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In Atlanta turned Buenos Aires, it was inevitable that in the end, Lionel Messi would eclipse all. A dark night for English football made gloomier still by the darkest of arts, until Argentinian quality finally won the day.

The first thing to say is that England lost the World Cup semi-final through their own craven fear. The retreat they had got away with in Mexico, they were never going to pull off against the world champions. Exhaustion played its part, the space around Enzo Fernandez gaping at the end of an epic summer; this was simply one battle too far.

Lionel Scaloni deserves his flowers too, for his substitutions had precisely the opposite effect to Thomas Tuchel’s. Where Anthony Gordon was withdrawn after putting England within touching distance of history, Rodrigo De Paul and Lautaro Martinez began the onslaught that ultimately broke the English resistance.

But it was the majesty of Messi, with both assists, which transcended the cagey bittiness of the piece. In the first half, he lost possession 15 times and still was able to transform the tempo once Tuchel invited him to dance. His colleagues are supposedly so reverent towards their captain that they are willing to sacrifice all to ensure he wins a second World Cup; their antics of the first 45 minutes (which entailed 19 fouls from both sides combined) did no such thing, robbing the semi-final of the rhythm at which Messi could play. By the end: 33 goal contributions in 33 World Cup matches.

A Simeone by name and by nature, decades after his father had got David Beckham sent off young Giuliano was the guiltiest party. In the first 40 minutes he committed five fouls without a yellow card; Elliot Anderson brought Messi down once, immediately making it into the book.

The seven sins of Simeone and co

• Fernandez’s shove on Elliot Anderson’s neck
• Fernandez holding Anderson off the ball

• Simeone’s foul on Pickford
• Paredes trying to get Kane booked
• Simeone’s theatrics against Pickford
• Simeone’s arm in Spence’s face
• Romero pulling back Bellingham

Anderson’s role inverted from hunter to hunted; he began on a Messi man-marking mission and was soon the chief target, Fernandez ploughing a hand into the back of his neck. No card. Nor for kneeling on Anderson on the floor away from the ball.

Simeone’s arm would make its way into Djed Spence’s face, Jordan Pickford’s chest, and onto the deck under the slightest of contact from the England goalkeeper. The referee was mobbed in the moments after the Anderson foul on Messi and again when Harry Kane spoke to the officials; Leandro Paredes insinuated that Kane should be booked for covering his mouth, in a stadium so raucous the national anthem could not be heard before kick-off.  

The Paredes incident was “pathetic,” summarised Joe Hart on punditry duty. The rivalry here was a political as well as a sporting one, making the manner of the defeat more galling to English eyes; Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso held up a banner proclaiming Las Malvinas Son Argentinas (The Falklands are Argentine). Before the match, fans set Union Jacks alight in the streets.

If Argentina do go on to beat Spain, their journey to the final has earned them other nemeses along the way. From the disallowed Egyptian goal to the Switzerland sending off, there is rightly or wrongly a perception that they have benefited persistently from refereeing decisions. The antics of Fernandez and Simeone could have earned at least five yellow cards between them. Instead bookings were for Lisandro Martinez, De Paul and – predictably for those of a Tottenham Hotspur persuasion – Romero, for a cynical pull on Jude Bellingham.

Defend their title and Argentina create a dynasty. Win a second World Cup and Messi will surpass Diego Maradona; every dynasty needs a great monarch. That may be enough to create romance as Messi walks off into the sunset. It won’t be enough to make Argentina popular champions.

Read more

• World Cup: England vs Argentina player ratings as ‘rusty’ Rice and James score 5/10
• Kevin Garside: England’s gamble backfires spectacularly as 60 years of pain goes on

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ATLANTA — Hindsight is everything but we all saw it coming. In homes and public houses up and down England, you turned to your left or right and concluded that England were sitting too deep and inviting too much pressure. You didn’t even need to consider yourself an aficianado or expert. How can that happen: a nation shouting at the man supposed to know best and the nation being right?

There was Mexico, when it worked. But then Mexico didn’t actually have a brilliant set of attackers and midfielders. Argentina did. They wanted the pitch to be small and they wanted the best player of all time to have seconds in which to plan his next move and England gave Argentina both. Some things happen for a reason and sometimes that reason is you.

If you have proven your capability to control a match, its tempo and its destiny. If you have attacking depth on the bench that has proven its worth. Then why on earth would you let that slip and invite a wave that you cannot hold? It was unfathomable then and it will remain so on Thursday morning as England awakens to one of those hangovers.

