Everything was in good order at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta today, Wednesday, July 15, to witness rivalries that had grown louder with time and generations echoed that was exactly what happened between England and Argentina.
The first half was full of an explosive, highly physical affair featuring six combined fouls, a midfield shoving match, and tensions sparked immediately when Argentina’s Enzo Fernández delivered a rough challenge on Elliot Anderson in the third minute.
Towards the end of the first half, an England cross into the box was deflected out for a corner kick, but with added time seconds over the allotted number, the whistle was blown for halftime.
The first half ended in a tense, scoreless where both teams played physically, resulting in no shots on target.
The second begins with a sort of tactical and little physical until
53 minutes of the game which a build-up started by Harry Kane dropping deep, hoisting a long ball to Morgan Rogers that wasn’t cleared very far, and then a cross from Rogers to Gordon and Anthony Gordon finished with a goal, to mark his first career World Cup goal.
The game kept flowing for 63 minutes, Argentina replacing Leandro Paredes and shortly in the 71st minute of the second half, England replaced Anthony Gordon with Ezri Konsa.
In the 82nd minute, England removed Declan Rice and Reece James and England became shitty
Late substitutions taking out a winger who is using the ball to bring in defenders cause problems for England.
On 81 minutes, Lautaro Martinez was substituted on getting to 90+3′. He produced a goal through headed in a cross from Lionel Messi to seal the dramatic comeback for Argentina.
What a brilliant performance. Plus today. Lautaro Martínez has come off the bench to score or assist in each of Argentina’s last three games: against Egypt assisted, against Switzerland scored.
And against England scored a goal again, while Argentina got their first goal in the 86th minute through Enzo Fernández. This makes Argentina score 11 goals after the 75th minute in the 2026 World Cup.
American referee Ismail Elfath blew the final whistle on 90+6 to end England’s dream to the final of the FIFA Men’s World Cup 2026.
Defending champions Argentina defeated England 2-1 in the 2026 World Cup semi-final, rallying from behind with late goals from Enzo Fernández and Lautaro Martínez to secure a spot in the final against Spain
Argentina are back-to-back World Cup finalists.
Only six reigning men’s World Cup champions have made the final the following year:
Italy won it in 1934 and 1938,
Brazil Won it in 1958 and 1962,
Argentina won it in 1986 and entered the finals in 1990, but West Germany won it in 1990,
Brazil won it in 1994 and entered the final in 1998, but France won it in 1998.
France won it in 2018 and entered the final in 2022, but Argentina won it in 2022 and Argentina won it in 2022 and they also enter the final in 2026. Who will win it in 2026 ?
Can they become the first side to defend their crown in 64 years?