England Sat Off the Weakness Rooney Saw in Messi

Wayne Rooney said Lionel Messi could be Argentina’s defensive weakness, and two nights later England sat off him and lost 2-1 in Atlanta.

On July 13 the former England striker told a studio audience that Messi does not sprint back, that he saves himself for big moments, and that marking him is a test of concentration and talk. On July 15, after Anthony Gordon scored in the 55th minute, Thomas Tuchel’s side dropped into a low block. Messi then laid on both late goals, and Argentina went to a World Cup final.

Rooney Named a Hole England Never Attacked

The warning was specific. Messi, 39, no longer chases full backs into his own half. Argentina let him stay high, keep a little fuel, and arrive when the ball turns over. Rooney likened those bursts to Jude Bellingham and still called the rest a problem England could punch.

He can be a weakness defensively for Argentina. He doesn’t run back, but he has big moments, a bit like with Jude Bellingham. He has big moments and moments of quality. The thing with Messi is his decision-making, he comes to life in moments of the game, and he makes the right decision. Marking Lionel Messi is about concentration and communication.

Wayne Rooney, former England striker, on BBC Sport

That was Rooney’s pre-match read on Messi, and it came with a second caution that got less airtime. Speaking on Football Daily, he worried that if Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson jumped onto Alexis Mac Allister, one pass could dump both midfielders and leave Messi in the space behind the press. So the homework was narrow: do not lose him in the pockets, and do not empty the middle just to hunt Argentina’s six.

England did not test the hole. They spent the first half keeping tabs on him, then spent the second half giving him the grass he uses when he is allowed to wait.

A Goal at 55, Then a Low Block

Atlanta Stadium was tight for 45 minutes. Sofascore logged only three shots in the half and none on target. Messi lost the ball 15 times before the interval, more than in any first half he had played at the previous two World Cups. Harry Kane dropped into midfield. Gordon and Morgan Rogers ran the left. For a while the plan looked like a final.

THE ATLANTA CLOCK

1. July 13, 2026: Rooney flags Messi’s lack of tracking as a route England can use.
2. July 15, 55th minute: Rogers crosses, Gordon finishes, England lead 1-0.
3. July 15, 72nd minute: Lionel Scaloni sends on Rodrigo De Paul, Gonzalo Montiel and Nicolás Otamendi and pushes Argentina higher.
4. July 15, 85th minute: Enzo Fernández equalizes from outside the box after a short corner involving Messi.
5. July 15, 90+2: Lautaro Martínez, on from the 81st minute, heads in Messi’s cross from the right.

Tuchel’s reply to the lead was to retreat. Ezri Konsa came on for Gordon. England spent a long stretch with six defenders on the pitch. Between the opener and the winner they held about 12 percent of the ball. Ivan Toney and Marcus Rashford waited until the 96th minute, after the damage.

If you allow Messi and Argentina to come onto you, you’re asking for trouble. We sat back, allowed them to come on to us. They put us under pressure and we cracked. It started from the manager and the decisions he made. It was too passive.

Wayne Rooney, after the match, on BBC Sport

The post-match fight did not linger on whether Messi had sprinted back. It went straight at the retreat. Rooney had named a defensive gap in Argentina and then watched his own team open a bigger one in front of Jordan Pickford. FIFA’s post-match statistical report had Argentina forcing 39 turnovers to England’s 32, even though England applied 320 pressing actions to 188. The press was busy. It was also the wrong height once the scoreboard said 1-0.

Two Assists After England Stopped Pressing

Messi did not add to his Golden Boot tally. He did not need to. Sofascore gave him a rating of 8, with four key passes, two big chances created, and nine crosses, three of them accurate. Argentina finished with 64 percent of the ball, 15 shots to 5, five on target to two, and 1.80 expected goals to 0.54. They completed 590 passes to 324.

HOW THE SCOREBOARD MOVED

The equalizer started on a short corner. Messi played it, got it back, and found Fernández about 20 metres out, unmarked because England had sunk so deep the edge of the box was a pocket. The winner was messier. Mac Allister struck the post, Messi gathered the loose ball, and he drove the right touchline in a way Rooney had said he no longer bothered to do the other direction. The cross cleared John Stones and dropped onto Lautaro between Stones and Konsa.

Kane, to his credit, did not hide from the quality. “Leo is still performing at the highest level,” the England captain said. Lautaro, fighting tears, said he had told Mac Allister he would score. Scaloni called the group unique and said that was not arrogance.

Those two balls also pushed Messi’s all-time World Cup assist record. Opta logged him on 12 career tournament assists, 10 of them in knockout rounds, with nobody else on the books since 1966 above eight in total.

https://x.com/OptaJoe/status/2077498372869558277

Why Messi No Longer Tracks Back

It is not mystery fitness. It is a bargain Argentina had been striking all month. Messi scored in the group games against Algeria, Austria and Jordan, then again against Cabo Verde and Egypt. He played 120 minutes against Cabo Verde and again against Switzerland, who went down 3-1 in extra time in the quarterfinal. By Atlanta he had already been used as a closer, not as a first defender.