There has been an otherworldliness to this England World Cup campaign, ethereal, intangible strands that make it feel unreal and impossible to hold in your hand. We spent a group stage wondering whether England were good and most of the knockout stage presuming that we must be. And now we don’t really know again.

The defence had been the best indicator of the weirdness. England have now had three different centre-back pairings and two different starting left-backs. They have started four different players at right-back and that makes six different starting back fours. This isn’t normal in a major tournament.

The irony of this summer is that this has been a moments team, as everybody keeps saying. But then those moments have been surrounded – and even overshadowed – by a deliberate defensive strategy that has done far more to define their performance.

In the altitude of Mexico City, that felt permissible even if our cheer was entirely guided by the outcome. England were brave and heroic because the situation demanded it. England had 10 men and their 10 men were here to fight. They also pulled it off.

Against Argentina, a better attack but a defence that could be pulled out of position, it was an act of tactical cowardice. All of the substitutions were abject, but taking off Anthony Gordon for Ezri Konsa and swapping to a back six that became a seven, eight, nine? Highly risky. And when the risk punches you back in the face you deserve the criticism. I will think about that switch with 30 minutes to go until Euro 2028.

It is no exaggeration to say that Thomas Tuchel was appointed for those last 30 minutes. The knockout king who would finally not let England be fazed by the elite opponent or the game state. The elite winner. The single tournament gun for hire to Get. It. Done.

After his appointment, Tuchel spoke of England’s fear of winning and attacking being the cause for falling short in 2024. England had 12 per cent of the ball between scoring and Argentina’s winner. They recorded 0.07 xG in that 37 minutes. How did the manager appointed to be brave embrace the fear culture more than anyone else before him?

If cowardice was the accusation spat by many at Gareth Southgate in the final of 2021 and most of the way through 2024, how could it not be the same here? This is a better team than we had in 2021. This was an easier path than the past World Cup, when England didn’t really play like this at all.

You see this isn’t the same – it is worse. This is a new era under a new manager. This was supposed to be the future not the extension of a recent past that made everybody argue with each other. We were told that it would be different because we had an elite winner who would not make the same mistakes. Add this one to the pile.

It’s not just that Tuchel failed to make good on his remit. It is that we saw the worst of him in that 30 minutes. He stared an elite opponent in the face and said…. “Oh actually yeah we’re going to try and sit on this and bring on loads of defenders”. It was an act of gross negligence given his supposed remit.

Read more

• World Cup: England vs Argentina player ratings as ‘rusty’ Rice and James score 5/10
• Kevin Garside: England’s gamble backfires spectacularly as 60 years of pain goes on

There will be many layers to this England exit and the future is complicated. The manager has extended his contract, an attempt to create certainty. Jude Bellingham is the leading light of the national team and hopefully that will remain. The great striker will have two more years on the clock when it really matters again and Harry Kane seemed broken post-match. The defence is weak and might need rebuilding.

The principal conclusion is the same as two years ago, four years ago, six years ago: what if? What might have been if England had looked to maximise their prodigious strength? Defending deep takes guts; we saw that in Mexico. Backing yourself to avoid defending deep – that takes more.

Southgate ultimately paid the price for failing that final task, despite all his good. In the USA, so too did Tuchel. Losing hurts so much. Losing in the same way as before hurts three times as badly. As the song we’re so damn sick of hearing goes: “We’ve seen it all before.” Curse those who promised that things had changed.

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ATLANTA — It was coming, the only surprise being the goals did not come from the boot of Lionel Messi.

England were just six minutes from a second World Cup final, their stop Messi protocols keeping Argentina at bay, when first Enzo Fernandez and then Lautaro Martinez broke English hearts.

Questions will inevitably be asked about the deployment of blanket defence to steal a win but that would ignore the nature of a brilliant game that was always going to be claimed aggressively.

England delivered their most compelling performance of this tournament to take a deserved lead. A Djed Spence tackle that halved Giuliano Simeone as he bore down on goal was received like a goal at the other end by the relieved England fans.

Jordan Pickford’s reflex palming of the ball to safety on the line was met with open mouths on both sides of the stadium. Argentina hit the post twice in this intense spell and ultimately it was their will and spirit that prevailed.

The world has its Messi final against Spain and England go to Miami to fight over third place.

