Denying space to lethal Messi
Switzerland knew how to deal with Lionel Messi. They congested the centre of the pitch and made it impossible for him to find angles for threaded passes or rapier finishes. One of Messi’s trademark moves, when the tempo has slowed, is to go through the gears with a quick bounce pass off one of his teammates near the edge of the box. The idea is that Messi then has room to unwind his left boot and deliver the inevitable, but it did not work out in the quarter-final. Instead Messi ran into a formidable wall of red, only finding space to work Gregor Kobel moments before Julián Alvarez’s winner. Much of Argentina’s setup is designed to put Messi, whose non-contribution off the ball is priced into everything, in optimal positions to wreak havoc. Against Switzerland the 39-year-old had, by his stratospheric standards, a quiet game even if he still managed to assist Alexis Mac Allister’s goal from a corner. “Stop Messi” is a tactic that sounds good in principle but most have found impossible to execute. Maybe England have been shown the way.
A suspect right flank
After the Switzerland game Lionel Scaloni was asked to explain the problems with his team’s right side. It certainly looked a pressing concern after Dan Ndoye, the rapid Nottingham Forest winger, led them a merry dance throughout his 86 minutes on the pitch. Nahuel Molina could not handle Ndoye, who ran off him with ease to equalise and could have caused further damage. The right-back was replaced before extra time, Scaloni pointing out later that he had been a serious injury doubt before the tournament. The same goes for his understudy, Gonzalo Montiel, and the pair’s minutes are requiring careful management. Anthony Gordon and Marcus Rashford should be licking their lips; it does not help Scaloni, either, that a labouring Rodrigo De Paul is offering little support from further forward. Argentina have little midfield width and it may place a heavy load on their already overworked full-backs.
A flowing but flawed midfield
Given time and opportunity, Argentina’s midfield can weave patterns and dictate the flow. That can mean slowing it down, as they did for long periods when ahead against Switzerland, but also involves rapid-fire interplays that swamp opponents. Their achilles heel lies in the fact they simply do not run as much as everyone else. None of the players in their engine room sit anywhere near the top of this World Cup’s sprinting charts. It does not take a wild imagination to see Jude Bellingham, whose lung-busting performances have propelled England this far, receiving further opportunities to stamp his place in history. Declan Rice, if fit, would fancy causing havoc with his trademark bursts, too. Enzo Fernández and Mac Allister have scored important goals but they have been easy to bypass out of possession, notably against Egypt. The 32-year-old De Paul is starting to look his age and it will concern Scaloni that an exhausted Leandro Paredes, deployed to shield the defence after the near disaster against Cape Verde, did not last the course on Saturday. When Argentina lose control in the middle, they struggle to wrest it back.
Moments of genius
It is both a gift and a curse that Argentina are a team of moments. They have sailed close to the wind in all three knockout games but can always feel confident somebody will pull a rabbit from the hat. Messi provided those on demand in the group stage before bailing his team out with Egypt scenting victory. Lautaro Martínez stepped up to the plate with a beautiful cross for Fernández’s winner in that game. When Switzerland looked too stubborn, the previously ineffective Alvarez seized the day with a leading contender for goal of the tournament. The concern for England is that Argentina can be drifting through a game, their routes to goal clogged up and rhythm disrupted, only for one of their star names to deliver stunningly. “Ultimately we always find the solutions,” Scaloni said. There are some eventualities for which can never completely be planned.
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Getting physical
Once Argentina had finished celebrating another semi-final under his tenure, Scaloni outlined an aspect that had troubled him. “It was very difficult for us to win the duels, to put more than five or six passes together,” he admitted. Switzerland’s robustness had jolted them and it was no surprise: Argentina were, by some distance, the shortest team left in the last eight and were knocked off the ball too easily by Murat Yakin’s strapping players. The problem will hardly abate against England, whose physique and durability are significant reasons for their ability to outlast opponents. While midfield is an obvious sticking point, battles between Harry Kane and the Argentina centre-backs will also be key. Kane’s former teammate Cristian Romero, who returned from a knee injury to feature in the tournament, has taken repeated knocks and sat out the final 15 minutes on Saturday. He has not been at his aggressive best despite sparking the comeback against Egypt. “We know what we will be facing,” Scaloni said. Argentina must stand up to England if they are to avoid being smothered.
