Lionel Messi's Argentina will face Harry Kane's England in the World Cup semi-finals at 00:45 in the morning. Spain is eagerly awaiting the match between these two teams as their final opponents.

The world of football is waiting for the match between Argentina and England. Especially the long-standing political tension between the two countries has been adding more spice to football.

Lionel Scaloni's Argentina is in the running to win the World Cup for the second time in a row. The last time such a success was achieved by Brazil, which won two consecutive times in 1962. Now, a similar opportunity has come to Argentina, led by Messi.

Under Messi's captaincy, Argentina won the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, which was widely expected to be Messi's last World Cup. But surprising everyone, the 39-year-old Messi has not only led Argentina to a second consecutive title, but has also become a contender for the Golden Boot race by scoring 8 goals.

He is now playing a more important role, scoring against Cape Verde and Egypt in the knockout stages as Argentina reached the semi-finals. But Argentina face a different opponent in Atlanta, with England occasionally showing their best.

Thomas Tuchel's team relies heavily on Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham, who have scored 12 of England's 13 goals at the World Cup. Kane and Bellingham have each scored six goals and are trailing Messi and Kylian Mbappe in the race for the Golden Boot.

Argentina and England are meeting for the first time since the 2002 World Cup. Tuchel says he feels no pressure despite the historic significance of the match. England are seeking their first title since 1966. 

‘I don’t feel any pressure,’ said Tuchel, ‘we can feel tension and nerves, but that’s normal . I’ve seen the players looking forward to this game with competition, hunger and excitement, which I like. ’ Tuchel said Declan Rice had been fit after being ill. 

In 1982, England and Argentina fought a war over the Falkland Islands, where British forces defeated Argentina and took control of the islands. Despite the defeat, Argentina still claims the islands as theirs. 

Four years after the Falklands War, world football was rocked when Diego Maradona showed his magic.  When Argentina and England faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, Maradona scored the first goal with his hand, which he called the ‘hand of God’. Shortly afterwards, he scored the best goal in World Cup history with a solo effort from the middle of the pitch, giving England goalkeeper Peter Shilton no chance.

Maradona led Argentina to the World Cup. He died in 2020 at the age of 60. Argentina midfielder Alexis McAllister says Maradona has had a huge impact on the current team.

‘Diego has represented his country many times, we will try to repeat what he did in 1986,’ McAllister said. The 27-year-old Liverpool player was a member of Argentina’s 2022 World Cup winning squad. McAllister also believes that Maradona had a skill that was different from others.

‘He could give the team any performance they needed, it’s almost impossible to repeat that now, Messi can perform like Maradona,’ McAllister said.

Scaloni said he would play football without having anything to do with war or politics. ‘The reality is that this is a game of football, I don’t want to mix everything up, especially something that happened a long time ago,’ Scaloni said. ‘There were bad times in our history, we couldn’t do anything like that, this is a game of football, that’s the reality.’