2026 World Cup: Let Two Stars Converge in the Sky – the Fading and the Rising
This isn't a horoscope, but rather an anticipation of the 2026 World Cup final, where Lionel Messi and Lamin Yamal will face off – a genius ending his active role in global football, and a promising young talent with a bright future.
Three questions remain to be answered, not counting the bronze medal match.
"How so? Three questions in one match?" a casual fan might ask.
Yes! Three: Who will win the championship? Who will be the best player of the championship? And who will win the Ballon d'Or?
The World Cup has reached its climax, and now that the names of the two title contenders and the individual rankings of the most outstanding footballers are known, the time has come for a panoramic reflection on the journey so far.
These two semi-finals were more than just sporting competitions for the right to play in the main final of the quadrennial – they became a global civilizational manifesto, revealing profound tactical, social, and historical processes in modern society.
The green turf of the arenas in Texas and Atlanta once again proved that football has long ceased to be a thing in itself, turning into a giant mirror reflecting the burning ambitions of modern teams, the geopolitical scars of the past, and, most importantly, the widespread growth of football as a sporting and intellectual discipline.
Let's begin with the second semi-final, the most furious and unpredictable match.
Falklands Syndrome, or How Rage Rewrote the Script of a Meeting of Genetic Rivals
The semifinal clash between Argentina and England at the Atlanta stadium was intense, aggressive, and emotionally charged, with roots extending far beyond a purely sporting rivalry.
In the veins of the Argentine footballers and in the seething stands, painted in the national team's colors, it was as if a genetic memory and old resentment for the Falklands-Malvinas had awakened.
The conflict centers on a territorial dispute. Britain considers the archipelago to be its Falkland Islands, while Argentina, calling them the Malvinas, insists on its historical right. The conflict, which has dragged on for nearly two hundred years, escalated in 1982 into a 74-day war and ended with a British victory. The islands remained under British control.
The war's outcome was tragic. For the first time, missiles were used in combat at sea, with losses amounting to sunken vessels, destroyed equipment, and hundreds of lives on both sides. And all for the sake of virtually lifeless islands. The eminent Argentine writer and philosopher Jorge Luis Borges characterized the conflict itself with the phrase "a fight between two bald men over a comb," thus emphasizing the senselessness of the conflict—the sides had expended enormous resources and lives over a disputed, insignificant territory.
But in Argentina, the defeat was a blow to national pride. After the war, just four years later, the legendary Argentina-England match took place at the World Cup in Mexico. And the hero of that game was undoubtedly Diego Maradona. He scored two goals in the space of four minutes.
The first of these goals went down in history as the "Hand of God." Maradona, leaping high, outpacing both a defender and a goalkeeper, sent the ball into the net. The referee awarded the goal, but there's still debate about whether Diego headed the ball into the English goal with his head or his hand. Back then, forty years ago, there were no modern IT marvels or artificial intelligence; referees relied solely on their own minds and eyes.
At the post-match conference, journalists directly asked Maradona, "Did he score the goal with his hand?" to which Diego replied that it was "partly with Maradona's head and partly with the hand of God." The English press, predictably, dubbed this episode "the hand of the devil."
Just four minutes after the first goal, Maradona achieved another feat. He received the ball in his own half and, at high speed, masterfully dribbled past half the English team (one of them twice), including the goalkeeper. With artistic composure, he then smashed the ball into the empty net. In 2002, FIFA voted this move the "Goal of the Century" in an online poll.
Many Argentines viewed the victory over England in that match as a symbolic revenge. And now, four decades later, Argentina and England meet again, this time in the 2026 World Cup semifinals.
England unleashed a colossal onslaught on their opponents from the very first minutes. But the clashes between the players began as early as the third minute. Early in the match, England confidently seized territorial and game control. Even a simple, harmless approach by the Argentines to the penalty area was perceived as a stroke of luck for a team led by Messi, who was initially barely visible on the field.
At that moment, it seemed to me that the predictions of an English victory were beginning to come true. But when Mick Jagger flashed across the screen, I couldn't help but cry out, "All is lost! The English will definitely lose this game!" It wasn't immediately, but about seven minutes later, that the Argentines began to gradually gain momentum.
However, the envoys from Foggy Albion continued to dominate until the first water break, after which the Argentinians completely leveled the game. But here, too, there was a difference in approach: while the English played evenly but also tried to create a constructive play, the Argentinians did the same, but with their actions, they tried to undermine the tactical intentions of their opponents.
Jagger is the direct opposite of the character Mephistopheles from Goethe's Faust, who, introducing himself, claimed: "I am part of that power which eternally wills evil and eternally works good." Mick is the same, but in reverse. Like a good angel, he strives to support his beloved team, but his good intentions turn into defeat.
But on this day, the good angel's evil intentions didn't manifest until the final minutes of the match. The English, as is well known, even led for a significant part of the game. But in the final minutes they caused a catastrophe, sowing real chaos in the universe of football.
…While in the first half Messi produced a few spectacular moments, the brilliance of which didn't match the brilliance of a star of the first magnitude, in the second half he both directed the team's actions and led his teammates against the English redoubts. And after conceding a goal in the 55th minute, the Argentines began to literally tear into the opponent's defense. The diminutive Messi himself, stubbornly breaking through to the tall English goal, resembled a small bear cub, swatting away a pack of wolfhounds trying to grab him.
