Thomas Tuchel is confident England can come up with a plan to contain Lionel Messi when the Three Lions face Argentina in a blockbuster World Cup semi-final.
England meet Argentina at Atlanta Stadium on Wednesday night, with kick-off at 8pm BST, and a place against Spain in Sunday’s World Cup final waiting for the winner.
Messi remains firmly in the hunt for the Golden Boot, sitting level with Kylian Mbappe on eight goals, though the Argentina captain has reached that total in six matches — one fewer than his French rival.
Even after celebrating his 39th birthday last month, Messi has continued to underline why he is still Argentina’s most dangerous player, producing another influential tournament on the biggest stage.
Tuchel was full of admiration for the Inter Miami forward, but the England manager believes his team have the discipline and defensive quality to reduce Messi’s impact — much as they did with Erling Haaland in Saturday’s 2-1 extra-time quarter-final victory over Norway.
“It is just incredible, how he [Messi] pulls it out every single time, in so many different ways,” the Three Lions head coach said.
Thomas Tuchel (left) believes England have the tools to stop Lionel Messi in their World Cup semi-final showdown
Messi has powered Argentina’s attack with eight goals in six matches at the World Cup so far
‘He finds spaces, he finds moments, and the big thing is that the whole team buys into that idea to support him. They are just ready when he bursts into action to make the difference.
‘Can you prepare for that and find the recipe, and focus too much on him? No, but we need to be brave around him, we need to stop the support, and we need to take care of all the movements that happen when he’s on the ball.
‘We are totally aware that we cannot stop him all the time. He’s a very different player from Erling Haaland, but we did very well in the way you maybe should play against Erling, so we will find a way now.’
Ahead of the encounter, former England captain Alan Shearer has expressed his concerns that the Three Lions may be affected by the level of officiating.
Ismail Elfath will be the man in the middle on Wednesday, in what will be his fourth match as a referee at this World Cup. The Moroccan-born American will be assisted by compatriots Corey Parker and Kyle Atkins. The fourth official will be Italian Maurizio Mariani.
And Shearer has concerns that the rub of the green will go in favour of the reigning world champions once more during the semi-final.
Alan Shearer fears England could fall foul to refereeing decisions against Argentina
Talking to Betfair, Shearer said: ‘I’m slightly concerned that a refereeing decision or VAR could cost us against Argentina because I think the narrative from the referees and the VAR from the start of the tournament to now has changed massively.
‘I did that France game when Kylian Mbappe was fouled, and the ref went to the screen – was told to go to the screen – and stuck with his decision when I thought it was a clear penalty.
‘And that has totally changed over the last 10 days, two weeks, the longer the tournament’s gone on.
‘I have been amazed at some of the decisions that Argentina have had, particularly the one against Egypt where their Egyptian goal was pulled back and cancelled out.
‘I thought that was nonsense. It is a bit of a concern when playing them.’
Elfath was the fourth official in Qatar when Argentina beat France to win the 2022 World Cup and his encounters with Messi have increased since the forward signed for MLS outfit Inter Miami in July 2023.
A month after signing for Inter Miami, Messi helped his new team win the Leagues Cup final over Nashville SC – an encounter that was refereed by Elfath.
Argentina’s last-16 and quarter-final wins over Egypt and Switzerland were tinged with controversy, with accusations of refereeing bias in their favour from both beaten opponents.
In fact, since coming to America, Messi has been officiated four times by Elfath – winning on all of those occasions. As well as the aforementioned Leagues Cup final, Messi has scored four times across the other three MLS games.
And England players be warned as Elfath’s MLS record this season indicates he doesn’t mind getting his notebook out. In 10 matches he officiated in, before the season paused for the World Cup, he had dished out 41 yellow cards, sent off three players and awarded three penalties.
Ismail Elfath (centre right) will referee England’s World Cup semi-final clash with Argentina on Wednesday. Pictured with Messi when he was fourth official at the 2022 World Cup final
That approach has been matched at this World Cup so far where he has issued eight yellow cards and one red card across three matches – Netherlands 2-2 Japan, Spain 1-0 Uruguay and Norway 2-1 Brazil.
The Spain-Uruguay game with controversy too as the 44-year-old was targeted by the Spanish media afterwards for his performance. He was accused of not being firm enough with the Uruguayans – as the match became spiky. Deep into second-half stoppage-time Uruguay midfielder Agustin Canobbio was sent off late on for high challenge on Pau Cubarsi.
However, the biggest gripe from the Spanish media came as a result of Nicolas De La Cruz’s challenge on Nico Williams that left him injured. Williams described it as ‘one of the worst days of my life’ post-match but played the final minutes of their quarter-final win over Portugal.
Elfath’s most recent match too had a controversial moment when he initially dismissed Brazil’s appeals for a penalty after Norway defender Kristoffer Ajer fouled Matheus Cunha. However, VAR intervened and Elfath overturned his decision before Bruno Guimaraes saw his spot-kick saved.
Last week, FIFA refereeing chief Pierluigi Collina hit out at those questioning the integrity of the World Cup officials, insisting that they cannot be influenced by anyone following Egypt’s complaints after their last-16 defeat by Argentina.
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