One Extraordinary Photo: Messi and Kane hug after World Cup semifinal

ATLANTA (AP) — Erik Lesser is an Atlanta-based freelance photographer with 40 years of professional experience covering sports, politics, breaking news and features. This is his first World Cup working for The Associated Press.

I was following Lionel Messi as he left the main Argentina celebrations and was approaching a group of disappointed England players closer to my position. I was hopeful there would be an interaction with England captain Harry Kane. Of course, both players are global soccer stars, so capturing them together at the end of the match was important.

This was shot with my main camera, which I was using with a 100-300 2.8 lens with a 1.4 converter. That gave me the extra reach to capture these moments but it also meant I was not over-lensed if something happened closer to me.

This image shows the genuine respect the pair have for each other. While one can see the disappointment in Kane’s body language, Messi is not gloating and acts like a gentleman. It’s almost like Kane is saying “you beat us fair and square.” Being able to see both of their faces and have a clean background was fortunate as well.

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