Picture : Argentina on fire !
World Cup 2026 Statistics – Day 35 (July 15) – Semi-final
England vs Argentina 1-2
*Argentina became the second defending champion in XXI Century to reach the World Cup final, following France in 2022.
*Argentina have won all six of their World Cup semi-final matches in the tournament’s history, following:
vs United States in 1930
vs Belgium in 1986
vs Italy in 1990
vs Netherlands in 2014
vs Croatia in 2022
In 1978, they reached the final without playing a semi-final (finishing top of the group in the second group stage).
*The reigning Euro and Copa América champions will face each other in a World Cup final for the first time in history.
So, it looks like there really will be a Finalissima.
*It was the 6th World Cup meeting between Argentina and England.
Only 2 rivalries in the competition history were more frequent:
7 games – Brazil vs Sweden
7 games – Argentina vs Germany
Argentina vs Netherlands also met 6 times.
*England have suffered their 3rd loss in 15 games against Argentina (6 wins, 6 draws), following:
0-1 in June 1964 (friendly in Rio de Janeiro)
1-2 in June 1986 (World Cup quarter-final)
*Argentina retain the record for the longest gap between consecutive World Cup final appearances: 48 years between 1930 and 1978.
They prevented England to overtake it (played in the 1966 final and haven’t returned since).
*England have lost their last nine World Cup knockout-stage matches against former tournament winners.
*England are the only team eliminated (twice) after taking the lead in World Cup semi-finals in XXI Century, also vs Croatia on 11 July 2018.
*Argentina were behind in a World Cup semi-final for the second time in history, following the match against Italy on 3 July 1990.
*Argentina are the 3rd national teams with two comeback wins in World Cup knockout matches (also 3-2 vs Egypt) in the same edition, following:
1970 Italy (4-1 Mexico and 4-3 Germany)
2026 England (2-1 DR Congo and 2-1 Norway)
*Argentina are the first team in history to score at least two goals in 13 consecutive World Cup matches.
*Argentina have now scored 19 goals at the 2026 World Cup, surpassing their former scoring record for a single tournament (18 goals in 1930).
They reached the highest total for a team in a single tournament since Brazil in 1970 (also 19 goals, in 6 games).
*England have scored 14 goals at the 2026 World Cup: their new national record in a single tournament (13 goals in 2022).
*Lionel Scaloni became the second coach in history to reach two World Cup finals with Argentina, following Carlos Bilardo in 1986 and 1990.
*Scolari and Scaloni are surnames of the only two coaches that led their teams to 7 consecutive wins in a World Cup edition (Brazil in 2002 and Argentina in 2026).
*The World Cup tradition remains: no nation has ever won the World Cup with a foreign coach (following the elimination of Thomas Tuchel with England).
*With Giuliano Simeone, there are now only 3 father-son pairs who have started against the same national team in a World Cup knockout match:
Da Guia vs Poland — both for Brazil, Domingos (1938, Round of 16) and Ademir (1974, 3rd place match)
Vantolrá vs Italy — father Martín for Spain (1934, quarter-finals) and son José for Mexico (1970, quarter-finals)
Simeone vs England — both for Argentina, Diego (1998, Round of 16) and Giuliano (2026, semi-final)
*Anthony Gordon’s (Newcastle) goal against Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa) is only the fourth in World Cup semi-final history scored by a player against a goalkeeper from the same league (English PL). Other three related to Italian Serie A:
1970 – Schnellinger (Milan) to Albertosi (Cagliari)
1990 – Caniggia (Atalanta) to Zenga (Inter)
2010 – Sneijder (Inter) to Muslera (Lazio)
*Enzo Fernández’s goal from outside the box became the 6th such goal of Argentina in the 2026 Word Cup (also Messi 3, Lo Celso and Julián Álvarez 1 each).
Argentina is the team with the most goals scored from outside the box in this World Cup.
*Lionel Messi is the first player to provide two assists in a World Cup semi-final since Philipp Lahm did so for Germany against Brazil on 8 July 2014.
*Messi is the first player to be involved in 12 goals (8 goals, 4 assists) in a single World Cup tournament since Gerd Müller for Germany in 1970 (13 involvements: 10 goals, 3 assists).
*Messi has made a goal contribution in each of his last 11 World Cup matches (13 goals, 5 assists).
*Messi became the oldest outfield player (39 years and 21 days old) to play in a World Cup semi-final (Peter Shilton and Dino Zoff played in goal in World Cup semi-finals at the age of 40).