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ARGENTINA VS. ENGLAND It took just one match to change the equations between the two countries. RAAKESH NATRAJ

When Argentina met England in the quarterfinal of the 1966 Football World Cup, it set off the foremost inter-continental footballing rivalries of the last half-century. While it was the English who introduced the sport to the South American nation in the latter half of the nineteenth century, it was not with feelings of gratitude or thankfulness that they were regarded with. In fact in 1953, when Argentina defeated England 3-1 in Buenos Aires, England long refused to acknowledge the ‘international’ stature accorded to the match, while the Argentinians considered it a symbolic shaking off of the imperial yoke.While the World Cup in 1986 was witness to the well-documented Maradona ‘hand of god’ goal and his subsequent solo-run and finish in the quarterfinal match against England, the rivalry really kick started in another quarterfinal match between the two in the 1966 World Cup hosted by England.

The two teams met in an acrimonious encounter which England nicked 1-0 thanks to a Geoff Hurst strike which the South Americans alleged was from an off-side position. The incident that really got the goat of the South Americans was the sending off of captain Antoni Rattin for reasons that remain mired in uncertainty even now. While the Argentine press maintained that the German referee sent him off because he didn’t like how he had looked at him’ the English countered that it was because of the verbal violence that was directed the way of the referee.Come 1986, the stakes were even higher, in the back drop of the Falkland Wars between the two countries that broke out in 1982. The rivalry had acquired such a bitter edge that Maradona conceded in his biography that he preferred the fisted goal to the one that was voted as ‘the best goal in World Cup history’ for ‘It was a bit like stealing the wallet of the English’ and that ‘it was as if we had beaten a country, not just a football team.’

The two nations met again in the 1998 World Cup where Michael Owen scored a spectacular goal but Argentina soon leveled and the contest headed towards a rip-roaring finish when David Beckham was sent off for kicking out at Diego Simeone. Ten-man England held out, but fell in the penalty shoot-out. Beckham had another chance at setting the records straight in the 2002 World Cup, and he grabbed it as he buried a penalty against Argentina to give the English a hard fought 1-0 win.

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