Lionel Messi sends defiant message once Argentina reach World Cup semifinal
Cape Verde forced Argentina to extra time and looked primed to take it to penalties in the Round of 32, but Argentina escaped with a 3-2 victory.
Egypt seemingly had Argentina dead to rights with a 2-0 lead late into the second half of their Round-of-16 match, but then Cristiano Romero, Lionel Messi, and Enzo Fernandez scored within 15 minutes to walk away with another 3-2 win.
Switzerland pulled Argentina down into a gritty fight in the quarterfinal, and they were locked at 1-1 until Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez each scored in extra time to seal a 3-1 victory.
So Argentina will face England in the semifinal of the 2026 FIFA men’s World Cup on Wednesday, July 15, and Messi feels great about his team’s chances to become the first repeat men’s World Cup champion since Brazil did it in 1958 and 1962.
“We had to suffer again, but this team never stops believing,” Messi captioned his Instagram carousel. “We’re back among the top four in the world!!! Let’s go!!!! [Argentine flag]”
Messi, 39, is in his record-sixth World Cup and has scored eight goals. His eight goals are tied with France’s Kylian Mbappe atop the Golden Boot standings, though Mbappe has the edge with three assists to Messi’s two.
Messi has been the surest thing about Argentina, a.k.a. La Albiceleste, in the knockout stage. While he had an assist against Switzerland, he failed to find the back of the net himself — snapping his streak of scoring at least one goal in nine consecutive World Cup matches. That may have actually been the best thing for Argentina: having to find a way to win without Messi magic to engender peak confidence against England.
“”It’s special because they’re a great team, a powerhouse, and it’s always nice to play a team like that, a match of this kind,” Messi said of England, per Reuters. “We need to rest because we come from a lot of wear and tear, which the group obviously feels, and arrive in the best possible condition to keep doing what we’ve been doing: competing.”
