World Cup: England v. Argentina

England v. Argentina is like the Kentucky v. Duke of the World Cup -- a legendary matchup that doesn't occur all that often, but is almost always a big deal when it does happen.  Here is the history:

06/02/62:  England defeated Argentina 3-1 in the Group Stage of the 1962 World Cup, in Chile.  Both England and Argentina finished 1-1-1 in the Group Stage, but England had a better goal average, so England advanced to the knockout rounds, while Argentina's tournament was over.

07/23/66:  England defeated Argentina 1-0 in the Quarter-Finals of the 1966 World Cup, in England.  The 1966 World Cup was a cracker -- each of the seven knockout games had a lot of drama, and this game was one of the best.  In the 35th minute of an extremely violent game, the referee sent off the Argentine captain, who responded by refusing to leave the pitch for nearly eight minutes.  The English fans were furious, and England manager Alf Ramsey famously referred to the Argentine players as "animals."  This game led to the creation of red and yellow cards, as the Argentine captain claimed that he could not understand what the German referee was telling him.  England won the World Cup for the first and only time, and Argentina, furious over how it was treated, waited for revenge.

06/22/86:  Argentina defeated England 2-1 in the Quarter-Finals of the 1986 World Cup, in Mexico.  England was in the Quarter-Finals for the first time since 1970, but they were no match for Diego Maradona, who was the greatest player in the world at the time.  In the most famous game he ever played, Maradona scored one goal by using his fist (the so-called "Hand of God") to help his header.  The referees missed the fist and counted the goal.  That was in the 51st minute, and it gave Argentina a 1-0 lead.  Four minutes leader, with England still boiling over the Hand of God goal, Maradona dribbled through virtually the entire England team, scoring one of the best goals in soccer history to put Argentina up 2-0 and effectively bury England's hope.  Argentina won its second World Cup in 1986, and England fans started acting like Red Sox fans used to act before they won all those World Series.

06/30/98:  Argentina defeated England 2-2 (4-3 on penalty kicks) in the Round of 16 of the 1998 World Cup, in France.  The atmosphere was electric for the first World Cup match between England and Argentina since the Hand of God game, and the first half was incredibly exciting.  Argentina took a 1-0 lead after 5 minutes, but England struck back with a penalty goal in the 9th minute and a wonderful goal by Michael Owen in the 16th minute to take a 2-1 lead.  In injury time of the first half, Argentina tied the game at two.  Just as everyone was settling in for what was likely to be a thrilling second half, David Beckham (who was just about the most famous soccer player in the world at the time) was sent off with a red card in the 47th minute.  That effectively killed England's offense, but England hung on with ten men to send the game to penalty kicks.  Argentina won the shootout 4-3, further contributing to England's inferiority complex regarding penalty kicks.  Argentina lost in the next round, but both countries had a new chapter in this rivalry.

06/07/02:  England defeated Argentina 1-0 in the Group Stage of the 2002 World Cup, in Japan.  England advanced to the knockout rounds with a record of 1-0-2, losing in the Quarter-Finals to Brazil, who won the whole thing.  Argentina finished the Group Stage with a record of 1-1-1, and did not advance to the knockout rounds.

And that's it.  England eliminated Argentina in 1966, and effectively eliminated them in both 1962 and 2002, because England's wins in the Group Stage made it impossible for Argentina to advance.  On the other hand, Argentina eliminated England in 1986 and 2002, and Argentina has three World Cup titles to England's one.  Argentina also has Lionel Messi -- a strong candidate for the greatest soccer player of all time.  Remarkably, Messi has never played for Argentina against England.  But he will tomorrow.

If you're an England or Argentina fan my age, this will be the fourth time you've seen these teams meet in the World Cup -- and it may be the last.  The stakes are enormous.  In the South, we like to say that "It just means more," but there aren't too many games that mean more than this.

Here are the starting lineups:

ENGLAND (4-2-3-1):

GK:  Jordan Pickford, Everton (ENG)

DF:  Reece James, Chelsea (ENG)

DF:  John Stones, played last season for Manchester City (ENG) (currently a free agent)

DF:  Marc Guehi, Manchester City (ENG)
DF:  Djed Spence, Tottenham Hotspur (ENG)

MF:  Declan Rice (Vice-Captain), Arsenal (ENG)

MF:  Elliot Anderson, Manchester City (ENG)

MF:  Morgan Rogers, Aston Villa (ENG)

MF:  Jude Bellingham, Real Madrid (ESP)

FW:  Anthony Gordon, Barcelona (ESP)

FW:  Harry Kane (Captain), Bayern Munich (GER)

ARGENTINA (4-1-3-2):

GK:  Emiliano Martinez, Aston Villa (ENG)
DF:  Nahuel Molina, Atletico Madrid (ESP)

DF:  Cristian Romero, Tottenham Hotspur (ENG)
DF:  Lisandro Martinez, Manchester Utd (ENG)
DF:  Nicolas Tagliafico, Lyon (FRA)

MF:  Leandro Paredes, Boca Juniors (ARG)
FW:  Giuliano Simeone, Atletico Madrid (ESP)

MF:  Enzo Fernandez, Chelsea (ENG)

MF:  Alexis Mac Allister, Liverpool (ENG)

FW:  Lionel Messi (Captain), Inter Miami (USA)

FW:  Julian Alvarez, Atletico Madrid (ESP)