The anthems at the start set the tone, drowned out by the opposition jeering. Not unexpected and wholly additive to the atmosphere. The acoustics in the Atlanta stadium were conceived for this moment, the full we are going in, it’s now or never.

England responded to the primal prompts, hurrying Argentina into an error from the kickoff. There was in these early stages purpose and intent from England that we had glimpsed only briefly in this tournament, a connection across the pitch that forced Argentina into a sequence of barely legal defensive actions that had more to do with wrestling than football.

The principal perpetrator was Giuliano Simeone, who appeared set on emulating the shithousery perpetrated by his father and Atletico Madrid coach, Diego, who tormented David Beckham at the 1998 World Cup. The family business is in good hands.

With half an hour gone and neither keeper troubled, the match boiled between the Ds. England edged possession but not in a way that troubled Argentina unduly, until they encroached the box. At which point out came the dark blue scythe.

The match was waiting for its first Messi moment. It arrived following an uncharacteristic mistake by Declan Rice. Messi collected possession on the edge of the centre circle. No one insinuates his way past human shields more balletically than he. The space opened before him, sucking white shirts into panicked defensive movements. First Spence and then Elliot Anderson dived in, resulting in the first yellow of the match for the latter.

England had survived with a warning. This is how it would be, England dialled in for the first time since the second half against Croatia in the opening group game, taking the game to Argentina, who in turn buckled up and looked for Messi on the break.

Half-time suited Argentina most. England were growing in stature, at last punching with authority. Like any boxer who falls back on the ropes, Argentina appeared increasingly vulnerable to the big strike.

Equally this is their natural state, existing on the edge of chaos. They are comfortable absorbing pressure and when the opportunity presents assume rapid attacking shapes, with Messi lurking at the tip of the spear.

Read more

• England: Meet the Bellinghams – the family behind England’s World Cup talisman
• Kevin Garside: The referee conspiracy that kickstarted Argentina’s hatred of English football

Ironically it was just as Argentina were enjoying their best spell of pressure at the start of the second half that England cut through, Rice jumping on to a loose ball to send Rogers free down the right. It was training ground stuff from there, Rogers crossing for Anthony Gordon to tap home at the far post.

As the celebrations exploded in front of the England fans Messi stood in the centre circle with hands on hips. He was not catching his breath. He was stoking the engine. The next half hour would be his last meaningful minutes in the World Cup unless he were able to summon his best.

He did, getting bigger and bigger as the minutes ticked by. Was it ever in doubt?

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The brilliance of Brazilian great and record three-time World Cup winner Pele. The England men’s team hoisting the trophy back in 1966. Lionel Messi following in Diego Maradona’s footsteps.

The Fifa World Cup has given us many of history’s great sporting moments, and in turn a plethora of iconic photographs through which these moments live on.

With commentary also from Julian Ridgway, managing archive editor at Getty Images, here is a visual look at players before the world knew what they would become – early archive shots of footballers who later defined the tournament.

Pele

Where better to start than with the late, great Pele – the only man with three World Cup winners’ medals in the history of football.

Edson Arantes do Nascimento, the boy who became the iconic centre-piece of a star-studded Brazilian generation, was pictured in football kit aged 10 in Bauru, a municipality in Sao Paulo.

Few may have predicted that eight years later, as a still-diminutive teenager he would become the youngest player to both play and score at a World Cup, achieving the latter record – which he still holds – when he found the net in the 1958 quarter-final against Wales aged 17 years and 239 days old.

Days later, Pele became the youngest scorer of a World Cup hat-trick when he bagged a treble in the space of just over 20 minutes during Brazil’s semi-final victory over France. He scored twice more in that year’s final against Sweden, leading Brazil to its first title. The Brazilians repeated as World Cup champions in 1962, despite their trend-setting talisman suffering a tournament-ending injury in the second match after scoring and assisting in the first.

Following a disappointing 1966 campaign for Brazil, Pelé led his country to its third title in 1970 with a further four goals; the last of those, which was also Brazil’s 100th goal at a World Cup – celebrated with a leap of joy into the arms of teammate Jairzinho – came in the 4-1 demolition of Italy, alongside two of his six assists at the tournament.

Pele died aged 82 in December 2022, his name firmly etched in football’s history books as well as the sport’s never-ending “GOAT’ (Greatest Of All Time) debate.

