Opinion

Argentina sinks English dreams, enters World Cup soccer final

Argentina will now face Spain in the FIFA World Cup final, with global attention focused on the championship clash

July 16, 2026

Messi breaks England, sets up Argentina–Spain final

When Anthony Gordon scored a goal and put England 1-0 up in the semifinal of the FIFA World Cup match against Argentina, it was felt that for the first time in the history of the quadrennial ‘war’ for supremacy, the world would miss a Latin American challenger in the final encounter. In the history of the FIFA World Cup, only Germany has succeeded in winning the cup on South American soil when they defeated Argentina in the 2014 final played in Brazil.

But Lionel Messi messed up the English dreams as Argentina not only equalized but also went on to shatter the King’s team by scoring the match winner. It was proved again that 39-year-old Messi is just not a pushover, but he is a tough task master. He led the team from the front without any fanfare and won the bout by playing the crucial role in Argentina’s two goals scored by Enzo Fernández and Lautaro Martínez. One can understand the joy and happiness of the people in Argentina as a small town by the name of Perumbavoor in Kerala started celebrating the Argentine victory at 02:30 hrs, within minutes of the final whistle. The bursting of firecrackers, which began as the referee blew the final whistle, has not ended even after one hour, while out in the thoroughfares across Kerala, fans are dancing to the tunes of drums and pipes. It is almost sure that a majority of the fans here do not know where Argentina is, what the capital city is, or even the language the Argentines speak.

From the word go, England took command, and this culminated in Gordon’s goal. The Argentinians made the English over confident a la the strategy adopted by them against Egypt. The Pharaohs were overjoyed when they took a commanding lead of 2-0 over Argentina in the quarter-final match, but that was simply vaporized as Messi and his men walked all over them after the 2-0 deficit.

Now, the whole world will see whether Argentina will walk away with the FIFA World Cup on Sunday as they take on Spain in the final. The match assumes significance for two reasons. It is going to be Messi’s swan song as the 39-year-old has to bow out after this match. Time is running out, and Messi is not getting any younger. The burden is on Spain to break the tradition that it is tough for Europeans to win the Cup on American soil. Only Germany has achieved this feat when they defeated Argentina 1-0 in the 2014 final played in Brazil. But Spain is not Germany, while Messi always makes a difference to the fortunes of Argentina. So, till Sunday…

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