The second 2026 FIFA World Cup semifinal saw Argentina earn a thrilling injury-time comeback win over England by a 2-1 scoreline, with Enzo Fernández and Lautaro MartÃnez finding the net.
To no one's surprise, those goals were set up by Lionel Messi, and it was his second one that was the obvious choice for the moment of Day 31 of this World Cup.
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"He moved to the right, and we simply adapted to what he was doing."
It was getting crowded in the middle. Lionel Messi was not getting space. For an hour or so he'd been trying to punch a hole through -- one dribble where he outmuscled Harry Kane, sent Anthony Gordon for a coffee run, and had to be hacked down by Elliot Anderson in the '80s style a standout -- but by rough means or otherwise, England had stopped him. And on the counter, the English had sensationally taken a 1-0 lead.
In turn, Messi did what he always does when he wants some space, when he wants to drag his team back into a game, and drifted to the right flank. The last time this had happened, against Egypt, the press had asked Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni if it had been a tactical instruction. His response? "There's no need for me to tell him to change positions. Messi knows what needs to be done on the pitch. He moved to the right, and we simply adapted to what he was doing."
So, when Messi made his move, Scaloni made his: bringing on Nico González for width on the left and then soon after adding more energy to the right half with Rodrigo De Paul and Gonzalo Montiel.
By then, the score may have been England's, but the game was Messi's. He was running it.
"One on one, you are dead"
All game, Messi had been surrounded by men in white. Before the semifinal, England coach Thomas Tuchel had publicly toyed with the idea of assigning one man for Messi, but he didn't do it in-match. His thinking, possibly, aligned with that of Jose Mourinho, who said this of his great Clasico rival a few years back: "I never like the individual man-to-man mark against Messi. Messi [needs] a cage, you have to create the cage... When Messi has the ball, one on one, you are dead."
The cage had gone with Messi throughout the park, but the more time he spent on the right, the harder it had become to form. Messi was getting crosses in, and those crosses were finding its targets with absurd ease - the accuracy of the playmaking negating any height advantage the English possessed. Tuchel responded by sending on Nico O'Reilly to double up as an auxiliary left back and support Djed Spence down that flank. The idea was clear: have at least two men on Messi at all times.
So, when Messi played a corner short in the 85th minute and immediately received it back, it wasn't just Spence who went to close him down, but Anderson (who had been marking Enzo Fernández on the edge of the box) too, for the cross had to be stopped. And that was that.
With the cage closing in, Messi spotted the gap and teed up a now very free Fernández for a superb hit to equalise. England 1, Argentina 1... and the Messi show was just hitting its stride.
"...this is why he is the king"
When Alexis Mac Allister hit the post in the 91st minute (a second time in the match), England must have thought they were off the hook again, a feeling that would only have doubled when Spence reacted first to poke the rebound away from a scampering-onto-it Messi. As the Argentine talisman raced back to retreat it, there appeared no imminent danger.
In front of him was O'Reilly and just behind that Spence. Both were younger, faster, and (to the casual eye) fitter. It was stoppage time, the Atlanta evening was hot (~30 degrees, high humidity) and this 39-year-old in front of them was coming off two extra times and another stoppage time thriller where he'd gone full pelt for the duration. On a basic physiological level, this was a no-contest.
As Messi ran straight at up O'Reilly on the wing, Spence had hung back, hoping to cover for any dribbles inside (or outside) and any cute passes made to the near post. It was a logical move, given how the equaliser had played out and given how the box behind him was packed with men six foot and above against a team considerably shorter than them.
There was one big fallacy in all this, though... Messi was one-on-one.
For two decades that had meant just one thing, regardless of logic, regardless of science and physiology: 'death', as Mourinho had put it.
A drop of the shoulder and La Pulga was gone, O'Reilly grasping at thin air as he tried to keep up with that burst of speed and sudden change of direction. Spence too was caught out now, too far away to do anything. Knowing he might get crowded out if he cut in and dribbled along the byline and understanding that checking back on his left would allow his markers to close in... Messi sent in a cross with his 'weaker' right foot, on the run. It was sent not to the near post or the centre of the six-yard box (which was packed with three England shirts to one Argentina one) but to the far stick, where Lautaro Martinez had cleverly snuck in behind John Stones and in front of Ezri Konsa.
Once the ball floated across the straining English necks and reached him, Martinez thumped it home from three yards out. How could he not, when the ball was just about placed onto his temple? The speed of the cross, the accuracy of the cross defying any attempts to not make the score England 1, Argentina 2.
And that was that. Semifinal won, second straight World Cup final sealed for Argentina, and a third beckoning for the grand old master.
Ex-player and now-pundit Micah Richards summed it up perfectly on the BBC: "[It's about] moments. We thought it could have been Jude Bellingham or Harry Kane, but this is why [Messi] is the king."