Sir Bobby Charlton

Capitalisng on the biggest blip in Brazil’s Pele-era success, England battled to World Cup glory on home soil in 1966 – a triumph that remains the defining moment in footballing history for the nation’s men’s team.

Playing a central role in that successful campaign was Sir Bobby Charlton, with England’s attacking midfield dynamo scoring two particularly pivotal goals to down Portugal in the semi-final and set-up a Wembley meeting with West Germany. He went on to win the Ballon d’Or the same year, becoming the first Englishman to do so after pipping Portugal’s Eusébio, and finished second in voting for the award in the two years that followed.

Charlton, who racked up a then-record 106 caps and 49 goals for his country, featured for England at three World Cups in total – 1962, 1966 and 1970 – after being an unused squad member in 1958, the year he made his debut.

A few months before that tournament in Sweden, the 20-year-old from Northumberland was pictured having some light-hearted fun with England teammates during a training session at Roehampton. Eight years later, he was a world beater.

Manchester United legend Charlton, who died aged 86 in 2023, is considered by many to be England’s greatest-ever player.

Sir Geoff Hurst

Charlton’s performances earned him the Ballon d’Or in 1966, but it was ultimately the goals of striker Geoff Hurst that saw England emerge victorious from that year’s World Cup final.

Hurst scored three of them in total, marking the first-ever hat-trick in a World Cup final. In the six decades that have followed, the 84-year-old has so far seen just one man – Kylian Mbappe – repeat that feat.

An image from Getty’s archives, dated 11 February 1964, showed the former West Ham frontman studying tea leaves for a prediction of his side’s FA Cup tie against Swindon that month – a match which the Hammers went on to win, with Hurst scoring, en route to victory in the final of that competition with Hurst on the score sheet once again.

It would be another two years before Hurst made his senior England debut, but could the slight smile he sports in that old snap suggest that he foresaw what was to come? Perhaps!

Franz Beckenbauer

A key duel in the 1966 final pitted England’s Sir Bobby against Franz Beckenbauer of West Germany.

And that loss at Wembley was far from the end for der Kaiser (“the Emperor”), who scored to help send England home early from Mexico four years later. West Germany finished third at that 1970 World Cup but, with Beckenbauer named captain, went on to clinch the 1972 European Championship as the man himself won his first of two Ballon d’Ors.

Beckenbauer soon skippered his country to home World Cup glory in 1974 and later lifted the World Cup again with his country as a manager in 1990.

Regarded as one of football’s best and most influential players, Beckenbauer’s passing in 2024 at the age of 78 was met with an outpouring of tributes from fellow greats of the game.

Diego Maradona

Diego Maradona was far from an unknown name by the time of his victorious 1986 World Cup campaign with Argentina, having already become the first player to command new world record transfer fees twice with his moves to Barcelona and Napoli in the preceding years.

Still, that summer in Mexico saw el Pibe de Oro (“The Golden Boy”) reach another stratosphere, scoring five goals – including the now infamous “Hand of God” – and assisting five more to claim the Golden Ball for best player at the tournament.

At the age of 13, Maradona was playing with the Buenos Aires club’s junior side, Los Cebollitas. There, Getty photographer Eduardo Comesana captured the above photograph – the youngest the agency has of the late footballer, who died aged 60 in 2020 – sitting with his then-teammates in 1973, less than a decade before soaring to superstardom.

Gary Lineker

One member of the 1986 England squad on the wrong side Maradona’s “Hand of God” goal was Gary Lineker, who still managed to clinch the tournament’s Golden Boot award for top scorer with six goals despite going home after a quarter-final defeat to Argentina.

Above the picture celebrating his hat-trick against Poland at Mexico 1986, Lineker is pictured during the 1983-84 season, his first as a regular First Division player, just two years before he announced himself on the world stage.

Ronaldo Nazario

Ronaldo Nazario. The original Ronaldo. R9.

Ronaldo collected his first World Cup winners’ medal before he had played a single minute in the tournament. As a 17-year-old he was part of Brazil’s victorious 1994 squad and would go on to win the competition again in 2002, finishing his World Cup career with 15 goals.

In 2002, he was the tournament’s top scorer with eight goals, helping Brazil win their fifth and most recent title with both goals in the 2-0 win over Germany.

Cristiano Ronaldo

It is six World Cup finals appearances and out for Cristiano Ronaldo, we think, with the Portugal captain bowing out after their 2026 exit.

