World Cup 2026: England and Argentina’s football rivalry

Was this the moment when the football rivalry between the two sides truly blossomed? Probably. Probably.

The two teams, who met in the quarter-finals in Argentina, have insisted to this day that they were robbed, claiming that Geoff Hurst’s winning goal was offside.

This was just the tip of the iceberg as far as controversy was concerned; Argentina captain Antonio Rattin was sent off after just 33 minutes for two attacks three minutes apart.

The first was for a trip to Bobby Charlton, the second was to continue arguing with German referee Rudolf Kreitlein.

The match was delayed for almost eight minutes after Rattin refused to leave the field.

England continued an incredibly fractious affair, with Three Lions boss Alf Ramsey describing the Argentinian team as ‘animals’ and insisting his players did not swap jerseys.

England’s 1966 World Cup-winning defender George Cohen evaluated the Guardian match in 2009.

“Struggle is good,” he said. “But it was some snide things – spitting, pulling the short hairs on your neck, pulling your ear. They were trying to scare us. The problem was, when they realized they couldn’t have their way, they fell into some of the worst excesses I’ve ever seen.”

“I see it as the biggest shame that they didn’t play the game they were capable of. We could have even been beaten but they should have gone on and shown what they could do.

“There was a lot of commotion in the tunnel after the match. We didn’t see it because no one was allowed to go out.”

The match is also believed to have led to the introduction of red and yellow cards, which were first used at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. Previously, referees had to rely on verbal warnings.

Rattin, who represented Argentina from 1959 to 1969 and played in the 1962 and 1966 World Cups, died on Saturday at the age of 89.