England meet Argentina in Atlanta on Wednesday with a place in the World Cup final on the line, and enough history between them to fill a book.
Kick-off at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium is 3pm ET, 8pm in the UK. The winner goes through to the final on 19 July. The loser goes home. For one of these sides this is a last-four hurdle they have cleared before; for the other it is the barrier that has stood since 1966.
Two hard routes to the last four
Neither got here the easy way. England needed extra time to see off Norway, coming from behind to win 2-1, with Jude Bellingham the difference. He equalised in first-half stoppage time and settled it early in extra time, a second successive match-winning turn from the most talked-about Englishman at the tournament.
Argentina had to work just as hard. They beat Switzerland 3-1 after extra time, Julian Alvarez ending the resistance with a long-range strike once the additional half-hour was underway. Alexis Mac Allister and Lautaro Martinez also scored. The holders, then, are still standing, and still dangerous deep into a match.
Both semi-finalists have played extra time to reach the last four. Tired legs may yet have a say in Atlanta.
Messi, and the sense of an ending
The subplot writes itself. Lionel Messi is widely expected to be playing his last World Cup, which makes every Argentina match from here a possible farewell. He has scored eight goals at this tournament, level with Kylian Mbappe at the top of the scoring charts, and he already holds the all-time World Cup records for goals and assists across his career. He lifted the trophy in 2022. What he does not have is many more afternoons like this one.
England know the threat. Containing Messi is one problem; containing a Messi with a goodbye in mind is another entirely.
Bellingham against the weight of history
If Argentina have their talisman, so do England. Bellingham has six goals in the tournament and, lately, the habit of deciding matches as they slip away. Back-to-back extra-time winners will do that for a reputation.
Around him, England are chasing something they have not managed in sixty years: a place in a World Cup final. Not since 1966 have they reached one. Every England side of the decades since has carried that number, and this one now stands ninety minutes, or a little more, from setting it down.
The fixture needs little introduction. England and Argentina have met at World Cups before, in 1986 and 1998 among them, and those meetings left marks that have not faded. It is a rivalry heavy with grievance and grudging respect in roughly equal measure. Both sets of supporters know the flashpoints by heart.
What to watch
Argentina will fancy their record in exactly this kind of contest; they have been here recently, and won it. England will point to their own resilience, and to a group that keeps finding a way when the first plan fails.
The margins look fine. Alvarez and Lautaro give Argentina a cutting edge to go with Messi's guile; England's answer runs through Bellingham and a squad that has learned to suffer and come through anyway. A tight one, in all likelihood, decided by a single moment rather than a landslide.
Whoever survives Atlanta earns a final on 19 July. For Messi it could be one last World Cup night. For England it could be the end of the longest wait in their football history. Kick-off is Wednesday.
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