World Cup 2026: Messi's Two Assists Send Argentina Past England 2-1

Messi flips it late as Argentina beat England 2-1

Argentina are into the World Cup 2026 final. In a semi-final at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, they came from behind to beat England 2-1, and now they head to the July 19 final against Spain.

The story here is late drama and one player pulling the strings. England took the lead through Anthony Gordon in the 55th minute, but Argentina answered through Enzo Fernandez in the 85th and Lautaro Martinez in stoppage time (90+2) — both goals assisted by Lionel Messi.

The numbers tell you Argentina deserved it. They controlled 64% of possession to England's 36%, and their expected goals figure (xG, a measure of chance quality) sat at 1.84 versus just 0.53 for England. Argentina also created three big chances to England's one and put five shots on target against two. England defended for long stretches and led with 35 minutes to go, but couldn't hold on against a side that kept finding the final third — 198 passes into it, in fact, against England's 60.

How England and Argentina lined up in Atlanta

From Gordon's opener to Messi's two-assist finish

It was a tetchy first half — Elias Anderson went into the book for England in the 37th minute, and Lautaro Martinez (42nd) and Cristian Romero (51st) picked up yellows for Argentina before the game really opened up.

The breakthrough came just after the hour. In the 55th minute, Morgan Rogers teed up Anthony Gordon and England were in front. Argentina responded by reshuffling — Nicolas Gonzalez came on for Leandro Paredes in the 64th, followed by a triple change around the 72nd that brought on Rodrigo de Paul, Gonzalo Montiel and Nicolas Otamendi.

Thomas Tuchel refreshed England too, sending on Ezri Konsa for the goalscorer Gordon and later Dan Burn and Nathan O'Reilly. But the last 10 minutes belonged to Argentina and Messi. In the 85th minute, Messi picked out Enzo Fernandez to level it. Then, deep into stoppage time (90+2), he set up Lautaro Martinez for the winner. De Paul was booked in the 90+4 amid the chaos, and England's late throws of the dice — Ivan Toney and Marcus Rashford in the 90+6 — came far too late to matter.

The futbol.so crowd nailed this one — 1-2 and all

Here's a fun one: the futbol.so community leaned toward Argentina, and the most-picked scoreline was England 1 - Argentina 2 — exactly how it finished. Fans in Argentina and Austria landed on the same 1-2 read, while those in Colombia leaned Argentina too, just with a tighter 0-1 look.

What makes it notable is that the official model saw it differently. The forecast actually made England a slight favourite, with the three-way probabilities almost evenly split across an England win, a draw and an Argentina win. The crowd read the game better than the algorithm this time — and even called the exact result.

Video highlights

World Cup: England vs Argentina

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World Cup: England vs Argentina

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World Cup: England vs Argentina

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So Argentina march on. Their reward is a spot in the World Cup 2026 final on July 19 against Spain — a heavyweight matchup to close the tournament.

For England, it's a painful way to bow out of a semi-final: leading with 35 minutes left, then undone by two Messi assists in the final stretch. The margins were thin on the scoreboard, wider in the underlying numbers, and Argentina were the ones still standing when the whistle blew.