ATLANTA STADIUM \u2014 <\/strong>Lionel Messi and Argentina are headed back to the World Cup final.<\/p>\n Just when it looked as though the end of the road had arrived for the GOAT on the biggest stage in sports, the Albiceleste came back to win a World Cup semifinal for the ages 2-1 over England on late goals by Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez and substitute Lautaro Mart\u00ednez.<\/p>\n Anthony Gordon opened the scoring for England earlier in the second half off a perfect cross from Morgan Rogers \u2014 a goal that kept the Three Lions in front until there were just five minutes of regular time remaining.<\/p>\n But Fern\u00e1ndez \u2014 who plays his club soccer for Premier League side Chelsea \u2014 scored a brilliant long-range equalizer off a pass from Messi. Fern\u00e1ndez then sealed another famous win for Argentina over its trans-Atlantic rival in stoppage time.<\/p>\n It was a fitting end to an instant classic. The atmosphere was off the charts in Georgia\u2019s capital, with two of the most fervent supporters in sports taking over the city in the lead-up to the match. But while the packed crowd of almost 70,000 leaned decisively Argentine \u2014 Albiceleste fans completely drowned out “God Save the King” before kickoff, the English seemed destined to finally return to the World Cup final for the first time since they won their only major trophy way back in 1966.<\/p>\n Argentina will now take on Spain in Sunday\u2019s title match at New York New Jersey Stadium, while England will head to a consolation match on Saturday against France in Miami.<\/p>\n Here are four takeaways from Wednesday\u2019s unforgettable encounter.<\/p>\n In addition to the world title they won four years ago in Qatar, Scaloni\u2019s team also won the Copa Am\u00e9rica as South American champions in 2021 and 2024, joining Spain\u2019s 2008-2012 squad as the only nation to win the World Cup and a pair of continental titles on either side.<\/p>\n Now the Albiceleste will go for an unprecedented fourth straight major tournament title.<\/p>\n Just getting the chance is an unbelievable achievement for a team that, despite its recent record, was not considered one of the favorites to win this World Cup.<\/p>\n And maybe they won\u2019t. Still, who would bet against this team? A day before the match, Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said the following: “We have a culture where we never write off a match as lost.”<\/p>\n Before Wednesday\u2019s epic, Argentina came back from near death a couple of times during the knockout stage. On this day, they stared the Grim Reaper in the face and laughed. While Spain might be the better team on paper, that piece of paper will mean nothing when the World Cup final kicks off.<\/p>\n For England, a 60-year World Cup drought will continue for at least another four years.<\/p>\n Getting to Sunday\u2019s title match at New York New Jersey Stadium would have been a major hurdle on the way to breaking that streak. As Tuchel said on Tuesday, they\u2019ve been getting closer. This was the Three Lions’ second World Cup semifinal appearance in three tournaments; they also lost the final of the European Championship in 2020 (which was played in 2021 because of the global coronavirus pandemic) and 2024.<\/p>\n Tuchel signed a contract extension before this World Cup. England will be one of the contenders for Euro 2028. Still, captain Harry Kane will be 34 then, with no obvious replacement coming up behind him. It\u2019s hard to imagine Jude Bellingham being better than he was over the last few games, though both superstars were quiet against Argentina.<\/p>\n The point is, there is no guarantee that this sort of opportunity will come around again in the next few years. Just ask anyone who is old enough to remember that glorious summer in London 60 years ago this month. This was a chance squandered \u2014 one England\u2019s players and fans will be thinking about for a long time to come.<\/p>\n In a match stocked with superstars, it was Messi\u2019s supporting cast that came to his rescue on Wednesday. For the second time in three matches, defensive-minded midfielder Fern\u00e1ndez scored a hugely important goal to help keep Argentina in the World Cup.<\/p>\n Mart\u00ednez, the captain of Inter Milan and for years now the best player in all of Italy\u2019s Serie A, would start for just about any other country. Yet he played the hero off the bench again, just as he did by sealing the Albiceleste\u2019s quarterfinal win over Switzerland last Saturday, just like he did by scoring the game-winner over Colombia in the 2024 Copa final.<\/p>\n Not even the GOAT wins alone. Though Messi might be the straw that stirs the drink and the inspiration for the rest of his teammates, he\u2019ll need help to hoist another World Cup on Sunday. Win or lose, that help will be there.<\/p>\n Both Argentina and England entered Wednesday\u2019s contest knowing what was in store should they prevail, with Spain having defeated France in Dallas a day earlier to advance to the decisive match of the biggest sporting event on the planet. Now we all know.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a fitting end to what will go down as the greatest World Cup of all time. Spain is the reigning European champion, having beaten this same English squad two summers ago in the Euro 2024 final. Argentina has claimed the last two Copa Am\u00e9rica titles as South America champions. Oh, and they also happen to be the World Cup holders.<\/p>\n As we saw with their ferocious showing against the English in Atlanta, the Albiceleste will not relinquish their hard-earned crown without a knock-down, drag-out fight \u2014 even against a team that is considered the stronger one by the sports books. Lionel Messi & Co. are trying to become the first repeat World Cup champion since Brazil, led by Pele, repeated all the way back in 1962.<\/p>\n Spain has everything to play for, too. For all their pedigree, La Roja has won just one World Cup, in 2010. The pre-tournament favorites are determined to add to that tally with the help of a player many consider as Messi\u2019s most obvious successor: 19-year-old fellow Barcelona academy product Lamine Yamal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY ATLANTA STADIUM \u2014 Lionel Messi and Argentina are headed back to the World Cup final. Just when it looked as though the end of the road had arrived for the GOAT on the biggest stage in sports, the Albiceleste came back to win a World Cup semifinal for the ages 2-1 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6744,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6745","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\/6745","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=6745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}