AI predictions for Argentina vs. England World Cup semifinal

Argentina and England are squaring off Wednesday, July 15 with a trip to the 2026 World Cup final on the line.

Argentina will do so after earning its way to the semifinals despite a bumpy knockout stage. Lionel Messi has helped power his country on another deep tournament run, but Argentina has twice needed extra time to knock out Cape Verde and Switzerland while its win over Egypt required a late, two-goal comeback.

Meanwhile, England is coming off back-to-back narrow wins over Mexico and Norway in difficult environments. The Three Lions became the first team to beat El Tri at Estadio Azteca since 2013 and then knocked off Erling Haaland's upstart Norway squad in hot, humid conditions in Miami.

Will Messi be able to power Argentina to a second consecutive World Cup final appearance, or will England position itself for a bid at its first World Cup win in 60 years? USA TODAY asked AI chatbot Microsoft Copilot to predict the outcome of this marquee World Cup matchup.

The chatbot was fed the following queries to generate its analysis for the match:

Can you predict the winner of the Argentina vs. England World Cup match?

Can you predict who will score and when?

Here's a breakdown of Copilot's prediction for the World Cup semifinal, along with a brief, human-crafted analysis of the chatbot's pick:

AI predictions for Argentina vs. England World Cup game today

Argentina 2, England 1

AI's take: Copilot believes the semifinal between Argentina and England will be "a tight match." It noted the margin between the two countries is "very small" but opined that Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni's system – which combines "defensive organization with attacking creativity" – has been "extremely effective in knockout football."

That, along with Argentina's "experience in high-pressure matches," is leading the chatbot to back La Albiceleste to make it to a second consecutive World Cup final.

Our take: Copilot's take is logical, but even the chatbot acknowledged that the match is seemingly a coin-flip. England has been involved in some tight contests, but Jude Bellingham is presently at peak form. Harry Kane has performed well, too, so those two could have the scoring prowess needed to go blow-for-blow with Messi and Argentina.

It's also worth noting that Argentina has had close calls in each of its three knockout stage matches. It needed extra time to beat Cape Verde, a two-goal comeback to dispatch Egypt and benefitted from a Breel Embolo red card in its extra time win over Switzerland.

All that's to say that while Argentina is battle tested, it also is vulnerable. England has the type of attack that can exploit those vulnerabilities, so it's easy to imagine the Three Lions earning a victory and setting up a World Cup rematch of the Euro 2024 final.

AI predicts goal scorers for Argentina vs. England

Surprisingly, Copilot doesn't believe Messi or Bellingham will score in the Argentina vs. England semifinal. Instead, it has Kane earning a penalty kick goal and two Argentinian forwards finding the back of the net.

Here's a look at Copilot's predictions:

Argentina scorers

Julián Álvarez (22')

Lautaro Martínez (77')

England scorer

Harry Kane (58')

Copilot also opined Álvarez would be the "Man of the Match" after scoring the match-opening goal against England.

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