Argentina’s forward #10 Lionel Messi celebrates after winning the 2026 World Cup football tournament quarter-final match between Argentina and Switzerland on the Kansas City Stadium in Kansas City on July 11, 2026. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP)
A month after the expanded, 48-team tournament kicked off, the World Cup is all the way down to the semifinal stage with France and Spain preparing to face off on Tuesday before holders Argentina renew their bitter rivalry with England the next day.
The South Americans and their talisman Lionel Messi were the last team to clinch a spot in the ultimate 4 after they overcame 10-man Switzerland in beyond regular time late Saturday in Kansas City.
A surprising strike by Julian Alvarez and a Lautaro Martinez goal right on the death settled that quarter-final in Argentina’s favour after Switzerland’s Dan Ndoye had responded to Alexis Mac Allister’s opener to force beyond regular time.
Argentina is bidding to grow to be the primary team to win back-to-back World Cups since Brazil in 1962, and now head to Atlanta to play an England side led by Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane.
Aiming to win a primary major trophy since 1966, England had Bellingham to thank on Saturday as his two goals secured a 2-1 extra-time win over Norway in Miami.
“The result’s incredible. The last 4 is amazing, but not comfortable with the performance… we were very lucky today,” admitted England coach Thomas Tuchel.
It’s just the fourth time England has reached a World Cup semifinal, after 1966, 1990 and 2018. They’ve lost their last two, while Argentina have won on each of their six previous semifinal appearances.
Wednesday’s clash comes 40 years after a seismic encounter within the 1986 World Cup quarter-finals in Mexico.
Argentina secured a 2-1 victory on the Estadio Azteca with two goals from Diego Maradona — one the infamous “Hand of God”, and the opposite a stunning solo effort considered considered one of the best ever World Cup goals.
For Maradona’s heir, Messi, it’ll be his 206th international appearance, but his first ever against England.
The match will even happen against the backdrop of a lingering sovereignty dispute over the Falkland Islands within the South Atlantic Ocean.
Britain sent a military taskforce in 1982 to reclaim the islands after Argentine troops invaded.
“The message is it is a football game. That’s what I can say,” insisted Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni.
“It’s a football game and we will probably be playing against a really tough opponent. They’ve a wonderful coach and it is a football game and that’s all.”
The winners of that game will advance to the July 19 final on the MetLife Stadium just outside Recent York City, where they’ll face France or Spain.
Yamal vs Mbappe
France’s Kylian Mbappe (10) celebrates his team victory at the top of the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Paraguay and France in Philadelphia, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
For the primary time at a World Cup, the draw was done in such a way as to make sure the 4 highest-ranked nations were kept apart.
Spain, Argentina, France and England were effectively seeded to all avoid one another before the semis, provided they topped their groups.
READ: World Cup: Lamine Yamal says France should fear Spain ahead of semis
That is precisely what has happened, with France and Spain facing off in Arlington, just outside Dallas, on Tuesday in a repeat of their meeting within the Euro 2024 semifinals.
Spain triumphed 2-1 then before happening to lift the trophy, with Lamine Yamal scoring an exceptional goal days prior to his seventeenth birthday.
This time, the World Cup clash will probably be played a day after he turns 19, and a big a part of Spain’s hopes lie with him.
Nonetheless, the Barcelona starlet got here into the tournament carrying an injury, and has not had the specified impact to this point, scoring just once in six games.
“I feel Lamine must calm the anxiety he sometimes has because he wants to point out how vital a player he’s for us,” Spain captain Rodri said Sunday.
“He’s a really intelligent kid nevertheless it is true that he is just 19 at the top of the day.”
France’s talisman Kylian Mbappe has had a rare impact, scoring eight goals, including one within the quarterfinal win over Morocco.
Mbappe is tied with Messi within the race for the Golden Boot, and one behind the Argentine’s all-time World Cup record of 21 goals.
Spain’s conservative ex-prime minister Mariano Rajoy faced criticism Sunday after saying the France team had “no French players.”
The comment, published in an opinion piece in Spanish online news site El Debate, was condemned by Spain’s current Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez as “xenophobic”.
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France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told French channel BFMTV that Rajoy’s comment was “absolutely unacceptable”.