The rivalry between England and Argentina is one of the deepest and most complex in sport, a relationship that encompasses war, empire, culture and, at its heart, football. In this video essay, we explore the history of a rivalry that transcends the game and tells us something about both nations.
The story begins not on a football pitch but in the 19th century, when British investment and British workers helped to build Argentina's railways, its ports and its football clubs. The first football matches in Argentina were played by British expatriates, and many of Argentina's most famous clubs — River Plate, Newell's Old Boys, Boca Juniors — bear the marks of that British influence in their names and their founding stories.
The rivalry on the pitch began in earnest in 1966, when England defeated Argentina in a World Cup quarter-final that the Argentine captain described as "the robbery of the century" after the Argentina manager called the English "animals." The two nations have met five times at World Cups, and Argentina have won three of those meetings, including the most famous — the 1986 quarter-final that contained both the Hand of God and the Goal of the Century.
The political dimension of the rivalry was sharpened by the Falklands War in 1982, which created a hostility between the two countries that spilled onto the football pitch. When Diego Maradona scored with his hand and then with his feet four years later, he described it as revenge for the Argentine dead in the South Atlantic — a connection that English observers found distasteful and that Argentine observers found obvious.
The rivalry has softened in recent years, as the Falklands generation has aged and as the globalisation of football has made national enmities seem old-fashioned. But when England and Argentina meet in New Jersey, the weight of history will be there, whether the players acknowledge it or not. Some rivalries are bigger than the game. This is one of them.
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