Argentina leave it late to turn it round and reach World Cup final | OneFootball

The 2026 FIFA World Cup final is set.

Argentina will face Spain in next Sunday’s final (19).

The spot was secured this Wednesday (15) with a dramatic win over England.

All three goals in the match were scored in the second half.

Anthony Gordon opened the scoring for England, who dropped back too much after going 1-0 up and paid the price for it.

Enzo Fernández and Lautaro Martínez, in the closing minutes, turned the game around for the reigning world champions.

It was two Argentine goals in less than seven minutes, completely changing the course of the match.

The match

The battle for possession and the excessive number of fouls drew more attention than the football played on the pitch.

This was the first match ever recorded in World Cup history without a single shot in the opening 30 minutes.

Even the stars of the show got involved in the physical battle that marked the first half in particular.

The opening half featured 7 fouls committed by the English and 12 by the Argentines.

Only in the second half did we get real scoring chances in the match.

The first came for Argentina, with a shot from Julián Álvarez saved by Jordan Pickford.

But England were more clinical through Anthony Gordon.

The forward, recently signed by Barcelona, opened the scoring 10 minutes into the second half, turning Morgan Rogers’ cross into the net.

After that, the scenario changed and the match became practically attack versus defence.

England dropped back and came under heavy pressure from Argentina.

Pickford had to make big saves and was also helped by the woodwork.

But in the closing stages of the match, there was no stopping it: Enzo Fernández levelled the score in the 41st minute of the second half.

And in stoppage time, the aerial game came into play again, with Lautaro Martínez heading Lionel Messi’s cross into the net.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.

📸 ROBERTO SCHMIDT - AFP or licensors