Lionel Messi has made the tone clear before Argentina's semi-final with England. He called England a “powerhouse”, described the game as “special” and said it will be the first time he has ever faced them, with Argentina also waiting on fitness updates and a kit request before Wednesday's match.
Messi's first meeting with England
Messi's own words are doing most of the work here. Speaking to sportsmole.co.uk, he said: “Playing against England is special because they are a powerhouse, and matches against powerhouses are always special. It's the first time I'm going to play against them.”
That is the main point, and it is a good one. Argentina and England are meeting at the World Cup for the sixth time, but this is Messi's first-ever meeting with England. He has played against everyone except them, which gives this semi-final a slightly different edge even before a ball is kicked.
Argentina arrive having beaten Switzerland 3-1 after extra time to reach the semi-final. They have won their last five World Cup matches, while England's last five show four wins and one draw. This is not a mismatch waiting to happen, it is a heavyweight tie between two teams arriving in decent tournament form.
Fitness doubts and the blue kit request
The injury talk looks calmer than it first sounded. Messi was seen with blood around his right eye after contact with Granit Xhaka, but he played the full 120 minutes and is expected to face England. His quarter-final display backed that up, with a 9.0 rating and seven goals across his last four World Cup outings.
Cristian Romero, who finished the Switzerland game tired, said: “I hadn't played for more than three months. The heat and everything made it difficult. I finished a bit tired, and the coach put [Nicolas] Otamendi in, who was fresher.” That points to fatigue rather than a fresh setback, and his 7.9 rating against Switzerland supports that read.
There is also the shirt issue. Argentina have asked FIFA to let them wear their blue away kit against England, adding a small but obvious bit of symbolism to a fixture that already carries plenty of weight. They wore dark colours in their World Cup wins over England in 1986 and 1998, so the request fits the mood around the game.
Messi has made the semi-final sound like what it is, a first meeting with a major opponent. The fitness concerns look manageable, not dramatic, and the only real wait now is FIFA's decision on the kit before Wednesday.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 4 outlets. How we work →