not change much.
The composition of the Argentine national team was as follows.
Goalkeeper: Emiliano Martinez
Defensive line: Nicolas Tagliafico, Lisandro Martinez, Christian Romero, Nahuel Molina
Midfield: Leandro Paredes, Alexis McAllister, Enzo Fernandez
Forward: Julian Alvarez, Lionel Messi, Juliano Simeone
First half of wrestling
The coaching changes, especially Scalloni, seemed to want to increase the attacking tendency by using an extra player on the right wing, but what happened was the exact opposite.
The famous competition and rivalry between the two countries dominated the match as physical clashes ensued from the opening minutes leading to numerous fouls, so much so that the first half witnessed 19 fouls, roughly one foul every two minutes.
These repeated errors affected the playing time, the rhythm of the game and the chances of both teams, to the extent that the first 30 minutes did not witness shots on goal for the first time in the history of the World Cup.
Overall, the first half had the lowest number of shots at the 2026 World Cup, with just 3 shots, all on and off the post.
The first half ended with an expected goal score of 0.8, the lowest in World Cup qualifying matches in history, which was a clear indication of the lack of technique in the first half of freestyle wrestling.
Mexican mix
Things changed completely at the start of the second half, especially for Argentina, as they started the second half putting a lot of pressure on the English defense and their striker Julian Alvarez wasted two chances in the first two minutes.
England, on the other hand, remained conservative as their players looked to close down spaces in front of the Argentine attack while sending long balls into counter-attacks to take the lead, which indeed happened.
In the tenth minute of the second half, Morgan Rodgers, who Tuchel was banking on against Argentina, made a neat pass that Anthony Gordon brilliantly turned into the net.
The scenario was reminiscent of what England did in their last-16 clash with Mexico, where they held firm against the home side’s attacks before scoring twice to take the lead and then win 3-2.
The weapon that killed the Egyptians… and the answer is always Messi
Down, Scalloni turned to the solution he used to turn a 0-2 defeat against Egypt into a 3-2 win in the quarter-finals, which was crosses.
At the beginning of the second half, winger Nicolas Gonzalez came in on the left wing, so that Julián Alvarez was more stable in the depth, receiving passes from the wings.
After the departure of Giuliano Simeone, Messi was clearly moved to the right-wing position with a clear mission to send reverse crosses into the penalty area.
Messi’s presence increased the concentration of the players around him, which opened up deep space for Enzo Fernandez to shoot, and he scored the equalizer moments before the end of the match, just after Messi’s cross.
In the closing minutes, Lautaro Martínez, another forward, took part alongside Julián Alvarez, relying on crosses as his only solution, until he scored the fateful second goal from another pass from Messi.
