ARGENTINA'S ROAD TO THE FINAL
Published: 16/07/2026 | By: Alex Courbat
Defending a World Cup was never going to be simple, but nobody could have predicted quite how often Argentina would need to be dragged back from the brink to get here. Lionel Scaloni's side arrive at MetLife Stadium as champions again, only this time the story of how they got there reads less like a coronation and more like a horror film where the hero somehow keeps surviving the final act.
It started calmly enough. Group J gave Argentina exactly what a defending champion wants, a straightforward passage with Messi front and centre. A 3-0 win over Algeria in Kansas City set the tone, Messi marking his 200th international appearance with a hat-trick that pulled him level with Miroslav Klose's World Cup goals record. Wins over Austria and Jordan followed, both routine enough that Argentina topped the group without needing to break sweat, and Scaloni had the luxury of resting players ahead of the knockouts.
That luxury did not last. Cape Verde, the smallest nation ever to reach a World Cup, very nearly ended Argentina's defence in the round of 32. A nation with a population smaller than Milwaukee took the world champions to extra time in Miami, twice cancelling out the lead, first through Deroy Duarte and then through a Sidny Cabral strike from the edge of the box that will be replayed for years. Argentina eventually squeezed through 3-2, an own goal off Diney Borges settling it deep into the additional 30 minutes, but the warning signs were there. This team could be got at.
Egypt made that point even more forcefully in the round of 16. Yasser Ibrahim and Mostafa Ziko had the Pharaohs two goals to the good and dreaming of the greatest shock of the tournament, with goalkeeper Mostafa Shoubir saving a Messi penalty into the bargain. Argentina needed three goals in the final quarter of an hour to escape, Cristian Romero heading in with 11 minutes left, Messi levelling soon after, and Enzo Fernandez completing the turnaround deep into stoppage time. Scaloni could barely speak afterwards. Three years of longing for that kind of moment, he said, and it arrived in the cruellest, most stretched-out way possible.
The quarter-final against Switzerland followed the same script almost note for note. Alexis Mac Allister headed in early from a Messi corner, only for Dan Ndoye to level after the hour and a red card for Breel Embolo to leave the Swiss down to ten men for the closing stages. Even then Argentina could not find the killer blow in normal time, and it took until the 112th minute for Julian Alvarez to produce a strike from distance good enough to separate two stubborn sides, Lautaro Martinez adding gloss in the final minute of extra time.
Which brings us to England, and a semi-final in Atlanta that had been building for 24 years. Anthony Gordon's goal just after the hour looked, for a long stretch, like it might finally be the one that got away from Argentina. Thomas Tuchel's side dropped deep to protect the lead, and for a while it worked. Then, with five minutes of normal time left, Enzo Fernandez found a moment of instinct to level, and two minutes into stoppage time Messi picked out Lautaro Martinez unmarked at the back post. Another header, another impossibly late goal, another final.
Four knockout games, four moments where Argentina looked out on their feet, and four times they found something extra when it mattered most. Whatever Spain bring to MetLife Stadium on Sunday, this Argentina side has already proven the one thing that matters more than form or fixtures: they simply do not know how to lose when the clock is running down.