FBref’s match log from the semifinal is the picture Rooney was pointing at: 90 minutes, one shot, one tackle won, nine crosses, two assists. The defensive work he skipped sat on De Paul, Mac Allister, the centre backs, and whoever Scaloni threw on at 72 minutes. The return on that rest was the last seven minutes of England’s World Cup.

THE LATE KNOCKOUT HABIT

• Egypt, round of 16: Argentina win 3-2, with Messi on a goal and an assist in a comeback that had them chasing into the last quarter of an hour.
• Switzerland, quarterfinal: 3-1 after extra time, Messi with the assist, another 120-minute night in his legs.
• England, semifinal: 2-1 from a 55th-minute deficit, both goals after the 85th, both from Messi’s boot.

Eleven of Argentina’s 19 goals through the semifinal had come after the 75th minute. The holders had scored 19 and conceded 7 in seven matches by the time they booked New Jersey. That is not a side that outruns people for 90 minutes. It is a side that keeps Messi alive for the part of the night when the other team stops.

Spain Pressed the Space England Gave Away

Four days later the same bargain met a team that would not sit. Spain had already beaten France 2-0 in the other semifinal. Luis de la Fuente’s players held a high line, squeezed the pitch, and made Messi drop into his own half just to find a touch. Argentina became the first side on Opta’s books, which start in 1966, to register zero shots across 90 minutes of a World Cup final.

THE FINAL AGAINST SPAIN

• Shots in 90 minutes: Argentina none, Spain 15 in regulation on the way to 20 across the night.
• Messi’s night: 54 touches, one shot, no chances created, no touches in the Spain box.
• The goal: Ferran Torres, a substitute, in the 106th minute, after a Nico Williams header from Pedro Porro’s deep cross.
• The keeper: Emiliano Martínez made 11 saves, the most by any goalkeeper in a World Cup final on those records.

Enzo Fernández had already seen a second yellow in the third minute of second-half stoppage, so Argentina played extra time with ten. Their first attempt was a Messi volley in the 117th minute that hit Mikel Merino in the face. Giuliano Simeone then missed the chance that would have forced penalties. Spain had conceded one goal in eight matches. Torres was the second substitute to win a World Cup final, after Mario Götze in 2014, also against Argentina.

FIFA’s tournament review credited Messi with eight goals and four assists. Kylian Mbappé took the Golden Boot with 10. Rodri took the Golden Ball. Messi took the Silver Ball and the Silver Boot and walked off in tears. He has since called time on his international career.

Four Days Later the Rest Was Gone

Rooney was not wrong about the shape of Messi’s game. He was wrong about who would use it. England had one night in which the captain of Argentina would not recover into his own box, and they used that night to put six defenders in their own box instead. The energy Messi did not spend tracking Gordon or Rogers showed up on Fernández’s shot and Lautaro’s header.

Spain did the opposite. They never gave him a low block to rest against, and Argentina’s attack, built around that rest, produced nothing for an hour and a half. The hole Rooney named was real. It was also a trade. Sit off it, as England did, and you pay the attacking half. Press it for two hours, as Spain did, and the 39-year-old runs out of the moments Rooney had also told everyone to fear.

Spain needed extra time and a substitute in the 106th minute. Messi left with 21 World Cup goals, a Silver Ball, and no second star.

Frequently Asked Questions

Had Messi Ever Faced England Before the Atlanta Semifinal?

No. Argentina played England in a friendly in November 2005, but Messi was an unused substitute that night, months after his senior debut against Hungary. The July 15 semifinal was his first appearance against England in any fixture.

How Many World Cup Finals Has Lionel Messi Played?

Three, in 2014, 2022 and 2026, which puts him level with Brazil’s Cafu as the only men to start three World Cup finals. Opta had him at 39 years and 25 days in New Jersey, the second-oldest finalist after Italy’s Dino Zoff, who was 40 years and 133 days in 1982.

Who Won the Golden Boot at the 2026 World Cup?

Kylian Mbappé, with 10 goals, his second straight Golden Boot. Those 10 took him to 22 World Cup goals for his career, one past Messi’s 21, so the France forward left 2026 as both the tournament’s top scorer and the competition’s all-time leader.

Has a World Cup Final Team Ever Gone 90 Minutes Without a Shot?

Argentina in 2026 were the first to do it in a final on Opta’s records, which begin in 1966. The only other sides in that span to go through 90 minutes of a World Cup match with no shot were Costa Rica against Brazil in 1990 and Costa Rica against Spain in 2022, neither of them in a final.