England pride themselves on their physicality, so shouldn't it have suited them to face a 39-year-old who spends most of his time walking? That was the question posed before the World Cup semi-final, and the answer came in Lionel Messi's movement.
As England conceded control of the match because of their own fatigue and Thomas Tuchel's in-game changes, Messi strolled authoritatively and effectively served as Argentina's on-field coach, according to BBC Sport football tactics correspondent Umir Irfan.
“Lionel Messi's football intelligence undid England's physical tactics as Argentina won the World Cup semi-final.”
In the first half, England looked to press Argentina high. Wingers Anthony Gordon and Morgan Rogers were tasked with pressing the two Argentina central defenders – angling their body to make finding the full-backs harder for goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and his centre-backs Cristian Romero and Lisandro Martinez. For Argentina, the simpler passes were through the middle, but in playing those they fell into England's trap early on.
Jude Bellingham was positioned deeper than Argentina might have expected. Rather than leading the press, he was asked to pay close attention to Enzo Fernandez. Declan Rice did the same with Alexis Mac Allister and Elliot Anderson found himself paired up to Messi.
England wanted to physically bully Argentina when the World Cup holders tried to play their famously central-focused football. The England midfield trio, showing energy early on, stifled Argentina well. Anderson in particular was snappy, early to his duels, smothering Messi.
But Messi, like Fernandez and Mac Allister, began to grow into the game. Argentina's captain started to take deeper positions, posing Anderson a dilemma – how far should he follow him? Messi's walking pace, a tool of great deception, proved handy.
From almost a standing start, Messi would burst into life, darting towards the ball. As England's press faded with tiredness, the advantage shifted to Argentina. With players dropping towards the ball, Argentina brought the ball up the pitch as a unit and gained control.
Messi is less athletic than his younger self, but his footballing intelligence made up for the physical drop-off. He found and exploited England's weaknesses to deliver victory for Argentina in Atlanta, undoing England's tactics on the fly.