England insist that there is no pressure on them to perform in the titanic World Cup semi-final with Argentina – despite the weight of history resting on their shoulders.
Marc Guehi spoke for Thomas Tuchel’s squad when turning the heat on Lionel Scaloni’s world champions in Atlanta, with England buoyed by gritty victories over Mexico and Norway.
Argentina have not convinced during their route through the knockout stages either as they aim to become the first national team since rivals Brazil in 1962 to defend the trophy.
‘There isn’t pressure on us,’ Guehi 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.’
The relaxed air around England continued when Ezri Konsa claimed that they were heading into their final team meeting hours before the tie having not yet watched their opponents.
Tuchel has chosen not to overload his squad with details before a date with Lionel Messi and Co on Wednesday.
And Konsa – who could remain at right back – revealed that he had not studied Argentina, with Tuchel set to address the team on the eve of the tie.
‘We haven’t managed to watch any of their games,’ Konsa said. ‘I’m sure when we have the meeting we’ll see some clips of them and see what we can do to overcome them.
‘I’m sure they’ve got a great mindset, great mentality, and so do we. We know that they have great players, world class players, but so do we.
‘I think for us the main thing is focusing on ourselves. We don’t want to focus too much on them. We know what they have and we know what we have.’
Marc Guehi and his England team-mates are preparing to take on the world champions
Ezri Konsa surprisingly revealed that England were yet to sit down and watch Argentina play
Tuchel has insisted that the Three Lions have a plan in place to stop Messi, joint top scorer at the tournament with eight goals alongside Kylian Mbappe.
Fresh from keeping Erling Haaland at bay in the quarter-final, Guehi believes England have the tools at their disposal to make the weekend’s final at the MetLife – especially the way in which they progressed from the Norway encounter after extra time.
‘It resonates massively with each and every one of us,’ Guehi added. ‘I think you can see that moments have been hard on the pitch but no one has been flustered by it.
‘Everyone has been super calm, looking at one another and almost (with) one mind. From day one in the first camp, the manager’s message has been brotherhood, being there for each other, supporting each other.
‘And it comes out in the most difficult moments and we’ve seen that across the tournament. We’ve shown good resilience. We’ll just carry on riding this wave and see.’
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