Lionel Messi’s reaction when Argentina players discover Jordan Pickford’s penalty cheat sheet
Jordan Pickford had a little cheat sheet on his water bottle ready in case the game went to a penalty shootout, and Lionel Messi’s reaction when he saw it was priceless.
On Wednesday night in Atlanta, Argentina crushed England’s hopes of winning the World Cup with yet another amazing comeback. Anthony Gordon got England’s fans cheering with an early second-half goal, but England tried to hold onto their lead and ended up paying the price.
Many fans and experts weren’t happy with Thomas Tuchel’s substitutions. He took off Gordon for Ezri Konsa and switched to a more defensive lineup, then brought on Nico O’Reilly and Dan Burn to protect the 1-0 lead. But Argentina didn’t give up. Enzo Fernandez scored a stunning goal in the 85th minute, and Lautaro Martinez broke England’s hearts with a last-minute header, sending Argentina into the final against Spain.
After the tough loss, Tuchel faced a lot of criticism for his choices, but the FA still supports him as England’s coach.
After the match, Pickford accidentally left his water bottle on the field, and it had notes with all the Argentina players’ names and instructions for how to save their penalties. One fun note for Thiago Almada said “feel on the day,” while Messi’s instruction was very clear: “fake left, dive right.” Messi and other players saw the bottle and Messi’s funny reaction quickly went viral.
Messi, 39, was key to Argentina’s amazing comeback. He set up Fernandez for his powerful goal from outside the box and gave a perfect cross to Martinez for the winning header.
Despite England missing out on their first World Cup final in 60 years, Argentina now have a chance to win back-to-back trophies—the first team to do it since Brazil in 1962. Messi’s team will be full of confidence going into Sunday’s final against Spain. Messi summed up the game well, saying, “We showed once again what we’ve been about for years. We play flowing, high-quality football. We stay patient and know when to make the right moves. We controlled the game even when they scored, and then we got better.”
Looking ahead to the final, Messi said, “Spain is a fantastic team with great players. I know their style well since I’ve played against many of them and follow their games closely. Many of their players are at Barcelona, which means a lot to me. It’ll be a special final, and I’m sure it will be a tight match.”