Thomas Tuchel believes England will face an Argentina team “fuelled by history” in their World Cup semi-final in Atlanta on Wednesday. It will be the sixth time the nations have met at the tournament, with the previous three coming after the Falklands war of 1982. The most controversial game was in the 1986 quarter-finals when Diego Maradona scored his “Hand of God” goal and Argentina won 2-1 en route to the title. Argentina triumphed on penalties in the last 16 in 1998 when David Beckham was sent off. Beckham gained a measure of revenge four years later when he scored from the penalty spot for a 1-0 group-stage victory. England won 3-1 at the group phase in 1962 and 1-0 in the quarter-finals in 1966, when they went on to become champions.

Tuchel recognises the fierce fighting spirit in Argentina’s ranks and how they will give everything to retain the title they won in 2022. They hope to do so to provide Lionel Messi with a fitting send-off at what is expected to be his last World Cup. Some of Argentina’s players chanted a song in the dressing room after their 3-1 quarter-final win over Switzerland that references the Falklands war and pledges to win the World Cup for “Las Malvinas, por Diego and por la ultima de Leo” - “for the Falklands, for Diego and for Leo’s last”.

Tuchel was asked whether he was aware of the aggressive edge to the fixture. “I know some of the players, I coached some of the players,” he said. “I can sense it. You can see it. They have this kind of edge. You can sense it when they’re going a goal down, when matches are tight. They’re almost the same group as four years ago. You can see the cohesion, you can see the sacrifice that they put into it. They believe in their style. And their style is a very emotional style. It was in Qatar and it is now. And, of course, history … they are also fuelled by that. They are fuelled by history, it means a lot to them. So this is what we basically expect, and what we are up against. But we are also emotional, we have the grit, we have the mentality that it takes to go up against it. And we are ready for it.”

Tuchel also made it clear there was no lingering issue between him and Jude Bellingham. The manager was critical of the technical side of his team’s performance in the 2-1 extra-time win over Norway in the quarter-final. Bellingham, who scored both the goals, was unimpressed when that part of the assessment was relayed to him. The midfielder said Tuchel maybe did not know what it was like to play in such a game. “Our comments come from the same place - from being competitive and having the edge when competition is on,” said Tuchel. “He [Bellingham] was just confronted with a critique of my side. I [also] called him a world-class player. I said he had world-class actions again to decide the match. I said the mentality is outstanding of this team. All of that was not part of the question. I would maybe also bite back when I come from 120 minutes, score two goals and give literally everything that is in my body. It’s just a very normal reaction for a player of his mindset. So no problem. I spoke to the whole team. We debriefed [the game]. I spoke to the whole team after in the dressing room, which was basically the same message. And I explained it again on Sunday evening to just move on forward. Then, in the [same] talk, we put on a new direction, a new head, which is semi-final and Argentina.”

Marc Guéhi ramped up the mind games by insisting the onus is on Argentina to defend their mantle as world champions. “There isn’t pressure on us,” the defender said. “What’s the pressure? The onus is on them. They’re the world champions. They need to come out, they need to defend their title. There’s no pressure on us at all.” Guéhi has shaken off a hamstring issue and is likely to continue his partnership with John Stones in central defence, with Ezri Konsa vying with Reece James for a spot at right-back. Konsa, who started at full-back against Norway, was unable to give much insight into Argentina’s style. “We haven’t managed to watch any of their games,” he said. “I’m sure when we have the meeting tonight or tomorrow we’ll see some clips of them and see what we can do to overcome them.”