England to face Argentina in 2026 World Cup semi-final in Atlanta

England will face Argentina in the semi-final of the 2026 World Cup on Wednesday in Atlanta. The match kicks off at 20:00 BST. England reached the stage after a 2-1 quarter-final win over Norway in Miami.

Assistant manager Anthony Barry, 40 and born in Liverpool, will sit alongside Thomas Tuchel on the bench. Barry began his coaching career at Accrington Stanley in 2015 while still playing in the lower leagues. He was part of the Accrington side that won the Conference 20 years earlier, returning the club to the Football League for the first time in 44 years.

His path includes assistant roles at Wigan Athletic and first-team coach duties at Chelsea from summer 2020. Thomas Tuchel retained Barry after replacing Frank Lampard in January 2021, and Chelsea won the Champions League months later. Barry later worked with the Republic of Ireland, Belgium and Portugal before rejoining Tuchel at Bayern Munich in 2023.

Barry told BBC Sport that he and Tuchel have been "dreaming for 18 months" since taking charge of England in January 2025. He described the pair as "healthily obsessed" with winning major titles and said team spirit has been central because they had only about 50 days of training time with players before the tournament.

England played through high temperatures and hydration breaks in the United States.

If they reach the final they will have contested six matches across 22 days. Barry noted the schedule was the same for all 48 teams. Barry conducted half-time television interviews during the tournament, including after the opening match against Croatia.

He said the decision to have him speak was made so a player would not carry the responsibility and to share the media workload with Tuchel. Henrique Hilario, Nico Mayer and James Melbourne joined Tuchel and Barry in signing contracts until 2028. Barry is the only English coach in Tuchel's core support staff.