England 1–2 Argentina — World Cup 2026

Semi-final · Knockout · 2026-07-15

England

xG 1.18

HT 0–01 – 2

Argentina

xG 2.92

England Anthony Gordon 55′ · Argentina Enzo Fernández 86′, Lautaro Martínez 92′

Mercedes-Benz Stadium · 68,239 attendance

The story

A mild upset: Argentina (48% pre-match) got past England. The decisive moment came late, in the 92th minute.

Expected goals race

England Argentina ● goal

Cumulative expected goals, minute by minute. ESPN's free feed has no xG, so each shot's xG is estimated with a naive distance-and-angle logistic model fitted on shot coordinates from the play-by-play.

Shot map

England (attacking →) Argentina (attacking ←) size = xG · star = goal

England · match stats · Argentina

35.8 Possession 64.2

5 Shots 15

2 On Target 5

2 Corners 6

11 Fouls 15

1 Offsides 3

3 Saves 1

1 Yellows 3

0 Reds 0

What the model expected

Pre-match Elo: England 2099, Argentina 2175. The model priced this England 27% / draw 25% / Argentina 48%, most likely score 1–1. A plausible-but-not-favoured outcome. The result moves 20 Elo points from England to Argentina — that flows straight into the next round of tournament simulations.

Timeline

37' YELLOWElliot Anderson (England) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

42' YELLOWLisandro Martínez (Argentina) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

51' YELLOWCristian Romero (Argentina) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

55' GOALGoal! England 1, Argentina 0. Anthony Gordon (England) right footed shot from very close range to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Morgan Rogers with a cross.

64' SUBSubstitution, Argentina. Nico González replaces Leandro Paredes.

72' SUBSubstitution, England. Ezri Konsa replaces Anthony Gordon.

72' SUBSubstitution, Argentina. Gonzalo Montiel replaces Nahuel Molina.

72' SUBSubstitution, Argentina. Rodrigo De Paul replaces Giuliano Simeone.

72' SUBSubstitution, Argentina. Nicolás Otamendi replaces Lisandro Martínez.

81' SUBSubstitution, Argentina. Lautaro Martínez replaces Nicolás Tagliafico.

82' SUBSubstitution, England. Dan Burn replaces Reece James because of an injury.

82' SUBSubstitution, England. Nico O'Reilly replaces Declan Rice.

85' GOALGoal! England 1, Argentina 1. Enzo Fernández (Argentina) right footed shot from outside the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Lionel Messi following a corner.

90'+2' GOALGoal! England 1, Argentina 2. Lautaro Martínez (Argentina) header from very close range to the top left corner. Assisted by Lionel Messi with a cross.

90'+4' YELLOWRodrigo De Paul (Argentina) is shown the yellow card.

90'+6' SUBSubstitution, England. Ivan Toney replaces John Stones.

90'+6' SUBSubstitution, England. Marcus Rashford replaces Djed Spence.

Lineups

England

4-2-3-1

1Jordan Pickford G
6Marc Guéhi CD-L
5John Stones CD-R
25Djed Spence LB
24Reece James RB
10Jude Bellingham AM
8Elliot Anderson LM
4Declan Rice RM
9Harry Kane F
18Anthony Gordon AM-L
17Morgan Rogers AM-R

Subs: Ezri Konsa, Dan Burn, Nico O'Reilly, Ivan Toney, Marcus Rashford

Argentina

4-1-4-1

23Emiliano Martínez G
6Lisandro Martínez CD-L
13Cristian Romero CD-R
5Leandro Paredes DM
3Nicolás Tagliafico LB
26Nahuel Molina RB
20Alexis Mac Allister CM-L
24Enzo Fernández CM-R
9Julián Álvarez LM
17Giuliano Simeone RM
10Lionel Messi F

Subs: Nico González, Gonzalo Montiel, Rodrigo De Paul, Nicolás Otamendi, Lautaro Martínez