England v Argentina LIVE: Latest World Cup updates as Tuchel makes huge selection calls

Tonight’s semi-final will be an intriguing clash between two historic rivals but how do England fans think the game will go?

It is obvious that Messi has fully defied the odds by, at 39, carrying his team on his shoulders, scoring eight goals and securing a semi-final appearance for what might be seen as a weakened Argentina side.

This has been a workable tactic for every other game against the likes of Cape Verde, Egypt and Switzerland – but all of those games were probably too close for Argentina’s liking.

Coming against a team like England, one of the best teams in the world, it is uncertain if Messi will have the man power behind him to ward off a well balanced team like England.

The likes of Enzo Fernandez and Alex Mac Allister have been ample so far, but the centre back pairing of Martinez and Cristian Romero, whilst clutch at the other end of the pitch are prone to silly errors at the back.

It is being reported that Thomas Tuchel has favoured Aston Villa star Morgan Rogers on his right-flank over Noni Madueke who started against Norway.

Madueke look at sea at times against Norway, you can’t fault his attacking intent, but the end product was often not there. Rogers has proven week-in-week-out for Villa that he can produce and did so for England against Croatia, when given the chance.

He has since been a good feature but nothing ground breaking, hopefully he will prove to be another good playmaking threat to draw Argentinian players away from Kane and Bellingham.

Another potential move from Thomas Tuchel is to switch out both of England’s full backs with Reece James and Djed Spence rumoured to be brought back into the starting XI.

That would mean Nico O’Reilly drops out and one of Ezri Konsa or John Stones who began the game against Norway.

Fans from England and Argentina are arriving at the Atlanta Stadium ahead of this World Cup semi-final.

Build-up continues to kick off at 8pm with team news officially dropping inside the hour.

At this World Cup so far Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham have scored a record 12/13 of England’s goals, save one from Rashford against Croatia.

That is 92.3% of all England Goals in the competition, which is a record for any team that has scored 10 goals or more.

Their closest competition are Hugi and Ballamann of Switzerland in 1954 who scored 90% of their teams goals.

It is also worth mentioning that the recently eliminated France had 13/16 goals scored by either Mbappe or Dembele which is the fourth highest on the list.

Many have criticised what they an call ‘over reliance’ on Kane and Bellingham, but what are world class players there for if not to be leant upon at the biggest tournament in the world?

Hurst, became the first player to ever score a hat-trick in a World Cup final, as I’m sure your aware, in 1966 when England beat West Germany 4-2 in their only World Cup triumph.

“You can talk about [Lionel] Messi being past his best, with his age, he’s still performing, he’s still scoring and he’s a big danger if you allow him to do so,” Hurst told the BBC.

“You can talk about them being past their best, I don’t necessarily agree with that. If you think they are past their best and we are going to walk away with it, those guys must be dreaming.

“There’s no way we are going to be winning three-nil at half time or walking away with it.”

England, like Argentina, are undefeated in their seven games so far, but it has not been as easy going. After an electric first game against Croatia, thing began to look and feel a bit more difficult.

Nevertheless, they are all wins in the column:

• England 4-2 Croatia
• England 0-0 Ghana
• England 2-0 Panama
• England 3-2 Mexico
• England 2-1 Norway