Argentina and England to go head-to-head in FIFA World Cup semi-final
There is a lot of soccer history between Argentina and England, but none of it recent, making their World Cup semi-final even more eagerly anticipated.
England are one win away from their first World Cup final appearance in 60 years.
To get there, all they have to do is beat an Argentina side looking to become the first back-to-back champions since Brazil in 1958 and ‘62.
The two sides with a heated World Cup history meet on Wednesday (Thursday AEST) in Atlanta for the right to face Spain in New Jersey, on Sunday (5am Monday AEST), while the losers go to Miami for the third-placed match against France.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“This is as big as it gets, so I’m really excited for this week,” England captain Harry Kane told ITV this week.
“I think it’s going to be a special game and what a tough team to play against, but hopefully that brings the best out in us.”
England’s World Cup history against Argentina is favourable on the whole, winning three, losing one of five meetings.
Those two non-wins, though, are among the darkest marks in the country’s soccer history, a 2-1 loss in the 1986 quarter-finals with the infamous “Hand of God” goal by Diego Maradona, and a 2-2 penalty shootout loss in the round of 16 in 1998, a match marred by David Beckham’s second-half red card.
Kane downplayed any notion of past matches weighing on this England squad.
“I think it’s not something you want to focus too much on, surrounding the history. Yeah, that’s all part of it and that’s what (media members) will talk about, the fans will be involved in,” Kane said.
“It’s England versus Argentina, it’s two of the biggest nations going toe to toe. Two giants in the semi-final of a World Cup. The rest of it is just a small part.”
While Kane led the way early for England with five goals in their first four matches, Jude Bellingham has been carrying the weight of late with a braces against Mexico and Norway.
Argentina’s unhappy football memories of their encounters with England includes the 1966 World Cup quarter-final, when their captain Antonio Rattin, who died last weekend, was controversially dismissed.
Old foes, but familiar ones. It’s been 21 years since the teams met, which means Lionel Messi, at 39, will be playing England for the first time.
Messi, has eight goals in these finals and has broken the World Cup records for career goals (21) and assists (10) in this record sixth appearance.
He didn’t score in Argentina’s 3-1 extra-time last-eight defeat of Switzerland, snapping his record nine-match World Cup scoring streak. It was an important showcase of the squad’s depth after he scored eight of their 14 goals through the first five matches.
Despite Messi’s heroics and the rest of the team’s strides, it hasn’t yet felt like Argentina have reached their peak in the knockout stage. They needed extra time to win two of their first three elimination matches and rallied from down 2-0 in the final 12 minutes to beat Egypt in the round of 16.
“Luck was with us (vs Switzerland),” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said, a statement which could be applied to their entire knockout run.
“We must be realistic, there are things we need to improve.”
And yet, here resilient Argentina are, respectful of their toughest opponents to date, but not intimidated.
“They have great players, but beyond the individual names they’re a team,” Argentina defender Gonzalo Montiel said.
“Our focus is on ourselves first.”
