The knockout phase of the World Cup got underway on Sunday evening when co-hosts Canada secured perhaps the biggest win in their nation’s history, as a stoppage-time Stephen Eustaquio goal saw off South Africa.
The rest of the round of the 32 will take place over the next five days, with teams now knowing what their potential routes to the final will look like, after a group stage in which the myriad of permutations involving third-place finishers resulted in a headache-inducing set of potential outcomes.
England will face one of these third-place finishers in DR Congo on Wednesday afternoon in Atlanta as they avoided one of the more established contenders for the title, but when could Thomas Tuchel’s team be pitted against the peerless Lionel Messi and his Argentina side?
When can England meet Lionel Messi and Argentina?
Messi - who turned 39 last week - has been the standout player of the tournament so far, netting six goals in the group stage to move clear at the top of the all-time World Cup goalscoring rankings.
His Argentina side breezed through their group, with three wins out of three, which has seen them rewarded with a last-32 match against the tournament’s surprise side Cape Verde. Both England and Argentina will therefore be fancied to make it into the last-16.
Here, England would face the winners of Tuesday night’s Mexico vs Ecuador clash, potentially handing them the unenviable task of defeating the co-hosts in the Azteca Stadium. Argentina’s last-16 tie would be against the winner of Australia vs Egypt, where narrative fans would be eager to cheer on a Mohamed Salah vs Lionel Messi showdown.
Historic rivals England and Argentina would still not meet at the quarter-final stage. Instead, England could potentially face Brazil here, should the Selecao get past Japan on Monday night, then see of the winners of Tuesday night’s Ivory Coast vs Norway clash.
In Argentina’s section of the draw, the winners of a last-16 clash between either Switzerland or Algeria, or Colombia or Ghana, would await them in the quarter-final.
Should all these results go as planned for England and Argentina, it would then set up a semi-final showdown in Atlanta on Wednesday, July 15.
And if that does happen, it would remarkably see Lionel Messi face England for the first time in a 21-year international career that has seen him win 202 caps for La Albiceleste.
That’s because the two teams have not faced each other since a friendly in November 2005, which saw the Three Lions win 3-2 thanks to a Wayne Rooney opener and a Michael Owen brace in Geneva.
An 18-year-old Messi had recently made his senior Argentina debut against Hungary, but it had only lasted less than a minute as he was issued a straight red card, which meant he was suspended for the friendly against England.
Should England and Argentina lock horns again, it would be a sixth World Cup meeting between the sides and the latest instalment of one of international football’s most intense rivalries.
Perhaps the most famous of these was the 1986 quarter-final which saw Diego Maradona’s Hand of God goal followed up by his sublime individual effort, while the 1998 last-16 clash is remembered for Michael Owen’s brilliant solo strike, David Beckham’s controversial red card, plus another England penalty defeat.