Moreover, Lionel was constantly under intense pressure from the brilliant Jude Bellingham, who managed to shadow Messi like a shadow and immediately join in attacks on the Argentine goal. However, the thirty-nine-year-old striker once again proved that his genius is capable of nullifying any athletic and technical advantages of the opponent.
After conceding a goal, the Argentines' play became increasingly ruthless. I could sense a tenacious desire not to cede a single centimeter of the field to the English, and it seemed to me that the mental rage harkening back to the Falkland Islands-Malvinas game had reawakened within them. The match turned into a true battle of nerves, where tactics and physicality gave way to mental fortitude.
In the second half, coach Lionel Scaloni made refreshing substitutions to further strengthen the defense. But Messi is cunning: waiting for the moment when the English were pressed hard against their goal, he delivered two masterpiece passes in a row that tied the score and then doubled it to 2-1.
The Argentines displayed incredible character and extreme ruthlessness in the defensive midfield, and in the final minutes of the game, they made a colossal turnaround in the history of modern football. The team fought furiously for victory, proving to themselves and others that the legacy of historical rivalry between countries and internal rage can become a powerful drug, capable of crushing the most impeccable power machine. And England, having conceded a second goal, lost their chance to fight for the championship.
Sometimes I wonder if I should advise her: "If Jagger shows up at the next World Cup, give him a return ticket immediately, preferably on a boat. Let him sail to his London until the tournament is over!"
After all, right at the end of regulation time, in the 89th minute, Jagger appeared on the screen again. And three minutes later, England conceded that fateful second goal...
Iberian Triumph – a Tactical Checkmate for France
The semifinal match in Dallas between Spain and France was initially billed by pundits as a classic clash of footballing philosophies, but in reality, it turned out to be a textbook lesson in the superiority of intellect over blind physical force.
Spain approached this pinnacle in impeccable form, demonstrating stunning academicism and teamwork in the midfield, where Rodri (Rodrigo Hernández Cascante) and Pedri (Pedro Eliécer Rodríguez Ledesma) controlled the tempo of the match with the precision of microsurgeons.
Their 19-year-old budding genius, Lamin Yamal, carried the field like a seasoned grandmaster, completely ignoring the brutal physical pressure exerted by the French athletes.
It was Yamal who subtly provoked a defender into fouling in the French penalty area in the 22nd minute, earning a crucial penalty, which Mikel Oyarzabal calmly converted. When Spain doubled their lead in the 57th minute, Spanish coach Luis de la Fuente's tactical trap slammed shut.
The French camp under Didier Deschamps faced a personnel disaster in the first half, when leading defender William Saliba left the field early due to worsening back pain.
Without a key defensive figure and facing strict refereeing from Salvadoran referee Ivan Barton, who prevented rugby-style tackles (and not always), France resorted to a straightforward, reckless attack.
But the Spanish "living chess pieces" entered a state of total football hypnosis and lullaby, monotonously passing the ball back and forth in the final minutes to the rapturous cries of "Olé! Olé! Olé!" from the seething stands.
French captain Kylian Mbappé, almost completely isolated from the ball and receiving a yellow card late in the match for a flagrant foul committed out of desperation and helplessness, was unable to breach the meticulously constructed Spanish defenses.
The international press acknowledged that Deschamps' pragmatic and austere vertical had completely capitulated to the pure aesthetics and intelligence of the "Roja Roja," who deservedly advanced to the final with a 2-0 victory.
A Summary of a New Page in Football Mania
Summing up this emotion-filled and passionate semi-final week, we can confidently conclude that the 2026 World Cup has definitively shaped a new football reality – both geographically and tactically.
The main match of the quadrennial will pit Spain and Argentina, teams representing two leading schools of football – Latin American and European (and, more specifically, Southern European). Despite their different styles, they both preach the primacy of football intelligence and character over blind brute force.
FIFA's refereeing liberalism nearly turned football into a surrogate for rugby and wrestling. In the semi-finals, they were supplemented by spectacular trips, overhead throws, and judo throws, as well as Japanese sumo techniques, all without regard for weight requirements.
However, they all faded when faced with such titans as Argentina's Lionel Messi and his unyielding will, Spain's Lamine Yamal and his game, which was wise beyond his youth, France's Kylian Mbappé and his blistering pace that terrified defenders, and England's Jude Bellingham, nicknamed "The Midfield General."
His famous gesture of spreading his arms after scoring a goal is imitated by millions of children around the world. And when Jude scores, adults sing the famous Beatles song "Hey, Jude" in stadiums, with the lyrics slightly adapted to Bellingham. The song became his anthem. Jude himself admitted: "When the whole stadium stands and sings that song, it gives me goosebumps."
So, a dream final awaits us, where past achievements and transfer fees will be completely wiped out with the referee's starting whistle. Teams will take to the field, including two star giants – the aging Messi and the still-young Yamal.
"Let two stars converge in the sky – the fading and the rising." This is about them. And this phrase contains the formula for the infinity of great football.
Bekdurdy AMANSARYEV
On the topic
Football on the Edge of Rugby, or Will the Beauty of a Game Loved by Millions Disappear?
Will England Break Mick Jagger's Curse on the Way to the 2026 World Cup Final?
Tactical Puzzles for the 2026 World Cup: Will Football Intelligence Defeat Athletic Power?
