England v Argentina: Ripple effects make nullifying Lionel Messi even more complicated than usual

Because whilst the likes of Declan Rice and Reece James have been passed fit to start, there seems very little chance of them finishing the game if they do as they labour under the effects of football's ridiculous every-man-for-himself year-long calendar.

And then there is the extraordinary Lionel Messi to consider.

Messi is not just one of the greatest footballers ever to walk the earth, perhaps the greatest, he also breaks all the rules in this ultra-physical era of elite football.

The little Argentinian spends most of his matches walking or standing still, and does not track back.

People often talk about “moments players” these days but like Erling Haaland, who England saw off on Saturday, Messi is happy – and allowed – to limit himself to them.

Yet he uses the energy conserved to devastating effect. It is an exaggeration to say he can win World Cups, let alone games, on his own, but not by much. England cannot go into their first ever game against him without a plan for how to shut him down.

Manager Thomas Tuchel at least has options. His over-enthusiasm for versatile defenders has handicapped England at times at this World Cup, but may come in handy now.

The first question to address is a simple but crucial one: man-mark the little genius or accept that no one player can take him out of the game? At least not legally.

There is a famous precedent. When England last won the World Cup they detailed one of the best players on the planet, Bobby Charlton, to nullify the brilliant Franz Beckenbauer. Hand back your passport immediately if you do not know how that 10-a-side game played out.

Pinching tactical ideas from 60 years ago might seem ludicrously far-fetched given how unrecognisable modern football would be to the boys of 66 but some principles never change, and that day at Wembley showed that sacrificing an individual for the sake of the team can work.

If England do ask anyone to trail Messi for 90 or 120 minutes, at least this time it will not be their most technically-gifted player.

Then the question is where do you take the man-marker from? Do you give the job to a nominal full-back – probably the left-back, given when Messi pulls wide it tends to be right – or a central midfielder?

The difficulty is that thanks to the frailty of James and the fatigue of Rice, these are England's two problem positions in Atlanta, as they have been all tournament, which could have ripple effects throughout the team.

If Rice is preferred as a finisher, rather than a starter, options to sit alongside Elliot Anderson at the base of midfield are light. Jordan Henderson would be a natural, and has the discipline needed, but a broken arm surely rules him out.

Kobbie Mainoo has not been trusted with a minute so far, but is anyway a more forward-minded midfielder than England need for this particular job.

Jude Bellingham could play deeper but it would negate so much he has done well in this tournament. Charltoning him seems unnecessary when there is right-back James available to take up the baton until handing it to Rice – or vice-versa. Having them share a shift means one less physical substitution.

Asking one of the two holding midfielders to man-mark Messi risks leaving the other at risk of getting swamped. That might anyway drag Bellingham further from the areas where he has done most damage. – a 10 and a midfield man-marker feel like a luxury.

With Jarell Quansah suspended, putting James in midfield – where he played against Croatia and Norway – means someone filling in at right-back. Ezri Konsa has played well there in the last two games, but that will almost certainly mean John Stones and Marc Guehi as the centre-backs.

Both are certainly good enough but is it asking too much of Stones to start again four days after going 120 minutes on only his 17th start since February 2025? Hopefully not. Guehi and Konsa have had hamstring issues too in the last week or so.

Djed Spence is the other option there. Pace is his great strength, not high on the list of qualities urgently needed to deal with Messi, but always useful elsewhere.

The beauty of first-choice left-back Nico O'Reilly and James, who is comfortable on that side too, is they are extremely comfortable in central midfield if pulled there by Messi. It is actually O'Reilly's preferred position.

So asking him to shadow Messi, either on an ad hoc basis or as his permanent shadow could be the way to go, leaving Anthony Gordon to go one-on-one against Argentina's right-back, their World Cup Achilles heel too.

So many of the big calls Tuchel has made in this World Cup have had ripple effects across the team. Wednesday's pre-match calls cannot be made in isolation.