England 1–2 Argentina: World Cup Semifinal Recap, Result & How Our Picks Did

How Argentina turned it

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For most of the night this looked like England's game. Thomas Tuchel's side controlled long stretches and broke through in the 55th minute when Anthony Gordon finished from a Morgan Rogers cross to make it 1–0. England led into the final 35 minutes of a World Cup semifinal, in front of a big crowd in Atlanta, and looked composed enough to manage it to the whistle. The tie was there for the taking.

Then Argentina — and Lionel Messi — took over. In the 85th minute Messi threaded the pass that set up Enzo Fernández to equalise, 1–1, and suddenly a game England had controlled was level with the clock against them. The winner came in the second minute of stoppage time: Messi delivered the cross and Lautaro Martínez headed it in, 90+2, to make it 2–1. A tie England had led for half an hour slipped away in the space of a few minutes, and Argentina's late comeback booked their place in the final.

How our picks did

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We treated this as a near-even heavyweight and leaned on value and game-shape. Graded honestly, only one of the three came in — but it was the one that mattered most:

• Argentina to advance (approx. -120) — WON ✅. The headline call landed. It needed a stoppage-time winner and a Messi masterclass rather than the comfortable control we half-expected, but the reigning champions found a way through, exactly as the "to advance" angle backed them to.
• Kane anytime scorer (approx. +160) — LOST ❌. England did score — but the goal was Anthony Gordon's, not Harry Kane's. The captain could not get on the sheet, so the scorer prop missed even though England found the net.
• Under 2.5 goals — LOST ❌. The read on a low-scoring, tactical tie did not hold. Three goals went in, two of them in the last five-plus minutes, and the late thriller pushed the game over the total.

Final tally: one of three landed — but the headline pick, Argentina to advance, came in.

A Messi masterclass

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This was Lionel Messi's night as a creator. Two assists in the last five-plus minutes — the pass for Enzo Fernández's equaliser and the cross for Lautaro Martínez's winner — turned a game Argentina were losing into a semifinal win. In a reduced role at 38, Messi did not need to run the match to decide it; he needed two moments, and he produced both when the tie was on the line. It was the kind of cameo that has defined the biggest games of his career, and it dragged Argentina to the final almost single-handedly.

What it means

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Argentina reach a second straight World Cup final and put themselves 90 minutes from back-to-back titles — a feat no nation has managed in the modern era. The reigning champions have now shown both sides of their game this tournament: the control that carried them through the earlier rounds and the sheer big-game nerve to win a semifinal they were losing with five minutes left. For England, it is a cruel end. They led into the final half-hour, played well enough to win, and simply could not survive the late Messi surge — a first World Cup title since 1966 still out of reach, this time by a matter of minutes.

Now it is Argentina versus Spain for the trophy. The reigning world champions against the reigning European champions, on Sunday, July 19, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Argentina chase back-to-back; Spain chase a first crown since 2010.

Wyoming's stake in the final

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Wyoming does not pretend to be a soccer state. There is no MLS side within a day's drive, and most of the state handle still flows to football, the Denver-area pro teams, and the Wyoming Cowboys. But a World Cup final on home soil is a different animal, and Argentina against Spain — the world champions against the Euro champions, Messi chasing back-to-back against the best possession team in the field — is the kind of event that pulls in bettors who would not normally open a soccer market. The names carry: you do not need to follow the Premier League every week to appreciate what Messi just did to England, or what a final against Spain means.

What Wyoming brings to a match like this is a habit of discipline. With a handful of licensed books rather than the dozen you would shop in New Jersey, bettors here focus on getting the number right rather than chasing the flashiest name. The semifinal was a reminder of why the "to advance" market is often the truer read: the scorer and total angles missed, but backing the reigning champions to find a way through paid off. Carry the same instinct into the final — when two evenly matched heavyweights meet for a trophy, the edge is rarely in guessing the winner but in reading how the game will be played and finding the market that reflects it.

Bottom line

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England led and were 35 minutes from the final, but a late Lionel Messi masterclass — two assists in the closing minutes for Enzo Fernández and Lautaro Martínez — turned it into a 2–1 Argentina comeback. Our card went one-for-three: Argentina to advance came in, while the Kane scorer and Under 2.5 angles both missed in a late thriller. Now the tournament comes down to one match — Argentina versus Spain, Sunday, July 19, at MetLife. Confirm every number in the FanDuel or Fanatics app before you place; final odds move fast as team news lands.

More World Cup coverage from our team: England vs Norway and Spain 2–0 France recap.