diff --git a/dev/tests/verification/Resources/AssertTest.txt b/dev/tests/verification/Resources/AssertTest.txt
index eee26b476..c34065533 100644
--- a/dev/tests/verification/Resources/AssertTest.txt
+++ b/dev/tests/verification/Resources/AssertTest.txt
@@ -154,5 +154,6 @@ class AssertTestCest
 		$I->assertElementContainsAttribute(".admin__menu-overlay", "border", "0");
 		$I->assertElementContainsAttribute("#username", "value", $createData2->getCreatedDataByName('firstname'));
 		$I->assertElementContainsAttribute("#username", "value", $this->createData1->getCreatedDataByName('firstname'));
+		$I->assertEquals("John", "Doe", "pass");
 	}
 }
diff --git a/dev/tests/verification/TestModule/Test/AssertTest.xml b/dev/tests/verification/TestModule/Test/AssertTest.xml
index 2c2cf554d..82f69b9b0 100644
--- a/dev/tests/verification/TestModule/Test/AssertTest.xml
+++ b/dev/tests/verification/TestModule/Test/AssertTest.xml
@@ -283,5 +283,11 @@
         <assertElementContainsAttribute stepKey="assertElementContainsAttribute8" selector="#username" attribute="value">
             <expectedResult type="const">$$createData1.firstname$$</expectedResult>
         </assertElementContainsAttribute>
+
+        <!-- assert entity resolution -->
+        <assertEquals stepKey="assertEqualsEntity" message="pass">
+            <expectedResult type="string">{{simpleData.firstname}}</expectedResult>
+            <actualResult type="string">{{simpleData.lastname}}</actualResult>
+        </assertEquals>
     </test>
 </tests>
diff --git a/src/Magento/FunctionalTestingFramework/Module/MagentoAssert.php b/src/Magento/FunctionalTestingFramework/Module/MagentoAssert.php
index 1bb1147b9..494b4a6ed 100644
--- a/src/Magento/FunctionalTestingFramework/Module/MagentoAssert.php
+++ b/src/Magento/FunctionalTestingFramework/Module/MagentoAssert.php
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ public function assertArrayIsSorted(array $data, $sortOrder = "asc")
             $data = array_map('strtolower', $data);
         }
 
-        if ($sortOrder = "asc") {
+        if ($sortOrder == "asc") {
             for ($i = 1; $i < $elementTotal; $i++) {
                 // $i >= $i-1
                 $this->assertLessThanOrEqual($data[$i], $data[$i-1], $message);
diff --git a/src/Magento/FunctionalTestingFramework/Test/Objects/ActionObject.php b/src/Magento/FunctionalTestingFramework/Test/Objects/ActionObject.php
index 1590f2ab3..58d309192 100644
--- a/src/Magento/FunctionalTestingFramework/Test/Objects/ActionObject.php
+++ b/src/Magento/FunctionalTestingFramework/Test/Objects/ActionObject.php
@@ -226,6 +226,7 @@ public function setTimeout($timeout)
     public function resolveReferences()
     {
         if (empty($this->resolvedCustomAttributes)) {
+            $this->trimAssertionAttributes();
             $this->resolveSelectorReferenceAndTimeout();
             $this->resolveUrlReference();
             $this->resolveDataInputReferences();
@@ -270,9 +271,9 @@ public function trimAssertionAttributes()
         foreach ($this->actionAttributes as $key => $subAttributes) {
             if (in_array($key, $relevantKeys)) {
                 $prefix = ActionObject::ASSERTION_ATTRIBUTES[$key];
-                $this->resolvedCustomAttributes[$prefix . ucfirst(ActionObject::ASSERTION_TYPE_ATTRIBUTE)] =
+                $this->actionAttributes[$prefix . ucfirst(ActionObject::ASSERTION_TYPE_ATTRIBUTE)] =
                     $subAttributes[ActionObject::ASSERTION_TYPE_ATTRIBUTE];
-                $this->resolvedCustomAttributes[$prefix] =
+                $this->actionAttributes[$prefix] =
                     $subAttributes[ActionObject::ASSERTION_VALUE_ATTRIBUTE];
                 unset($this->actionAttributes[$key]);
             }
diff --git a/src/Magento/FunctionalTestingFramework/Test/Util/ActionMergeUtil.php b/src/Magento/FunctionalTestingFramework/Test/Util/ActionMergeUtil.php
index ca3983eaa..8af5e3af0 100644
--- a/src/Magento/FunctionalTestingFramework/Test/Util/ActionMergeUtil.php
+++ b/src/Magento/FunctionalTestingFramework/Test/Util/ActionMergeUtil.php
@@ -166,7 +166,6 @@ private function sortActions($parsedSteps)
     {
         foreach ($parsedSteps as $parsedStep) {
             $parsedStep->resolveReferences();
-            $parsedStep->trimAssertionAttributes();
             if ($parsedStep->getLinkedAction()) {
                 $this->stepsToMerge[$parsedStep->getStepKey()] = $parsedStep;
             } else {