Argentina match will be England’s toughest yet, Geoff Hurst says

England football legend Sir Geoff Hurst has said the current team’s upcoming World Cup semi-final match against Argentina will be “the toughest, physical game of the competition for us so far”.

Sir Geoff was the first player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final, in the 1966 game that saw England beat then West Germany 4-2.

England’s current players have a challenge on their hands to reach the final, he said.

“You can talk about [Lionel] Messi being past his best, with his age, he’s still performing, he’s still scoring and he’s a big danger if you allow him to do so,” he said.

“You can talk about them being past their best, I don’t necessarily agree with that. If you think they are past their best and we are going to walk away with it, those guys must be dreaming.”

Sir Geoff predicted the match, which kicks off at 20:00 BST, would be “very tough” and would offer “knife edge” tension.

“There’s no way we are going to be winning three-nil at half time or walking away with it,” he said.