Inside the bitter Argentina-England World Cup rivalry and a small part KC played
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Argentina and England will meet in the World Cup semifinal in Atlanta.
- The rivalry traces to the 1982 Falklands War and multiple World Cup clashes.
- Argentina players sang Falklands-related chants and wore armbands for Antonio Rattin.
New Order’s “Love Vigilantes” does not explicitly mention the Falklands War, but many believe the 1985 song, about a soldier who died in combat, was written about the conflict.
The Falkland Islands are making news these days, with Google saying searches on the topic are up 5,000% over last week. What caused that spike? Soccer.
England and Argentina won their World Cup quarterfinal game and will meet in Wednesday’s semifinal match in Atlanta — and there is some deep history between the nations, both on and off the pitch.
For starters, the 1982 Falklands War was fought over the tiny archipelago, a British territory located a few hundred miles from the Argentina coast. It is called Islas Malvinas in Spanish.
An unofficial Argentina anthem for the World Cup includes winning a fourth title for the Malvinas. The players have been singing it after games, as they did Saturday in Kansas City.
While there has been talk of avenging that conflict on social media, the Argentina news outlet Clarín shared a letter from veterans of the Falklands War.
“Sport is not war: The semifinal match is a global sporting event, not an armed revenge or a historical compensation,” the letter begins. “Sovereignty is defended in international forums, through diplomacy, historical truth, and the peaceful and unwavering demand dictated by our National Constitution.
“Rivals on the field, one cause on the land: Although the fixture pits us against the usurping nation, and the global lineup includes powers with specific weight in the geopolitics of our islands, the true Argentine victory lies in the cry of ‘Argentine Falklands!’ waving proudly in every stand, without falling into xenophobia or hatred, but as a living exercise of memory and sovereignty.”
A tense soccer history, too
The World Cup semifinalists are the top four teams in FIFA’s world rankings: Argentina, the defending champion, is No. 2 and England is ranked fourth.
The global soccer powerhouses have met in the World Cup five times previously. That includes a 1986 quarterfinal match in Mexico that still irks England fans. Diego Maradona scored the most controversial goal in World Cup history — the “Hand of God” handball that was seen by the referee as a header — and minutes later had an incredible solo effort for another goal in a 2-1 Argentina win.
England won the first meeting in the 1962 World Cup in Chile, beating Argentina 3-1 in the group stage. Four years later, England topped Argentina 1-0 in the quarterfinals en route to its one World Cup championship.
Argentina had a player sent off and its fans dubbed the match “The Robbery of the Century.” There were no red cards at the time, but they were introduced (along with the yellow cautions) at the 1970 World Cup as a result of that match.
The Argentina player who was sent off and infuriated the South American side? It was the team’s captain, Antonio Rattin, who died last week. Argentina players wore arm bands in his memory at Saturday’s game in KC.
After that 1966 match, England coach Alf Ramsey called his opponents “animals” and wouldn’t let his players swap jerseys with Argentina, a BBC story noted.
During a 1998 Round-of-16 match in France, England star David Beckham saw a red card and was sent off. When the teams played to a 2-2 tie and Argentina prevailed in penalty kicks, it was a bitter pill for Beckham to swallow, because he wasn’t there to help his side.
But Beckham got his revenge four years later when his goal helped England beat Argentina 1-0 in a group-stage match in Japan. Argentina failed to advance from that tourney’s group stage because of the defeat.
Here’s how the BBC summed up Wednesday’s match: “England v Argentina for a place in the World Cup final. Iconic. Generational. Classic. It’s hard to find the words to do the occasion justice.”
Fox Sports said there is nothing bigger in soccer history that England-Argentina.
“There is one rivalry that is so deep it stands above others,” Luis Miguel Echegaray wrote. “It’s both delicate and purposeful, as it derives from war, social and cultural animosity from two continents and ways of life, but at the same time also has given us some of the most memorable, dramatic moments in World Cup football.
“It is a rivalry made of thorns, rooted in years of rancor where stars also look to rise out of ferocious moments of action. This is Argentina and England. A match like no other.”
Rivalry spills over to KC
The Argentina-England rivalry also spilled over slightly into Kansas City ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
Sporting Kansas City president and CEO Jake Reid said he had spoken to England for about a year before the tournament began. The English wanted to use Sporting KC’s Compass Minerals National Performance Center as a base camp for the “Three Lions.”
But the Netherlands came to visit and Sporting learned after the World Cup draw that teams with a group-stage game in Kansas City had first choice for where they wanted their respective base camps. That worked against England.
Late in the process, Argentina entered the picture and got Sporting KC’s base camp while the Dutch took the KC Current’s facilities. Because England liked Kansas City so much, the British worked out a late deal with Sporting to train at Swope Soccer Village.
Argentina had taken England’s preferred spot. That was one part of KC’s role in this rivalry.
After booking their place in the semifinal with a win Saturday in KC, Argentina players joined fans “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,’” as Reuters noted. Then they sang about the Falkland Islands (and other topics) in the Arrowhead locker room.
The historic England-Argentina rivalry will add another chapter Wednesday. And despite all that’s transpired before, this game will be the most important one yet.
“The two finally have another World Cup game,” the Independent wrote, “bigger than anything that’s gone before, since there’s a place in the final at stake.”
