England take on Argentina in a World Cup semi-final on Wednesday night, representing the country’s most significant match in 60 years of football history.
The Three Lions have reached two World Cup semi-finals in the six decades since lifting the Jules Rimet trophy at Wembley in 1966, falling at that stage at Italia ’90 and again in Russia in 2018.
Head coach Thomas Tuchel and his players now have the chance to write themselves into legend beneath the roof of the futuristic Atlanta Stadium.
England have also lost their past two European Championship finals, meaning the hunger to end that agonising wait for a major trophy has never been more acute.
The scale of global interest in this fixture was underlined when Tuchel’s pre-match media briefing had to be moved to a bigger venue and still drew a standing-room-only crowd of journalists.
Wednesday’s meeting with Argentina is loaded with historical weight, reigniting one of football’s most controversial and combustible international rivalries stretching back decades.
The two nations first met at a World Cup quarter-final at Wembley in 1966, a match best remembered for the sending off of Argentina captain Antonio Rattin, who died on 11 July aged 89, and who threatened to spark a walkout among his team-mates.
England boss Sir Alf Ramsey famously refused to let his players swap shirts after Geoff Hurst’s late winner, later describing the Argentina side as “animals” in a remark that echoed through the years.
The rivalry deepened further at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium, played against the backdrop of the Falklands War, when Diego Maradona’s infamous “Hand Of God” helped Argentina to a 2-1 victory on their way to lifting the trophy.
France ’98 and Japan 2002 added further chapters, with David Beckham sent off in the former and then scoring a decisive penalty in the latter, as the fixture accumulated a remarkable catalogue of iconic and bitter moments.
Tuchel said: “It is a very big rivalry between two big footballing nations. I could say the history is irrelevant but I’m not sure. The players are aware of it. When a fixture provides so many iconic moments, you can’t say it is just another football match.”
Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni, who represented his nation at the 2006 World Cup, added: “We all have stories from that past time and history and it all makes it very emotional.”
England’s recent tournament record tells a story of near misses, with Gareth Southgate’s side losing the 2018 semi-final to Croatia after Kieran Trippier’s fifth-minute goal gave them the lead in Moscow.
The delayed Euro 2020 final at Wembley in July 2021 brought similar pain, with Luke Shaw scoring inside two minutes before England lost on penalties to Italy, a side that has failed to qualify for the past three World Cups.
A quarter-final exit to France in Qatar was compounded by a rare Harry Kane penalty miss, while the Euro 2024 final in Berlin ended in a 2-1 defeat to Spain under Southgate.
Tuchel said: “We now want to squeeze the last bit out. We want to take the next step. I really like the energy in our camp. The players are very excited, very ambitious. That’s exactly what we need for this game.”
England have scored 13 goals at this World Cup, with 12 of those coming from Kane and Jude Bellingham, with Marcus Rashford the only other scorer during the tournament so far.
Lionel Messi remains the central figure for Argentina at 39 years old, having walked 47% of the distance he has covered at this World Cup, the highest percentage of any outfield player in the tournament.
Tuchel said: “Messi is just incredible. There are no words left for his kind of achievement, with the quality and leadership he shows. He’s the leader and the key player in any team he plays for and he is in this Argentina team.”
Both sides have survived scares in the knockout rounds, with Argentina coming from 2-0 down to beat Egypt in the last 16, meaning England will need to be at their very best if they are to finally reach a World Cup final after 60 years of waiting.
