\u201cIt\u2019s special because they\u2019re a great team, a powerhouse, and it\u2019s always nice to play a team like that,\u201d says Argentinian legend
\nKANSAS CITY
\nLionel Messi has spent over two decades carving a path through international soccer, facing every World Cup-winning nation from Brazil to France, but one notable opponent has always been missing from the list: England.
\nThat will change on Wednesday when Argentina meet the European side in a World Cup semi-final in Atlanta, a heavyweight clash that Argentina\u2019s FA (AFA) described on its website as \u201cthe match fate owed Messi.\u201d
\nThe 39-year-old Messi has played Brazil, Uruguay, Germany, Italy, Spain and France during his career, yet never crossed paths with England.
\nThe closest he came was a friendly in Geneva in November 2005, the last time the two sides faced each other.
\nArgentina lost 3-2 as Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen, who scored twice, overturned goals from Hernan Crespo and Walter Samuel. Messi, however, missed out after being sent off on his international debut against Hungary earlier that year.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s special because they\u2019re a great team, a powerhouse, and it\u2019s always nice to play a team like that, a match of this kind,\u201d Messi told reporters after Argentina\u2019s 3-1 quarter-final victory over Switzerland in extra time on Saturday.
\n\u201cWe need to rest because we come from a lot of wear and tear, which the group obviously feels, and arrive in the best possible condition to keep doing what we\u2019ve been doing: competing,\u201d he added.
\nArgentina survived a third consecutive dramatic knockout match, after defeating Cape Verde 3-2 in extra time in the round of 32 and staging a comeback to beat Egypt 3-2 in the last 16 after trailing 2-0 with 11 minutes remaining.
\nMessi contributed with an assist for Alexis Mac Allister\u2019s opening goal against Switzerland, but it was the first World Cup match since Argentina\u2019s 2-0 group-stage win over Poland at Qatar 2022 in which Messi did not score.
\n\u201cEngland can outrun Argentina but they just have that little genius Messi. They all play for him. Everyone should be excited,\u201d BBC pundit Micah Richards said. \u201cMarking him is impossible because he doesn\u2019t run back.\u201d
\nThe England clash will add another chapter to one of soccer\u2019s most emotionally charged rivalries, shaped by decades of sporting drama and political tension, while giving Messi a place in a fixture that has produced some of Argentina\u2019s most enduring soccer memories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cIt\u2019s special because they\u2019re a great team, a powerhouse, and it\u2019s always nice to play a team like that,\u201d says Argentinian legend KANSAS CITY Lionel Messi has spent over two decades carving a path through international soccer, facing every World Cup-winning nation from Brazil to France, but one notable opponent has always been missing from …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":100226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100255"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100264,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100255\/revisions\/100264"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}