Argentina have made it to the World Cup Final for the second straight time, thanks to a solid Plan B.
Just before the tournament started, we selected the Albiceleste as one of the most intriguing national teams. Their ‘old-school’ approach of overloading the centre of the pitch, looking for connections and playing in close proximity goes against the tendencies of modern football.
They are also not a very physical team overall, relying on a more technical profile of players. That has come at a cost, though, as they did struggle a number of times in the knockout stages. The long-fought battle against Cape Verde took a toll on them in the last-32 and it showed the following round against Egypt.
It also manifested versus Switzerland, but Breel Embolo’s red card made things easier on them.
And despite them being far from their best, Argentina still managed to reach the final after a heroic win over England. Now, it’s a showdown between them and Spain for the trophy.
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Lionel Scaloni heavily favours central combinations, quick, short passes and freedom of movement for his players. It’s the DNA of this Argentina side, and what they turn to at all times.
But when the going gets tough, they have a solid back-up plan. And it has arguably been their superpower during the 2026 World Cup, considering how they got through Cape Verde, Egypt, Switzerland and England.
And no, it’s not hitting long-rage screamers, despite what the Julian Alvarez and Enzo Fernandez heroics may lead you to believe. Although it certainly helps.
What has actually carried Argentina into World Cup Final?
Underrated set pieces
We briefly touched on Argentina’s under-rated set pieces in a post-match analysis piece, but it deserves more attention.
The Albiceleste are currently first in set-piece goals this World Cup, with a whopping seven – no other side has more than five.
And if you remove the two free-kick goals Giovani Lo Celso and Lionel Messi scored in a group stage game against Jordan… they are still first. Level with England and the United States, but still first.
Removing penalties as well, the current champions remain first. That’s because they have scored the most goals from corners than any other national team.
Not only that, but three of the four have been decisive. Lisandro Martínez’s header that gave them the lead back against Cape Verde and the Diney Borges own goal that sealed the win, plus Fernandez’s equaliser against England.
The other was Alexis Mac Allister’s header that opened the scoring in the win over Switzerland.
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Pin-point crossing
Set-piece goals are fun and all, but a lot of them wouldn’t even happen if it wasn’t for the crosses that generate them. And Argentina are killing teams on this department.
The Albiceleste have the fourth-highest accuracy rate in crosses at the World Cup this summer — and the outright highest of any team that advanced to the knockout stages.
Those, in fact, are the only four sides with 30% or over in cross completion rate.
And the Albiceleste do it in all ways: in or out-swingers, near or far-post. Lionel Messi is usually on duty, so the type of curve varies depending on where he takes corners and free-kicks.
He has been on point with those as well. Out of the top-23 players in most crosses attempted, Messi ranks first in accuracy (41%). It’s also the second highest return among the 40 footballers with over 15 attempts (Uruguay‘s Maxi Araujo with 44%).
Against England, far-post crosses with either foot caused Thomas Tuchel’s tall defence all sorts of problems. It’s exactly how Lautaro Martinez scored his late winner. And nearly all of them coming from the right-hand side.
His in-swinging, near-post deliveries for Mac Allister headers across the goal gave Switzerland nightmares.
In the Cape Verde game, it was a mix of all of those combined.
Against Egypt, it was another level of success that Argentina encountered. Two goals and a further four shots created directly from crosses, whether they were from open play or set pieces.
Killer headers
Fernandez’s goal against Egypt might have been the best, most well-placed of all headers in the 2026 World Cup. But he hasn’t been the only one.
Cristian Romero scored a header of his own in the same game, Mac Allister pitched in against Switzerland and Lautaro Martinez simply couldn’t miss his against England.
In fact, Fernandez’s and Mac Allister’s headers all feature in the top-five for highest differential of xG post-shot compared to the moment of the attempt. The Chelsea midfielder took a chance worth 0.17 Expected Goals and turned it into 0.89 xG on Target (+0.72). The only header with a higher variance was Jan Paul van Hecke’s against Tunisia (+0.73).
Mac Allister, on the other hand, turned a header worth 0.14 xG into 0.78 xGOT (+0.64), the fifth highest variance.
Argentina rank first in headed goals overall this World Cup, all of them coming in the knockout stages.
And they are also first in percentage of goals that were headed since the end of the group stage, among teams that have scored more than three times (36% – 4/11).
Spain have cruised their way into the final establishing an all-time record for clean sheets in a single World Cup campaign (six). But height and strength isn’t exactly a strength of theirs. It could be a way for Argentina to get an advantage in what should be a tough game for both sides.
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