At 41, Ronaldo became the oldest ever player to appear in a World Cup knockout match and the second oldest to score in a World Cup game.

He has also scored and played in every edition (six) since the World Cup, although he was able to win the trophy.

Could he make the 2030 World Cup, co-hosted by Portugal? Time will tell. He will be 45 by then.

Lionel Messi

Qatar 2022 finally gave Lionel Messi the one prize that had eluded him. The Argentina captain scored seven goals during the tournament as his country won the World Cup for the first time since 1986.

Messi’s World Cup journey has spanned six tournaments. Along the way he became Argentina’s all-time leading World Cup appearance holder, the first player to win the Golden Ball award twice, and the World Cup’s leading scorer in history.

The boy from Rosario became many people’s GOAT.

Read more

• Daniel Storey: Jude Bellingham has made some people look very silly
• Daniel Storey: I couldn’t care less if magical Kylian Mbappe has one flaw

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When England have been down, Jude Bellingham has come to the rescue.

That was already the case before this World Cup, but in North America he has seized this role as talisman and utterly thrived.

As vital to England as Lionel Messi is to semi-final opponents Argentina, Bellingham has six goals at this World Cup. No midfielder has ever scored more at one World Cup, while only Pele was younger when scoring two or more goals in successive knockout games.

Against Mexico and then Norway, Bellingham carried England into the last four, and the Real Madrid midfielder is not done yet.

Ahead of a semi-final for the ages, get to know the key influences behind the boy from Stourbridge who hopes to conquer the world.

Denise Bellingham, mother

Jude’s “queen” has been the voice in his ear throughout his career and at this World Cup. Denise repeatedly reminded her son he was on a yellow card ahead of the quarter-final against Norway, and so risked suspension for the semi-final.

“My mum was telling me all week to watch my language, watch my tackles, watch my face, watch my emotions, so she drilled into me all week about being careful of that yellow card,” Jude said.

A former HR manager, Denise moved to Germany with Jude when he left boyhood club Birmingham City at 17, and like all good mothers she came to the rescue at Dortmund airport in 2023 when her son forgot his passport before a club trip to Marbella.

She then helped Jude settle in Madrid. “It is probably the biggest role of anyone, even probably more than my coaches and managers to be honest,” Jude wrote.

“Without my mum, sometimes I’d get too low with the lows or too high with the highs and I stay pretty humble because I’ve got her around. It’s also great to have her there because she’s a great laugh as well. We get on so well and we’re always doing stuff together.”

Mark Bellingham, father

A former footballer, Mark scored more than 700 non-league goals and played for almost as many clubs, going by the list on his Wikipedia: Catholic United, East Thurrock United, Chelmsford City, Halesowen Town, Cheltenham Town, Newport County, West Midlands Police, Sutton Coldfield Town, Bromsgrove Rovers, Stourbridge, Leamington, Hednesford Town, Causeway United, Daventry Town, Bedworth United, Wolverhampton Casuals, Hinckley, Bromsgrove Sporting, Cradley Town, Paget Rangers and Southam United.

Mark was born in Southend-on-Sea before swapping Essex for the West Midlands. He helped set up Stourbridge Juniors, Jude’s first club, and was a sergeant with West Midlands Police before fully focusing on his sons’ careers.

He became their agent and negotiated Jude’s £88.5m transfer to Real Madrid from Borussia Dortmund in 2023, and dealt with Dortmund again when Jobe moved there from Sunderland in 2025.

There in Germany, Mark reportedly held an “emotional conversation” near the dressing room with Dortmund’s sporting director Sebastian Kehl after Jobe was subbed off at half-time on his Bundesliga debut. The club reviewed their access after this incident.

Mark’s influence is said to have stretched to Jude’s media duties when with England. Notably, the player has gone out of his way to speak more at this World Cup, but at previous tournaments he had avoided speaking beyond his obligations despite his increasing influence within the squad.

Jobe Bellingham, brother

Two school years separate Jude – born June 2003 – and brother Jobe (born September 2005), and the younger Bellingham is now forging a similar path.

The 20-year-old came through Birmingham’s academy and played for Sunderland for two years before signing for Dortmund in 2025.

Also a midfielder, Jobe wears his first name on the back of his shirts, and was keen to stress joining Dortmund was “not to follow in anyone’s footsteps”.

