Argentina vs England semifinal: Key stats
Lionel Messi's Argentina clash with England in a marquee World Cup semifinal on Thursday [1am, Bangladesh Time], with Spain lying in wait after shattering French hopes of a third triumph.
The fixture between two of the big beasts of global football is mouthwatering enough but is given added spice by long-standing political tensions.
England-Argentina Highlights
**England have lost only two of their 14 meetings with Argentina, winning six and drawing six. One of those draws was followed by a penalty-shootout defeat in the last 16 of France 1998.
**Kane and Bellingham have scored six goals each, the first time two players from the same nation have reached 6+ goals in a single World Cup.
It is a football game and we will be playing against a very tough opponent. They have an excellent coach and this is a football game and that's all.
**Argentina have scored a tournament-high 17 goals, one short of their best-ever World Cup tally. Messi has eight -- level with France’s Kylian Mbappé for the Golden Boot lead.
**The teams’ 1986 quarterfinal at Mexico’s Azteca Stadium entered football folklore through Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” and “Goal of the Century” as Argentina won 2-1.
**Lionel Scaloni is bidding to become only the seventh manager to lead a team in two World Cup finals, and the second for Argentina after Carlos Salvador Bilardo in 1986 and 1990.
It's intense. I'm enjoying it a lot. I feel very alive in these moments. This is this is where I want to be. I don't want to be anywhere else in the world.
**Kane is set to earn his 121st England cap, the most by any Three Lions outfielder. Only goalkeeper Peter Shilton has made more appearances, with 125.
**Tuchel is aiming to end England’s 60-year wait for a major trophy and become only the fourth manager to reach a World Cup final with a country other than his own -- the first since Austria’s Ernst Happel led the Netherlands there in 1978.
Road to semis
Argentina’s road to semis
Group Stage
Vs Algeria 3 - 0
Vs Austria 2 - 0
Vs Jordan 3 - 1
Last 32
Vs Cape Verde 3 - 2
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Vs Egypt 3 - 2
Quarters
Vs Switzerland 3 - 1
England’s road to semis
Group stage
Vs Croatia 4 - 2
Vs Ghana 0 - 0
Vs Panama 2 - 0
Last 32
Vs DR Congo 2 - 1
Last 16
Vs Mexico 3 - 2
Quarters
Vs Norway 2 - 1
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