​Argentina vs. England was just the latest display of magic by the defending champs. 84 minutes in, Lionel Messi and company, once again, seemed like their tournament was over. Then, in the final stretch, they thoroughly outplayed England. Here are my biggest takeaways.July 15, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.; England’s Elliot Anderson and Ezri Konsa in action with Argentina’s Nicolas Otamendi as England’s John Stones, Declan Rice, and Jordan Pickford react. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn ImagesFor the first 55 minutes of this game, the English were the better team. They attacked with purpose offensively and limited Argentina’s shots on the defensive end. They held this vaunted Argentine offense to no shots on goal in the first half.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe second half began, and England scored 10 minutes in. Anthony Gordon took a sweet cross from the right side of the box to make it 1-0. That moment, though, swung the momentum to Argentina in hindsight.From that point on, England made a grave mistake defensively. They dropped deeper and played more conservatively, trying to keep Argentina in front of them. In theory, that helps prevent a big play, but it gives the opponent too much space to build its offense.With Messi’s brilliant ability to work in space, he engineered the comeback as a distributor. In the 85th minute, he found Enzo Fernandez in the middle part of the field with plenty of space, and he sunk it to tie it 1-1. Then a few moments later, Messi crossed a ball to Lautaro Martinez, who was in the goalie box, and he headed the ball in to put Argentina up 2-1.Prior to those two goals, it was evident that England was going to give one up. There were a couple shots by Alexis Mac Allister that hit the side post. Argentina ended up with 14 total shots, with six of them on target.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThis Argentina vs England match should be a lesson for all teams that take a lead. Play to win and don’t clock watch. It felt like England was doing the latter.July 15, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.; Argentina’s Enzo Fernandez celebrates scoring their first goal as England’s Nico O’Reilly looks dejected. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images Argentina has scored 11 goals in the knockout stage. Nine of those goals have come after the 79th minute. Five of them, astonishingly, have come after the 90th minute.This Argentina squad is the epitome of finding a way. They rarely play a solid game from start to finish. When the goals are needed, they come through, and Argentina vs England was no different.Argentina’s choppy game flow, I argue, is mandatory for them. When your best player is 39 years old, the game plan has to take that into account. If it means staying compact and conserving energy for the first 60 minutes, so be it.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe truth is, this Argentina squad goes as far as Messi takes them. Being conservative early in games allows him to be more dyn