England Must Exploit Messi’s Weakness in World Cup Semi-Final
Jamie Carragher believes England’s best chance of reaching the World Cup final might come not just from stopping Lionel Messi – but from going after him.
The 39-year-old Argentine has dominated the tournament, with eight goals and two assists dragging Argentina to the brink of a second straight final. Every conversation about this semi-final in Atlanta starts with him. Most of them end with him too.
Carragher, though, sees an opening.
‘Exploit Messi – don’t just fear him’
“It’s nothing new with Messi. He’s been around for 20 years and no one has found the answer,” Carragher said, acknowledging the scale of the task facing Thomas Tuchel and his players.
“There has to be a plan. I don’t think it will be a man-marking job, but they need a plan. The players will be expecting that. It’s not admitting defeat in any way. You’re coming up against arguably the greatest player of all time. He’s shown that in this tournament too.”
Then came the twist.
“Also, they should be thinking about how they can exploit Lionel Messi as well. He walks about when the opposition have got the ball, so that doesn’t mean England’s left-back should stand next to him for the whole of the game.
“They can exploit the fact that Argentina only defend with nine outfield players.”
That single detail could define the night. When England build from the back, Messi will wander, waiting for the moment the ball turns over. Carragher’s point is simple: use that spare man. Make Argentina pay for carrying a passenger without the ball.
Tuchel’s side have waited 60 years for a place in a World Cup final. This is not the stage to mark space.
Hoping for another Croatia-style clash
Carragher expects the semi-final to suit England more than some of their attritional earlier games, and he drew a direct line back to the opening win over Croatia.
“I don’t think there’s too much between the teams. I’m hoping that this game has got elements of the Croatia game in it, where you’re playing against a side who fancy themselves as a good team,” he said.
“I certainly don’t think they’ll be getting everybody behind the ball. They’ll try to tackle us, and will that leave space for ourselves to attack? Their full-backs like to go high and wide, but they don’t really play with wingers, so maybe that’s something we can exploit.
“I’m hoping that it’s a different type of game than what we’ve seen from the majority of England games throughout this competition. I still don’t think England have been anywhere near the best in performance-wise.”
That is the tension around this England run. The results are there. The performances are not. Argentina, with front-foot full-backs and a refusal to sit in, might finally drag Tuchel’s team into the kind of open contest that exposes both their flaws and their attacking potential.
Tuchel’s blunt verdict defended
Tuchel’s own assessment after the quarter-final win over Norway raised eyebrows. He criticised England’s quality on the ball and said they had almost thrown the tie away, comments that drew a pointed response from Jude Bellingham in the heat of the moment.
Bellingham suggested the manager did not fully grasp how brutal the conditions in Miami had been, with temperatures above 33C and humidity pushing the feel closer to 40C.
Carragher, though, dismissed any notion of a serious rift.
“I didn’t think there was anything wrong at all with Tuchel’s comments,” he said. “He’s probably a little bit emotional after the game. England didn’t play particularly well and could have easily lost that game against Norway.
“I totally understand Tuchel. We know what he was like at Chelsea. That’s one of his plus points. He tells you straight. You’ve seen him against [Djed] Spence in this tournament.
“In a World Cup, a manager’s got to be decisive. He’s got to make big decisions, he’s got to tell people straight. You can’t wait. Things need to happen right away. I thought the interview from the manager was brilliant.
“Jude, again, he’s emotional after the game. He’s just scored a couple of goals, and then he’s realised how hard it was on the pitch, and the conditions as well. I could understand that, but Thomas Tuchel will be absolutely fine with that.”
This is Tuchel in his natural state: demanding, direct, unforgiving. Carragher’s view is that England will need exactly that edge if they are to survive Messi and everything around him.
Saka over Madueke in a must-win gamble
Selection-wise, the picture has cleared. Declan Rice is fit. Reece James is back and featured from the bench against Norway. The real debate now sits on the right flank.
Noni Madueke has started four times this summer, edging out Arsenal team-mate Bukayo Saka’s three. Madueke has had the rhythm. Saka has had the doubts over his fitness.
Carragher would still roll the dice on the Arsenal man.
“I think Madueke’s had a lot of chances in this tournament,” he said. “It hasn’t quite happened for him. Saka certainly hasn’t been at his best, but as we know, he’s not 100 per cent fit.
“I’m just hoping with each minute or longer he’s on the pitch and other appearances, we start to see a little bit of what we know of Bukayo Saka.
“These are the games you take a chance in. If he’s right, or you think you can get something from him, you’ve got to pick him. There’s no worrying about what comes after that. I know it’s a World Cup final after that, but this game is too important.”
That is the reality of a World Cup semi-final. You don’t save players for a stage you might never reach.
For England, the path is brutally clear: trust Tuchel’s hard edges, back Saka’s talent despite the risk, and use Messi’s freedom against him. Sixty years of waiting comes down to whether they can turn the greatest threat on the pitch into the one weakness Argentina cannot hide.
