England and Argentina renewed their historic World Cup rivalry with a straight-sets final exit

ATLANTA – “We [will] try hard for what may not happen.”

In EnglandThomas Tuchel has given the head coach’s opinion in the hours before the World Cup semi-final, his main aim is to relieve his players of any unnecessary fodder that surrounds their mind before the historic game. In the same spirit, however, he shared a lot of pride ahead of Wednesday’s game – how could anyone ignore the fact that England and England In Argentina we meet again, this time we will get a place in Sunday’s World Cup final?

This summer’s tournament has already delivered a classic semi-final, with Spain overcoming a seemingly unbeatable France in their biggest World Cup match yet, and Wednesday’s match between England and Argentina is set to provide another set of memorable moments. The second semifinal, however, was held up by decades of history between the two teams. The issue of how red cards are handed out in football extends to both teams, as does the infamous sports goal and the Falklands War – and it was all expected in Tuesday’s pre-match comments from both Tuchel and fellow Argentine, Lionel Scaloni, who did their best to tone things down.

“The truth is that this is a football game,” insisted Scaloni when asked about the Falklands War, which lasted 10 weeks in 1982. “I can’t cover everything, especially about things that happened a long time ago. It was a very sad time in our history and there’s not much we can do about it. This is a football game, that’s all.”

He’s probably the only public-facing Argentine this summer trying (successfully, honestly) to distance himself from the war. A song about the Falklands, known as the Islas Malvinas in Argentina, Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi has become a staple among fans and players alike as they race to the semi-finals – “For the Malvinas, for Diego, for Leo’s last World Cup. Argentina, I want to see you win it again.”

Scloni, however, was naturally delighted to open the biggest on-field controversy in the tournament’s history – the “hand of god” goal scored by Diego Maradona at the 1986 World Cup. The player scored the goal that ensured Argentina would beat England 2-1 in the quarterfinals that year and admitted after the game that he had handled the second goal, something that remains a source of pride for Argentina in Scloni’s view.

“I think everyone remembers that game and they remember Diego Maradona’s game, especially that second goal,” he said. “That will live forever in our hearts. It was a great goal. Anyone who loves football will remember that in the best way. It was a coincidence that it was against England but if it was against anyone else, it would have been just as good. That’s the truth of the matter so yes, we have stories from that time and it all makes it very emotional.”

Tuchel, on the other hand, hopes that the players will be able to stop the weight of history for now.

“I can say that it is useless, but I am not sure about it,” he said. “I think the players know very well – in both countries – what it means to them. If the game offers so many historic moments, I think you can’t just say it’s another football game but as a coach, we do exactly that. Focus on what we can influence. Me and my team, between us, we don’t talk about historical events. We don’t talk about extraordinary events. An icon is enough and it’s enough to try to have the opposite. to influence the players on what we want them to do, the way we want them to behave in different situations and we try to reduce the information the bigger the stage, the more intense it is so hopefully we can make the messages easier for them to carry out.”

The essence of Wednesday’s game is in a space that is frustrating in itself. England are one game away from a first World Cup final in 60 years, a slow but steady result after a young side reached the tournament’s semi-finals eight years ago. in Russia. Since, they have played in two finals of the European Championship and another quarterfinal of the World Cup, many members of the team at this time do not see each other at major events. There is one significant obstacle in their way – the ageless Messi, who is joint leader in the race for the golden boot with eight goals.

“I was thinking about this, if we do an old-school man-mark [for Messi],” said Tuchel. “I’m not sure if we follow this idea but it came to my mind. I think everyone knows the spaces where they want to appear. It’s like, you’re analyzing a match, you feel like you’re seeing things earlier than anyone else on the pitch. It’s like the ball falls to him, he finds a gap, creates space for himself with his left foot and delivers the solution at a very high level. I think we found some patterns in their game but if we close the patterns he will find a new one or make a new one. You are his greatest strength, this is who he is.”

Tuchel’s side will also aim to improve upon their quarter-final win on Saturday in Norwaywhich needs more time during a tough show to develop.

“I think it happened to us too [many] technical errors in our last game, too [many] technical errors prevented us from finding the rhythm of the attack,” said Tuchel. “We were also quick to make decisions. We were not patient enough. We were not disciplined enough in our positions. That lost us the rhythm of the attack. We have improved a lot in this competition in defense, in defending as a team so this is something that we must, of course, have tomorrow at a very high level but our rhythm, our building game and speeding up our attacking game, combined with technical performance, must be at a high level and as I said, we have not reached the top of this stage but I like the moment of tomorrow’s game, planning as tomorrow will bring us the best, the best for my players and we will enjoy that.”

Then there’s Argentina, a formidable opponent in their ability to tackle adversity but a semi-finalist deeply inconsistent about these things. A regular set of games in the group stage opened the way for a series of playoffs, going to extra time against Cape Verde in the round of 32 and Switzerland in the quarterfinals on Saturday when they escaped 2-0 against them. Egypt in the round of 16. Perhaps that’s why Sceloni takes a measured approach when reflecting on his side’s journey to the semifinals, even if the desire to reach a second consecutive World Cup final – and a fourth consecutive final at a major tournament if you include the Copa America – is clearly still there.

“A month and a half ago, I would have just wanted to be here regardless of how we got there, tired or not, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “We are in the semifinals and a month and a half ago, I would have accepted that. I would have signed that. Now the dream has come. We are very happy. We are very happy and we are not looking at the situation we are in. We are here and we are playing.”