Rivalry and revenge: the long, bitter relationship between England and Argentina

NEW YORK – Antonio Rattin in 1966. Diego Maradona in 1986. David Beckham in 1998. The matches are the stuff of football legends.

On July 15, Argentina and England return to the World Cup stage. But this time – for the first time – it will be a World Cup semi-final, a coveted place in the July 19 final at stake.

It will be a match resonant with both historical and footballing rivalry, going back decades.

The death this week of Argentinian Rattin has revived memories of one of the earliest sporting disputes between the countries.

In 1966, the two met in a World Cup quarter-final when England hosted the tournament. Rattin, then the Argentinian captain, was expelled from the pitch.

He grabbed at a corner flag featuring the British flag as he left, and then sat on a red carpet intended for Queen Elizabeth, refusing to walk away. English fans threw cans of beer at him, he later said.

Tempers on the pitch ran high throughout the game, which ended 1-0 to England, the eventual tournament winners. England manager Alf Ramsey notoriously referred to the Argentina players afterwards as “animals”.

It is an insult that Argentina have never forgotten.

Twenty years later, at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, the two sides met again in a World Cup quarter-final.

Their two countries had fought a short conflict over the South Atlantic islands known by the British as the Falklands and Argentinians as the Malvinas in 1982, in which 649 Argentinian soldiers and 255 British combatants died. Emotions were still raw.

In the match itself, the late Maradona, one of the most gifted players in history, scored two goals against England to knock them out of the tournament.

The second goal was a thing of beauty, scored after a mazy run down the field where he dribbled past half the England team. The first was a handball that became known as the “Hand of God” goal.

To Maradona and to many Argentinians, it was not cheating. It was a triumph of the underdog over the elite.

Maradona wrote in his autobiography, “El Diego”: “More than defeating a football team it was defeating a country. Of course, before the match we said that football had nothing to do with the Malvinas War. But we knew a lot of Argentinian kids had died there, shot down like little birds. This was revenge.”

After 1986, the next World Cup meeting was in 1998, in the round of 16, chiefly remembered for a red card given to Beckham; it was won by Argentina after a penalty shoot-out.

Four years later, a Beckham goal helped England to a win against Argentina in the group stage. That was their last World Cup meeting.

There has been no comment on the historical rivalry by the England squad, while the Argentinian team have largely been dismissive of the topic in public.

“It's a football match. Period. There’s nothing more to it,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni told reporters after their 3-1 win over Switzerland. “Let’s not look for anything else.”

But, immediately after the final whistle, the players joined their supporters in jumping up and down and singing one of the chants most often heard on terraces in Buenos Aires: “If you don’t jump, you’re English.”

Back in the locker room, videos posted on social media showed the players singing a newer chant, one that promises revenge for the World Cup being “stolen” from them in 1994, when Maradona was expelled from the US-hosted tournament for failing a drug test.

The win will be “for the Malvinas, for Diego, for Leo (Messi)’s last,” it goes.

“Of course it carries a lot of significance and brings back many memories because of what Diego (Maradona) did and because of what happened at the time,” Argentinian midfielder Rodrigo de Paul told reporters.

“But we have to understand that this is a football match.” REUTERS