There are FIFA World Cup semifinals that arrive with tactical diagrams, old grudges and enough history to fill an archive. England against Argentina brings all of that to Atlanta on Wednesday. Before the first whistle, it also arrives with a soundtrack.
For England, it is Wonderwall, joined by Sweet Caroline, Hey Jude and the old promise that football is coming home. For Argentina, it is a sequence: El Campeon, Muchachos and 3 Estrellas en el Conjunto, three tracks tracing the national team’s journey from release to belief and, finally, fulfilment.
England has taken songs not written for football and made them belong to a team. Argentina has repeatedly turned football itself into song, preserving names, wounds and victories like oral history.
Wonderwall began this World Cup as part of England’s stadium playlist. It became something else after the 4-2 group-stage win over Croatia, when the players walked towards the travelling support and joined in.
Released in 1995, the Oasis song originally peaked at No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart. More than 30 years later, England’s run has carried it back to No. 11. After the round-of-16 victory over Mexico, Spotify recorded a 306 per cent increase in UK listeners.
Yet Wonderwall belongs to a wider English football songbook. Sweet Caroline, Neil Diamond’s 1969 hit, became attached to the national team during its run to the Euro 2020 final, with players and supporters singing it together after the semifinal win over Denmark.
Hey Jude carries a different resonance. Written by Paul McCartney, its long closing refrain was made for crowds. It spent two weeks at No. 1 in the UK. With Jude Bellingham central to England’s campaign, even its title feels made for this team.
Then there is Three Lions, released by the Lightning Seeds with comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner for Euro 1996. Its “football’s coming home” refrain referred originally to England hosting the tournament where the modern game was codified. It became a line sung with hope, humour and repeated disappointment.
🎶Because maybe
You're gonna be the one that saves me
And after all
You're my wonderwall🎶
England players and fans continue to have the time of their lives at the World Cup after 2-1 win over Norway in the quarterfinals.pic.twitter.com/7NYY5YsXO3
The song reached No. 1 during Euro 1996, returned in a reworked version for the 1998 World Cup and climbed back to the summit during England’s 2018 run. It became the first song in UK chart history to enjoy four spells at No. 1 with the same artist line-up.
Together, the songs capture different shades of following England. Sweet Caroline is release. Hey Jude is reassurance. Wonderwall is longing. Three Lions is the dream, carried from tournament to tournament as the years of hurt grow.
Argentina sings differently
Argentina’s football songs explain what the team is, where it has suffered and why it believes. The modern sequence began after the 2021 Copa America triumph at the Maracana, when Messi won his first international title and Argentina ended a 28-year wait for a major trophy.
Argentina’s footballers borrow the language of their terraces, while supporters place Messi and his teammates within a national story larger than any match. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
The Argentine Football Association and Sony Music then presented El Campeon, composed by Cordoba singer Luck Ra, as the national team’s official song. Luck Ra performed it during homecoming celebrations in September 2021.
El Campeon was the sound of release. Muchachos became the sound of memory turning into hope.
The chant was adapted by schoolteacher and Racing Club supporter Fernando Romero from La Mosca Tse-Tse’s 2003 song Muchachos, esta noche me emborracho. Its words gathered the emotional map of Argentine football: Diego Maradona and Messi, the pain of lost finals, the Malvinas, victory over Brazil at the Maracaná and the dream of a third World Cup star.
La Mosca recorded the supporters’ version before Qatar 2022, but the song never felt manufactured. It belonged to terraces, streets and crowded rooms before it belonged to streaming platforms. It followed Argentina through the shock defeat to Saudi Arabia and all the way to the final. After the triumph over France, it climbed to No. 1 on the Billboard Argentina Hot 100.
Muchachos did not merely accompany the campaign. It gave it a narrative. Argentina had suffered, remembered and dared to believe again.
Then came 3 Estrellas en el Conjunto, released on New Year’s Eve in 2022 by producer Bizarrap, rapper Duki and cumbia duo La T y La M. Where Muchachos was a collective prayer before victory, 3 Estrellas was the roll call after it, naming players, replaying moments and placing the third star directly on the shirt.
That is the contrast awaiting Atlanta. England’s songs leave room for supporters to pour private meanings into them. Argentina’s are crowded with shared references, heroes and scars.
Yet they all perform the same essential work. They collapse the distance between pitch and stands. England’s players turn towards their support and sing as one body. Argentina’s footballers borrow the language of their terraces, while supporters place Messi and his teammates within a national story larger than any match.
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The semifinal renews a rivalry shaped by the tension of 1966, the heroics Diego Maradona in 1986, the drama of 1998 and England’s revenge in 2002. Messi will face England for the first time, while Bellingham and Kane seek the country’s first World Cup final since its only title 60 years ago.
But football does not live only through results. It survives in the sounds people carry home.
One set of supporters will arrive in Atlanta with songs borrowed from Manchester, Liverpool and an American pop standard, alongside an anthem written from its own years of hurt. The other will bring a catalogue built from trophies, grief, Diego, Messi and three stars.
By the end, one soundtrack will be louder. The result will decide which one.
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Published on Jul 13, 2026