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Let’s sift through some England v Argentina content now. Here’s Jonathan Liew on the complexities of a unique rivalry
The two countries have not played competitively since 2002, and for such a consequential footballing culture, Argentinian influence on English football remains modest. We got Ossie Ardiles and Sergio Agüero but never Gabriel Batistuta or Juan Román Riquelme, Mauricio Pochettino but never Diego Simeone, and of course never the two greatest of all, Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona, who even in the age of saturation still feel somehow remote and mysterious to us, a secret on which we were never quite let in.
Too different and distant to be friends; too entwined and alike to be purely enemies; neither a clash of pure equals nor a simple parable of coloniser versus colonised. Perhaps this is why Argentina v England has a fair claim to be the greatest and most romantic of the footballing rivalries, less a blood feud and more a messy, century-long break-up.
Wednesday’s semi-final between England and Argentina is, of course, not just a game. To the English in particular, it is no longer about the Falklands war. To the Argentinians? The conflict still persists in memory and has been passed down to players and coaches via oral history, inescapable in print and social media alike. And Maradona persists as well, still very much the figurehead of all of it even after his death in 2020. English fans do not hold up flags bearing the likeness of Bobby Charlton or Bobby Moore during matches; supporters of Brazil do not do so with Pelé.
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