Ian Wright says Argentina will 'target' England star in World Cup semi-final

Former England striker Ian Wright (Picture: ITV)

Ian Wright

believes Argentina will ‘target’

England

hero

Jude Bellingham

in the

World Cup

semi-final.

England face defending champions Argentina in Atlanta on Wednesday night

for a place in Sunday’s World Cup final

.

Spain are awaiting the winner of the second semi-final after the European champions

produced a brilliant performance to beat favourites France 2-0 in Dallas

Bellingham has been not only England’s star man out in the United States but one of the best players in the tournament with six goals in six games – just two fewer than joint top goalscorers

Kylian Mbappe

and

Lionel Messi

Real Madrid

midfielder Bellingham scored twice in England’s heroic last-16 win over co-hosts Mexico and did the same to

drag the Three Lions past Norway in the quarter-finals

While Argentina will be wary of the threat of Bellingham, Wright expects Lionel Scaloni’s side to ‘target’ the 23-year-old and even try to get him sent off.

‘I think it’s going to be the game that everyone expects it to be,’ the Arsenal legend and ex-England striker said on

ITV

after Spain’s semi-final win over France.

England World Cup hero Jude Bellingham (Picture: Getty)

‘It’s going to be tough. It’s a real rivalry, a deep rivalry. It’s the kind of game that whether you’re in front of behind you know there’s going to be chaos.

‘It’s also a game where we’re going to have to show a lot of composure. It’s going to be tough, a real tough one, an attritional war and we need to recognise that.

‘I’ve heard

Thomas Tuchel

say “it’s just a game” but it’s not just a game and they’ll realise that when the game starts tomorrow.

England’s Thomas Tuchel and Argentina’s Lionel Scaloni (Picture: Getty)

‘I think England can match them, we’ve got the physicality to match them. But obviously you want to make sure with someone like Jude Bellingham… because they will probably target Jude because he’s our main guy and they will want him out of the match.

‘But I do think we can deal with Argentina physically.’

On England’s need to have cool heads when they meet the canny and experienced Argentina, ex-Manchester United defender Gary Neville added: ‘They need to keep their discipline.

Spain have already booked their place in the final (Picture: Getty)

‘Obviously we’ve seen some bad examples of that over the past 20 years where players have lost discipline and that’s cost us.’

England are bidding to reach their first Word Cup final since they lifted the trophy in 1966, while Argentina are going to back-to-back titles.

Wednesday will be the first time Messi, arguably the best player of all time, faces England, but Jordan Pickford

does not want his teammates to only focus on the Argentina legend

‘He has scored so many goals and contributed to so many over his career,’ the Everton goalkeeper said. ‘It’s great to finally come up against him after so long, and watching him as a kid.

‘We all know how good Messi is but we also know how good Argentina are. We can’t solely rely on [stopping] Messi.

‘We’ve got to focus on their other strengths and the weaknesses we can take advantage of.’

Both England and Argentina will likely be underdogs in the World Cup final given

Spain’s impressive performance against France

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