Suffering has become a constant for the Argentine National Team in this World Cup 2026, but that did not prevent them from defeating Switzerland to reach the semifinals, where they will face an old acquaintance from the World Cups: England.
The team led by Lionel Scaloni comes from three very complicated knockout matches. Although they were far superior to the other teams in Group J (3-0 against Algeria, 2-0 against Austria and 3-1 against Jordan), the Albiceleste struggled in both the round of 16 and the quarterfinals.
First, against Cabo Verde they could not impose themselves until extra time thanks to a goal from Cristian "Cuti" Romero that made it 3-2 in the end. Then, that same result would be repeated against Egypt, but with a very different context: they started 2-0 down and made an epic comeback before the match went to extra time to advance to the quarterfinals.
Finally, in their match against the Swiss, despite starting ahead, Argentina was dominated by their opponent for much of the game. However, the unusual expulsion of Breel Embolo tipped the balance in their favor and, although they could not win in 90 minutes, they ultimately found victory in extra time with a stunning goal from Julián Álvarez and a goal from Lautaro Martínez.
On the other hand, the team led by Thomas Tuchel had a less painful participation, although at times they complicated themselves. First, despite an unexpected 0-0 draw with Ghana, the English passed the group stage without any surprises (4-2 against Croatia and 2-0 against Panama).
In the knockout matches, in the round of 16 another African team, Democratic Republic of the Congo put them in trouble with an early goal, but they managed to recover towards the end (2-1). In the quarterfinals, despite playing with one less for most of the match, they defeated the host Mexico by 3-2. Finally, in the quarterfinals they faced difficulties against Norway, but, thanks to a fiery Jude Bellingham, they managed to turn the match around in extra time (2-1).
Regarding the history, Argentines and English have faced each other a total of 14 times, with a record of 2 victories for the national team, 6 draws, and 6 wins for the British.
Of those matches, 5 occurred in World Cups, with a balance of 1 victory for the South Americans (the memorable 2-1 in the quarterfinals of Mexico '86 with the Hand of God and the Goal of the Century by Diego Armando Maradona), 1 draw (2-2 in the round of 16 of France '98 which ended in an Albiceleste qualification by penalties [4-3]) and 3 wins for the Europeans (3-1 in the group stage of Chile '62, 1-0 in the quarterfinals of England '66 and 1-0 in the group stage of Korea-Japan 2002).
It is worth noting that the semifinal match this afternoon will be the first in over 20 years between the two. The last encounter took place in a friendly in 2005, in which the Three Lions defeated the Albiceleste 3-2 with a comeback in the last minutes.
Time and TV for Argentina vs. England
The Argentine National Team will seek their ticket to the grand final of the World Cup 2026 against the Europeans this Wednesday, July 15 at 16:00 (Argentine time) at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The match will be broadcast on television through the signals of Telefe, TyC Sports, TV Pública, and Dsports, as well as Disney+ Premium, DGO, and Paramount+ for streaming.
Possible Lineups
Argentina (4-1-3-2 or 4-4-2):
Goalkeeper: Emiliano Martínez
Defenders: Nicolás Tagliafico, Lisandro Martínez, Cristian Romero, and Nahuel Molina or Gonzalo Montiel
