ATLANTA — At a certain point — let’s call it five minutes into this match, although it may have been before even that — it became obvious that the actual soccer being played Wednesday was almost secondary.
Forget about tactics. This was about the physicality, the noise and the emotion. It all rode over Mercedes-Benz Stadium like waves Wednesday, crashing down again and again onto England and Argentina. The Battle of Atlanta came after a 24-year gap between competitive games for these two teams and so much history. Managers Thomas Tuchel and Lionel Scaloni insisted Tuesday that it was just another game, that none of that would factor in. What nonsense.
Much of this game was ugly and overly physical and largely devoid of the high-level soccer we saw at the other semifinal 24 hours prior. And it was so loud, so emotional, so glorious — utterly unforgettable. At the end, Argentina and Lionel Messi, this tournament’s apparent team of destiny, rode the waves past England and into the World Cup final.
The fourth star is one win away from being pinned onto the sky-blue jersey. Argentina came out of a spine-tingling semifinal 2-1 victors over England. It took yet another unbelievable, unforgettable comeback, with two goals after the 85th minute and Lautaro Martínez’s winner that sent a nation into rapture.
La Albiceleste will face Spain on Sunday for the chance at a second straight World Cup title. The last game of Lionel Messi’s international career will be the first time in history that a South American champion and a European champion face each other for the Jules Rimet trophy.
So many questions will be asked of how Tuchel chose to manage this game, adopting a siege mentality up 1-0 and paying the price. Not so of Scaloni, whose adjustments proved the exact right medicine for his team.
Leading at the hydration break, Tuchel made a series of defensive substitutions, and his team sat back while Argentina piled on chance after chance.
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The introduction of Rodrigo De Paul for Argentina at the same moment helped shift the dynamic as well. With De Paul and Messi both such dangerous crossers — De Paul hit an intended cross off the inside of the post within minutes of coming on — Argentina was a constant threat.
When the goal came, though, it was Enzo Fernández from distance, booming a shot to Pickford’s right and tying the game after 86 minutes.
While Tuchel was still searching for answers in stoppage time, and seconds after Alexis Mac Allister hit the post, Messi’s cross found the head of Martínez. After 92 minutes, Argentina had the lead and the sky-blue crowd behind Martínez’s goal was in a sobbing state of delirium.
When the full-time whistle blew, Messi fell to his knees. Many of his teammates fell to the ground. That was what this meant.
After a first half in which neither team had a shot on goal, it took a brilliant piece of passing from England, and from Morgan Rogers in particular, to open the scoring. As England broke with numbers, Declan Rice found Rogers, who crossed in to Anthony Gordon for a first-time finish after 55 minutes.
Two minutes later, Djed Spence — brilliant all afternoon — came up with a desperate slide tackle on Giuliano Simeone, saving what looked like a Grade-A chance, then getting up and pumping his fist at the crowd.
Pickford came up with a terrific save right before the second half hydration break, too, diving to keep out Nico González’s header off Messi’s cross.
That only portended the siege mentality with which England would try, and fail, to finish out the game.
The dynamics at play, in the crowd and on the field, became clear within minutes. During “God Save the King,” the Argentinian fans belted “El que no salta es un inglés” — “he who doesn’t jump is an Englishman” — so loudly that it drowned out the English anthem. Leandro Paredes and Fernandez issued hard tackles on Jude Bellingham and Elliot Anderson in the game’s first two minutes. It was only an appetizer.
The first half was as physical as anything we’ve seen in this World Cup, mostly on Argentina’s side. American referee Ismail Elfath seemed reluctant to book anyone and, as a result, Argentina went into every tackle as hard as possible, with Paredes, Fernandez and Simeone — a surprise addition to the lineup with De Paul being dropped — being the main culprits.
When someone finally did see a yellow card, it was, astonishingly, an Englishman, with Anderson booked after 38 minutes after fouling Messi. Lisandro Martínez was booked soon after for Argentina.
Ever so slightly, that seemed to dial down the physicality. It did nothing to quell the emotion, the intensity or the occasion.
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