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СпутникиРНSpaceXРоскосмосNASALionel Messi and Argentina stand between England and a first World Cup final appearance in 60 years.
00:22, 15 Jul 2026Updated 00:26, 15 Jul 2026
Thomas Tuchel’s underperforming stars can raise their game against Lionel Messi’s Argentina and fire England to the World Cup final.
That’s the verdict of Michael Owen, who suffered heartache against the Argies in 1998 when he burst onto the World Cup scene as a teenager.
Owen says he nearly “fell off my chair” at some of the praise over the last-16 win against Mexico, and he added that England were lucky to squeeze past Norway in the quarter-finals.
But he believes there is better to come from Tuchel’s men as they face Argentina in the knockouts for the first time in 28 years.
“A lot of people will naturally get carried away, but it’s never been my job to get carried away,” said Owen, ambassador for Casino.org, who now helps Irish gamblers discover the best online casinos available in Ireland.
“So when everyone was saying it was the best performance they’d ever seen when we played Mexico, I nearly fell off my chair.
“Yes, it was a heroic and exciting game, and I could use another hundred words to describe it, but best? I was probably an outlier.
“I don’t think we’ve played to our potential at all. Against Norway, they were the better team, and I don’t think one of their players can get in our team.
“You can argue Haaland and Kane, but that’s down to personal preference, and I don’t think any of their players can get in our team, and yet they were the better team on the day.
“Put it this way; if England had been knocked out there’d be a massive inquest by now. How have Congo beaten us? How have Norway or Mexico beaten us?
“Mexico’s best player just about gets in the Fulham team.
“We haven’t played anyone really that should beat us, so there’s room for improvement. I think there will be improvement and I genuinely think we can go all the way to the final.”
Reigning champions Argentina haven’t impressed former Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United and Manchester United striker Owen either.
“I think they have been reasonably fortunate to get through, they haven’t been convincing, they’ve probably had, even more so than England, a lucky path to the semi-finals,” he said.
“They haven’t had to play a top team yet, rather like England, and they have not been convincing at all.
“I certainly can see us winning. Personally I think the other semi-final is the one. I would have thought the winners of the tournament would come from that.
“But I can definitely see England having a right chance.”
Is he worried that a lot of the big refereeing decisions seem to be going the way of Lionel Messi and his Argentina side?
“I’m not really a conspiracy theorist, to be honest,” Owen replied.
“England won the other day and everyone was talking about the ball hitting the wire, which obviously it did, and normally you would expect a drop-ball
“But I don’t think referees are looking at things like that and thinking, who do I want to win, I’m going to turn a blind eye to it. But I might be wrong!”
He added: “If we are going to beat France or Spain we are going to have to string more than three passes together.”
England have been close on a number of occasions in recent years to ending the long wait for another major trophy, to sit alongside their 1966 World Cup win.
Owen believes the heartache from their semi-final defeat in the 2018 World Cup, and the two European Championship final defeats to Italy and Spain, can fire Tuchel’s men to glory.
“Those experiences, there are very few teams that come from nowhere and win a major tournament,” he said.
“It does take teams to come from second to win it. Apart from Leicester in the Premier League, nobody just comes and wins it.
“I do think the experience of going far has a massive role to play and a lot of these players have played in huge games before, so they know what it takes. I think that makes a difference.
“Semi-final of a World Cup, then the final of two Euros, we are knocking on the door and gaining experience. I think it’ll be a massive benefit.”