England had Lionel Messi under control – “`html
England Had Lionel Messi Under Control Until a Decisive Moment
England had Lionel Messi under control for the majority of the match, but a subtle tactical shift in the second half changed everything. Thomas Tuchel’s preparations appeared sound as his squad restricted the Argentine legend’s influence through disciplined positioning and aggressive pressing. The manager had clearly studied how to limit Messi’s impact in dangerous areas while maintaining defensive stability across the pitch.
First Half Dominance
For the opening sixty minutes, statistics showed England successfully contained Messi’s involvement in high-danger zones. An Elliot Anderson tackle eliminated Messi’s only possession attempt inside the penalty area, arriving shortly after Anthony Gordon’s goal. At thirty-nine years old, Messi’s sprinting percentage registered at just 4.3 percent of total distance covered—below his performance against both Switzerland and Egypt earlier in the tournament.
Messi recorded only one attempt on goal during the entire first half, a long-range effort that never threatened the English penalty area. Historical records indicate this represented an unusually quiet performance. In only one of his nineteen previous World Cup appearances spanning ninety minutes did he register such minimal shot activity. His comparison against Croatia four years prior showed similar restraint, with a single close-range effort being his sole contribution.
The Flank Revolution
Wherever space materialized, the greatest player of his generation positioned himself to dismantle England’s carefully constructed plans.
While Messi’s heat map displayed his customary positioning in the right half-space ahead of the opposition’s penalty area, something more nuanced was occurring. The visual representation of his movement across the entire ninety minutes concealed critical positional changes. Between the penalty box perimeter and the touchline, extending toward the halfway mark, lay a zone largely ignored during the opening forty-five minutes.
Messi touched the ball in this specific corridor only once before halftime, delivering a forward pass to Giuliano Simeone who remained offside. Yet this seemingly peripheral area would become the catalyst for Argentina’s dramatic turnaround. In the second half alone, the legendary playmaker attempted six crosses from open play within this flank region.
This volume represented extraordinary activity for a player whose career average since 2015 stands at 2.3 crosses per ninety minutes across all competitions. Only two World Cup campaigns have witnessed higher crossing numbers from Messi, and notably both occurred in the immediate preceding rounds. One of these wide deliveries produced a Nico González header that goalkeeper Jordan Pickford handled with commendable skill just before the second hydration interval.
That particular moment may have solidified Tuchel’s decision to introduce Ezri Konsa immediately afterward. The head coach subsequently added Dan Burn to his formation, transitioning to a five-man defensive line. This approach had proven effective against Mexico, raising questions about why it would fail here. The answer proved straightforward: Messi operates at a significantly higher level than Mexico’s crossing duo of Roberto Alvarado and Jesús Gallardo.
Those two Mexican players combined for twenty-five open-play crosses at the Azteca Stadium, generating merely 0.05 expected goals. Messi’s single cross for Lautaro Martínez’s decisive strike produced 0.53 expected goals—surpassing England’s entire nighttime output. This marked only his second World Cup assist delivered with his right foot, representing a considerably more challenging execution than the byline cutback he orchestrated for Julián Álvarez during the Qatar semi-finals.
The statistical profile of this encounter stood as an anomaly for Messi, filled with unusual data points. Yet such numbers ultimately proved irrelevant. England had Lionel Messi under control for most of the match, but when the Argentine superstar found space on the flank, his influence became undeniable.
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