Argentina-England: Key takeaways from a wild World Cup semifinal

Argentina fought back from a one-goal deficit to beat England 2-1 in their World Cup semifinal in Atlanta, Georgia.

The result seals Argentina's spot in the 2026 FIFA World Cup final and eliminates England from the competition.

A choppy, physical first half begat a stunner of a second filled with inspiring offensive play. England winger Anthony Gordon opened the scoring in the 55th minute with a perfect far-post chip, but Argentina equalized through Enzo Fernandez in the 85th minute and sealed its victory through Lautaro Martinez in added time. It was the Albiceleste's fourth late comeback in a row: it eliminated Cape Verde, Egypt and Switzerland with last-gasp winners on its way to this semifinal.

Here are the key takeaways from one of the World Cup's finest matches yet:

Lionel Messi had a quiet night...until he didn't

For 90 minutes of this semifinal, Lionel Messi looked like something of a passenger. His balls weren't crisp, his set pieces weren't accurate, and his body language was surprisingly negative for a world-class player contending what could've been his final World Cup match. Things just weren't coming easily to Messi, and England's players could sense it: they lost their fear of the man and spent much of the second half giving him space.

Far too much space, as it turned out. In the 92nd minute, with a full game of soccer in his legs and a World Cup final on the line, Messi turned fresh-footed England defender Nico O'Reilly inside-out and fired a perfect ball out to his teammate Lautaro Martinez. Martinez shot, scored and celebrated, and just like that, Argentina had a 2-1 advantage.

That's all it takes. Messi was Argentina's best player in this match, even though he struggled through much of it. He isn't the greatest because he's perfect all the time: he's the greatest because he finds moments of perfection even on difficult nights like this one.

Enzo Fernandez scored Argentina's equalizer, but the whole team made it happen

At first glance, Enzo Fernández's stunning late equalizer for Argentina was a moment of individual brilliance. He picked the ball up at the edge of the box, took a beat, then fired a looping, vicious shot past Jordan Pickford. One man, one moment.