Love and hate collide: England v Argentina is not simply a grudge match

England versus Argentina is not simply a grudge match. It is a collision of histories, a confrontation between two football cultures that have defined themselves, in part, against each other. The World Cup semi-final at MetLife Stadium is the latest chapter in a story that began in 1966, when the Argentina manager accused the English of being "animals" after a bruising quarter-final, and that has never really stopped.

The layers of the rivalry are geological. There is the political layer: the Falklands War, which killed 907 people and which remains a live wound in Argentina four decades later. There is the sporting layer: the Hand of God in 1986, David Beckham's red card in 1998, the penalty shootouts that Argentina have always won. And there is the cultural layer: the English tendency to see Argentine football as cynical and theatrical, the Argentine tendency to see English football as arrogant and overhyped.

Both managers have tried to distance themselves from the history. Gareth Southgate has described the Falklands as "a matter for governments, not footballers." Lionel Scaloni, the Argentina manager, has said that his players are focused on the match, not on the past. But the history is inescapable. It is in the questions the players are asked, the headlines the match generates, the songs the supporters sing.

The match itself is the most significant meeting between the two nations since 1998, and the stakes could hardly be higher. The winner will face Brazil or France in the final. The loser will join the long list of teams that came close but not close enough. For both sides, the opportunity is immense. For both sides, the cost of failure — measured not just in sporting terms but in the national psychodrama that will follow — is almost too painful to contemplate.