England are set to face Argentina in the World Cup semi-final, a fixture with history after the 1986 loss in the quarter-final.
Lionel Messi will face England for the first time in his career, as Argentina look to become only the second nation to retain their World Cup crown, having won it back in 2022.
Argentina have never lost a World Cup semi-final, while England haven’t won one since 1966, losing in both 1990 and 2018.
So how can England beat Argentina and progress to the final? And how do the Norway tactics start to create a blueprint?
In this article, we’ll cover
Wide combination importance
Thomas Tuchel was not happy with England’s performance against Norway despite winning 2-1 and progressing to the semi-final.
The German coach used the words “sloppy”, “technical errors”, “not fast enough” and “not repetitive enough” to describe the performance.
So what exactly did Tuchel mean by this?
England throughout the tournament have been looking to work the ball in wide areas, using wide triangles.
The full-back, number eight and winger form triangles on either side, using rotations and combinations to open space and access dangerous areas to create chances.
Against Norway, these same patterns were clear, especially on the left with Nico O’Reilly, Elliot Anderson and Anthony Gordon.
However, due to the slow ball speed and sloppy technical errors, England struggled to be repetitive with their actions to move the ball into these wide zones and take advantage.
While this was frustrating for Tuchel, which he did not hide in his interview after the Norway game, it could be a blessing in disguise.
Argentina’s out of possession scheme is similarly exploitable with these patterns of play.
Therefore, this will present a good opportunity for Tuchel to fix those issues and hone in on them in this semi-final.
Argentina settle into a 4-3-1-2 block out of possession, looking to sit narrow, block the centre and force play wide.
The first way England can take advantage is by shifting their block from side to side, not only looking for switches, but also attacking back down the same side to create 1v1 isolations.
Where the full-backs have to close space to the wingers in those 1v1s, it is often the wide midfielders in the line of three who have to track runs between the gate of the full-back and centre-back.
The likes of Jude Bellingham and O’Reilly have the power to run off of their markers to arrive in those gates.
Dynamic movement to attack those gates and utilising the 1v1 isolations out wide will give England a variety of threat against this Argentina side.
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Tracking midfield rotations
Argentina’s main source of threat comes from their central combinations, as their attacking organisation is largely based on relations around the ball.
In order to maximise this, Lionel Scaloni uses four midfielders behind Lionel Messi and Julian Alvarez.
All four midfielders are happy to rotate heights and positions to receive the ball, orienting their bodies to connect passes inside and create mini overloads centrally.
Switzerland tried to deal with this by pressing agressivley when Argentina were building inside their own half in a man to man fashion.
This is due to Argentina’s lack of speed/directness to attack into space and their lack of physicality and height to play over the press.
However, when defending inside their own half, Switzerland would collapse into their 4-4-2 shape, looking to restrict the space between the lines.
Argentina are more dangerous in those moments, if they can drag your lines apart via rotations and find access in between for the likes of Messi.
England were posed some similar questions with midfield rotations against Norway.
Martin Odegaard would often drop to create a +1 in the build up, dragging Anderson high, while Declan Rice was tasked with following Patrick Berg, who would also make high to low movements to ask questions.
Jude Bellingham would then follow Sander Berge to man mark their midfield three, but it was all about when to go and when not to go.
Argentina will look to ask the same questions, with Rodrigo De Paul floating inside to outside, Enzo Fernandez going from high to low and Alexis Mac Allister floating between the lines.
You then also have Leandro Paredes operating at the base and dropping in with the centre-backs to create an overload in the first line.
Bellingham will likely be responsible for him, while the likes of Rice, Anderson and the wide players manage the three in front.
Messi’s hot spot
Now, of course, part and parcel of dealing with those Argentina rotations is to stop space being created for the main man.
The 39-year-old has been showing different ways of dominating games at this tournament, getting on the ball through his IQ.
Instead of wasting energy chasing the ball, Messi has perfected the ability of ghosting into areas to receive the ball, mainly in that right half space.
With the opposition midfield often being dragged forward by Argentina’s central combination play, it allows Messi to arrive in the midfield lines blind spot.
This often creates a confusion for the defensive line on who should pick him up.
The left-back will often have to also account for the opposition full-back arriving at width, while the near side centre-back is looking to defend the space in behind.
Anderson and Rice swapped positions against Norway, with the latter staying deeper towards the right and the former pushing higher on the left.
However, with Messi’s best receptions coming from him arriving behind a midfielder jumping out, he could get more joy with Anderson on his side.
Therefore, it could be wise to swap those roles back against Argentina, having Rice defend lower on the right to protect that space instead.
Messi is bound to still find ways of effecting the game, but by taking away this away, it could force Argentina to work wider where they tend to find less joy.
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