Former Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray said of Jobe in 2023: “He doesn’t want to live off the back of his brother’s name – he wants to be the footballer he is and show people what he can do. He’s trying to create his own identity.”

The obvious question is whether the brothers will ever represent England together, and the signs are promising, with Jobe clocking 11 appearances for the under-21s and now wearing the captain’s armband under boss Lee Carsley.

“He’s going in the right direction,” Carsley said in November. “He’s got really good leadership qualities. He’s a brilliant example on and off the pitch to the rest of the players.”

Ashlyn Castro, partner

Jude’s girlfriend Ashlyn Castro is Californian and has been in attendance for England’s World Cup matches.

The model and influencer, who has more than one million followers across Instagram and TikTok, was pictured with Jude at the Madrid Open in April and the pair have reportedly been dating since 2025.

Read more

• Daniel Storey: Jude Bellingham has made some people look very silly
• Richard Edwards: I was one of 9,000 people at Jude Bellingham’s debut – at 16, he was awe-inspiring

William Bellingham, grandfather

“I think about my grandad, who passed away just before my England debut,” Jude said after England’s World Cup opening win over Croatia.

“He was so patriotic. He was an Englishman through and through. He could give you every fact about every war, every battle, every king and queen. I do think about him when that moment is coming.”

William Bellingham, Mark’s father, died in 2020. He served in the Army in Berlin, taught French, and was a contestant on Mastermind in 1987. His specialist subject? Nigeria 1900-1966, showcasing his passion for both travel and history, according to The Telegraph.

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ATLANTA – It was four hours before kick-off in Houston and Lionel Messi fever already offered the impression of a religious festival. An enterprising local sold massive signs of the great man’s face. I chatted to a guy who has four Messi tattoos and it’s only the ones on his legs that I was interested in seeing. A flurry of Argentinean broadcasters conducted interviews at 8am and barked the name of their king a little louder than every other word.

It was a guy who has travelled from Guatemala who I remember most. We talked breezily about how many times he had seen Messi play and how watching him transported the man to a different place spiritually. And then he stopped smiling for a moment: “It might be the last time I see him play, you know”.

That’s something I have been thinking about a lot during this tournament, not least because my own route was pre-planned and offered no escape to sneak in some bonus Lionel time. I knew that in Houston I was probably watching him play for the last time.

And now here I am, back in Atlanta because England have made a World Cup semi-final. And now they will face Lionel Messi for their first time ever. Maybe this will be the last time. Scratch that: maybe I’m even hoping that this will be last time given what it means for England.

The day before the match in Houston, I got a message from my mum: “Am I right in thinking that you are going to see Messi play?” That has become an irregular theme of my last decade or so. That’s why I’ve been thinking about these being my last times.

My mum got me into football. By the time I was five, my parents had divorced and it was me and her. I have a vivid memory of her going to the 1991 FA Cup final to watch Nottingham Forest, I think because it was the last Forest match before I started going. At age five, I had my first season ticket and we went to every home game from then on.

Soppy tweet: My mum was the one who first took me to football. We always said we would go together to watch Lionel Messi play for Barcelona. Bucket list item ticked off (assuming no warm-up injury). pic.twitter.com/7DrM0MuUgE

— Daniel Storey (@danielstorey85) December 2, 2017

Life then got in the way, as life tends to with adolescent boys. I started going with mates, then away games from university and the Forest connection between me and my mum disappeared. It was entirely selfish on my part, in that accidental way that kids are guilty of.

Several years later (and it should not have taken me that long), I had a sudden realisation: my mum hadn’t attended a single Forest match since we stopped going together. I still think that’s true now.

She just stopped. Without that deep mother-son connection, Forest and football had less meaning. She liked football in a way, I suppose, but really she was going because it was me and her and because it was the thing I loved more than anything in the world. I should have realised that and I’m an idiot for not doing so.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Messi got my mum back into football, even if that sounds saccharine and too good to be true. I don’t know how it happened and it absolutely wasn’t my doing, but she fell in love with watching him for Barcelona under Pep Guardiola and it snowballed from there. I would get regular weekend night messages telling me that he had scored twice and that I needed to see the pass for Andres Iniesta’s goal.

In December 2017, my mum and I went to Barcelona to watch them play twice in two days: La Liga and Champions League, two bites at it. Midway through the first half of the first match Messi picked up the ball deep, dribbled forward, exchanged a pass and tucked the ball past the goalkeeper. You know what the finish looked like; you’ve seen it so many times before.

