FIFA World Cup 2026: It’s a Messi affair as England take on Argentina!

As Team England prepare to face Lionel Messi for the first time ever in Tuesdayrsquos mouthwatering World Cup quarterfinal the mercurial Argentine skipper clearly seems to have become their obsessionAlmost every English footballer mdash past or present mdash has something to say about Argentinarsquos World Cupwinning captain and super strikerNico OrsquoReilly and Jordan PickfordEngland goalkeeper Jordan Pickford is confident his team will keep their cool against Messi and ArgentinaldquoEveryone will talk about Messi because hersquos one of the GOATs greatest of all time of the game But you canrsquot look past the ability and the talent wersquove got in our squad mdash going forward defensively togetherness Wersquove got it all there and thatrsquos what we need to put on show on Wednesday We all know how good Messi is but we also know how good Argentina are We canrsquot solely rely on stopping Messi Wersquove got to focus on their other strengths and weaknessesrdquo Englandrsquos Everton goalkeeper Pickford said on match eve hereJamie Carragher and Joe ColeEnglandrsquos leftback Nico OrsquoReilly who is one of the deep defenders charged with having to mark Messi oneonone is looking forward to this ldquoonceinalifetime opportunityrdquoldquoI canrsquot wait Itrsquos a onceinalifetime opportunity He Messi is coming towards the end of his career For me hersquos the best player to ever touch a football pitchrdquo OrsquoReilly told BBC Messi has scored 21 goals in 32 World Cup appearancesFormer England star Joe Cole has boldly claimed that the Three Lions will put Lionel Messi to bed ldquoWe will have to put Lionel Messi to bed Wersquore going to put him to bed We are 100 per cent Irsquom saying it now England are going to the World Cup final wersquove got too much pace for Argentina and wersquore going to beat them I feel it in my bonesrdquo Cole told The Rest is Football podcastMeanwhile another England internationalturnedfootballpundit Jamie Carragher believes England should exploit Messirsquos defensive vulnerabilities ldquoThere has to be a plan I donrsquot think it will be a manmarking job but they need a plan Also they should be thinking about how they can exploit Messi He walks about when the opposition have got the ball so that doesnrsquot mean Englandrsquos leftback should stand next to him for the whole of the game They can exploit the fact that Argentina only defend with nine outfield playersrdquo Carragher said8No of goals Lionel Messi has scored so far across six matches at this ongoing World Cup17No of goals scored by Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup mdash the most by any team21No of years since Argentina last faced England mdash in a friendly in 2005Key matchups to look out forHarry KaneLionel Messi vs Harry KaneBoth are leading goalscorers for their sides in the tournament with Messi scoring eight times and England captain Kane netting six goals Both teams will be banking on their respective skippers to deliver the goods once again in the penultimate roundJulian Alvarez and Jude BellinghamJulian Alvarez vs Jude BellinghamThe battle of the rising stars who are in red hot form Alvarez scored a screamer in Argentinarsquos late win over Switzerland in the quarterfinal while Bellingham has scored a brace in each of Englandrsquos previous two wins over Mexico and Norway They will hope to create the same impact tonightEmiliano MartinezEmiliano Martinez vs Jordan PickfordArgentine goalkeeper Martinez is known for his antics and mind games in penalty shootouts which he used in the previous edition to get under the skin of France in the final Englandrsquos Pickford was good too in their 32 win over Mexico despite being a man down in the last16 match Both goalkeepers have two clean sheets each and have conceded six goals apiece so far Their shotstopping will be decisive given the attacking talent on both sidesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever