ATLANTA STADIUM \u2014<\/strong> The contrasting levels of experience were as plain as day as Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni sat in the same seat that Thomas Tuchel, his England counterpart, had occupied minutes earlier on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n For Tuchel, Wednesday\u2019s FIFA World Cup semifinal between these two bitter historic soccer rivals is a completely new experience.<\/p>\n It\u2019s familiar territory for Scaloni.<\/p>\n Not only did his Argentina squad breeze past Croatia at this stage four years ago en route to winning the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Scaloni\u2019s Albiceleste also survived the semis on the way to consecutive Copa Am\u00e9rica titles in 2021 and 2024, when they equaled a feat only the Spanish team regarded as the best of all time had ever before accomplished by claiming three straight major tournament titles, a World Cup triumph bookended by a pair of continental championships.<\/p>\n Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni gives instructions to Lionel Messi during the last minutes of the 2026 World Cup quarterfinal match against Switzerland. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n “The way I see it, this is already a … I wouldn’t call it a victory,” Scaloni said. “But what these guys have given us over the last few years is spectacular. That\u2019s what I\u2019m holding onto, and that mindset will let us take the field much more calmly.”<\/p>\n That\u2019s not the case for England, even if more than half of its 26-man World Cup roster was on the squad that lost to Spain in the Euro 2024 final.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s definitely not the case for Tuchel, who is experiencing his first international tournament of his career this summer. The pressure is immense for the Three Lions, who haven\u2019t so much as made it to the final match of a World Cup since winning the country\u2019s only major title all the way back in 1966. “It’s nonstop knockout football, which is quite nerve-wracking,” Tuchel admitted.<\/p>\n Meantime, Argentina is playing with house money. La Albiceleste\u2019s trophy case is full. And if you actually believe the bookies, England is the slight favorite to win. That\u2019s a bet Scaloni would gladly take if he was allowed to.<\/p>\n “Our hopes are very much alive, and we are eternally grateful to these players for taking us to another World Cup semifinal, considering how difficult it is to get this far,” Scaloni said. “Personally, I believe we need to place immense value on what we\u2019ve achieved \u2014 regardless of the fact that we\u2019ll try with all our might to reach the final. Given the stage we\u2019re at and the teams that have been eliminated, I think it\u2019s a huge achievement, and we should view it as such. The thing is, we\u2019ve done so many good things that sometimes it just doesn’t feel like enough for us \u2014 myself included.”<\/p>\n The key for Argentina is obvious: stopping England stars Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane. Norway and Mexico were able to contain Kane in the Three Lions’ last two games; the Bayern Munich striker\u2019s lone goal came from the penalty spot. Bellingham, however, scored twice against both foes.<\/p>\n “They are two great players \u2014 among the best in the world,” Scaloni said. “Honestly, they\u2019re the kind of players any coach would love to have. We\u2019ll certainly try to neutralize them using our own strengths and prevent them from having a good game.”<\/p>\n Having that championship experience will help. While England overcame deficits to defeat Norway and DR Congo in the knockout stage, Argentina has been every bit as resilient. It also has a guy named Lionel Messi, whose eight goals has him tied atop the World Cup\u2019s Golden Boot race with France\u2019s Kylian Mbapp\u00e9.<\/p>\n “We have a culture where we never write off a match as lost,” Scaloni said.<\/p>\n That same culture demands that the team never rests on its laurels, even if the pressure isn\u2019t quite the same as it was in Qatar. Messi was supposed to retire after that World Cup. Argentina hadn\u2019t scaled the mountain since before the GOAT was born, when Diego Maradona led Argentina to glory in Mexico in 1986.<\/p>\n Lionel Messi of Argentina lifts the 2022 FIFA World Cup trophy after beating France in the final in Qatar. (Photo by Tom Jenkins\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY ATLANTA STADIUM \u2014 The contrasting levels of experience were as plain as day as Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni sat in the same seat that Thomas Tuchel, his England counterpart, had occupied minutes earlier on Tuesday evening. For Tuchel, Wednesday\u2019s FIFA World Cup semifinal between these two bitter historic soccer rivals is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}