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England are gearing up to take on Argentina in the semi-finals of the 2026 World Cup. Argentina have some excellent attacking players \u2013 but who are they exactly?<\/strong><\/p>\n Today, we\u2019ll highlight five players who could make the difference for La Albiceleste. With 17 goals in six games, they are the highest-scoring team at the tournament, scoring four more goals than England.<\/p>\n On top of this, they have also created the best chances. No other team has been able to exceed their xG rating of 13.9 up to this point. Furthermore, they have conceded the same amount of goals as England have, with both letting six in.<\/p>\n As such, Argentina\u2019s attacking threat must be understood and respected by the Three Lions in the semi-finals. Who will they need to keep an eye on?<\/p>\n One of the best strikers in the world, Julian Alvarez hasn\u2019t been at his best at the World Cup. Perhaps he is saving it all for the game against England?<\/p>\n Despite having played in all six of Argentina\u2019s games at the tournament, the former Manchester City star only has one goal to his name as of yet.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, Alvarez\u2019s talents cannot be denied. He was an absolute menace in the Champions League last season, scoring ten goals in 15 games. According to TEAMtalk, he could return to the Premier League soon, as a move to Arsenal may be on the cards.<\/p>\n Lautaro Martinez is Argentina\u2019s second-highest goalscorer at the World Cup. Yet, he only has two goals so far. One wonders where all those goals have been coming from (or not). <\/p>\n Jokes aside, Martinez is a lethal striker and is a real throwback in many ways. An excellent poacher, his movement inside the box is top-notch, as is his finishing.<\/p>\n One might argue that is now an Inter Milan legend, having been at the club for eight years and scoring over 100 league goals along the way. Last season, he scored 17 goals in 30 Serie A outings.<\/p>\n On his day, Enzo Fernandez is one of the best midfielders in the world. A technical master with an acute eye for goal, he will be a massive loss if he leaves Chelsea during the summer transfer window.<\/p>\n He has only scored one goal at the World Cup so far, but it was perhaps Argentina\u2019s most important, when he netted the winner in a dramatic 3-2 comeback win over Egypt in the last 16. <\/p>\n Chelsea might have endured a tough campaign in the Premier League, but Fernandez did well on an individual level, scoring ten goals from midfield and notching up four assists.<\/p>\n Like Enzo Fernandez, Alexis Mac Allister also suffered a tough season at club level with Liverpool, but his overall talents cannot be denied.<\/p>\n An electric dynamo who likes to burst into the box and score goals, he has netted one goal and has notched up a single assist for Argentina at the World Cup so far.<\/p>\n He will be crucial in their efforts against England. Providing their midfield with energy, he will be paramount in what should be a fearsome midfield battle. <\/p>\n We saved the best until last. Is Lionel Messi still the best footballer on the planet? His statistics at the 2026 World Cup so far would certainly suggest so.<\/p>\n With eight goals in six games, he is the tournament\u2019s joint-top goalscorer, alongside Kylian Mbappe. On top of this, with 21 in all, he is now the highest goalscorer in World Cup history.<\/p>\n Messi might well be the greatest footballer of all time. Likewise, he is also England\u2019s biggest threat on Wednesday evening. Thomas Tuchel must find a way to contain him \u2013 if he can.<\/p>\n \n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" England are gearing up to take on Argentina in the semi-finals of the 2026 World…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Julian Alvarez<\/h2>\n
Lautaro Martinez<\/h2>\n
Enzo Fernandez<\/h2>\n
Alexis Mac Allister<\/h2>\n
Lionel Messi<\/h2>\n