My mum was moved to tears. “He scored,” was all she said. I am lucky enough to have watched 1,000 football matches live, probably more. That goal ranks as my favourite football memory. It was none of my own work, and yet I could see a connection between my mum and football reformed. Messi literally succeeded where I had let us down. She will call me a soppy sod for writing that paragraph, and rightly so.

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That was nine years ago. A lot has changed since. With a permanent job that means watching lots of matches live, my mum and I speak more about general football and what I’m doing than we do about Messi. But obviously it sticks with us both. You add the greatest player of my lifetime with your parent’s favourite player and you create an inevitable bond.

This is unforgivably twee, but I feel lucky watching Messi because I know how much she would love to be watching him. And I think all of us who get paid to watch any football, let alone him play, should remind ourselves at least once a day that we have got a disgracefully good thing going on.

This is all amplified by the last age of Messi, as we are experiencing now. My mum doesn’t watch his Inter Miami performances and nor do I. The last time before this World Cup that I got a message from my mum about watching Messi was the last time I saw him in the flesh: the 2022 World Cup final.

With no disrespect intended, Messi made the move to leave European football – six months after the last World Cup – to prolong his international career and give him one more shot. Seeing him in MLS would be like seeing him in training: a lot of fun, but just not quite the same. And it’s the purest form of Messi I’m interested in.

I think that’s true for the vast majority of people, certainly outside of the US. There is a sense of occasion when Messi plays for Argentina that is almost overwhelming to observe live. Watch the people around you. See how they are here only for one person. They have travelled the world to see this man perform and he never lets them down because he has engineered his entire experience to peak on this stage.

Read more

• Daniel Storey: Gianni Infantino is ruining the World Cup – one terrible idea at a time
• Kevin Garside: The referee conspiracy that kickstarted Argentina’s hatred of English football

The only caveat to Messi’s omnipotence is the power to halt time. There will be a last time eventually: for me, for every one of his disciples, for the man himself. It wasn’t Houston. Maybe it’s Atlanta, maybe it’s New Jersey. Maybe he has one more go in him.

Football will lose a part of itself; that’s both sentimental hogwash and entirely true all at once. He defined a super team and a generation. He was not the fastest, biggest or most powerful, but he had the most talent and he connected more people than anyone else. Attend an Argentina game and tell me I’m wrong.

I don’t even really care that – or if – Messi is the best. He is my favourite and always will be, in the same way that your grandparents spoke in hushed tones about the mythical superstars of their own time. I don’t think my mum will love football in the same way again – I’m not even sure that she’s bothered about trying.

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France 0-2 Spain

Didier Deschamps will bow out as France manager in defeat, emphatically denied a third successive World Cup final by Spain. It is the European champions who will face England or Argentina in New Jersey on Sunday after one of the most extraordinary no-shows.

France, almost universally accepted as the favourites, went missing when it mattered, falling behind for the first time at this tournament inside 22 minutes and never recovering.

Just as they did 16 years ago, Spain will have the chance to hold both major international titles simultaneously. Luis de la Fuente’s plan worked perfectly, the full-backs playing a starring role on the road to the final. For the best defence of the summer, it was another clean sheet.

Yet the greater surprise is that France crashed out with such meekness that it became hard to remember why they were thought indomitable just days ago. Having brushed aside the likes of Norway, Morocco and Sweden, Kylian Mbappe had no service, drifting left and right in search of the ball.

His teammates began to crumble the moment Lucas Digne brought down Lamine Yamal inside the box, the penalty converted expertly by Mikel Oyarzabal. The VAR found little in handball claims against Yamal, who turned 19 this week.

From there, and without Arsenal’s William Saliba who withdrew through injury, the defending did not improve – in fact, in spells France did not even attempt it, the same ponderous attitude that raised its head in the group stages. As Dayot Upamecano floundered, Pedro Porro seized on the space to finish with the side of his foot past Mike Maignan for just his second international goal.

Any prospect of a French fightback did not materialise, Desire Doue squandering the opportunity when Unai Simon came soaring off his line. Rodri continued to set the tempo and Marc Cucurella excelled on the left in Spain’s most accomplished display yet.

France were champions in Russia in 2018 and runners-up in Qatar four years ago, when they were beaten by Argentina. If England do reach the final, it will be Spain – who beat them in the showpiece at Euro 2024 – who lie in wait.

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