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Argentina’s players may have stumbled upon a few secrets in their win over England that could be useful moving forward.
Following Argentina’s 2-1 victory in the 2026 FIFA World Cup semi-final on Wednesday, Lionel Messi and Argentina teammates Nico Gonzalez and Enzo Fernández held a water bottle together. They read the back of it as if it had a secret recipe.
It might as well have, as it appeared to show a strategy for how England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford would have approached each Argentinian player if the game had gone to penalties.
For Messi it read “False left – dive right”. For defender Nahuel Montiel it read: “Dive to the left.” What would Pickford do if Leandro Paredes stepped forward? “Stand left – dive right,” according to the water bottle.
Pickford would have been more valuable keeping his water bottle and his secrets close to his chest had the game gone to penalties. So don’t blame Argentina for being curious when Pickford left his waste behind. In fact, it can help them further.
While every goaltender certainly goes about their shootout preparation differently — watching different film, gathering different information — they may think alike. Argentina’s players got a glimpse of that mindset.
The information could help them prepare for a potential penalty shootout against Spain and goalkeeper Unai Simón. It can also have the opposite effect — Argentina’s players get in their heads and doubt their approach because the goalkeeper knows their tendencies.
Ultimately, penalty shootouts are a game of strategy and mentality. The manager chooses who will step up to the spot and the penalty taker must have the confidence to come through. This information that is out there only adds to that intrigue, that tension, as certain players will weight the importance of it differently.
