World Cup 2026: England and Argentina’s football rivalry

Was this the moment the footballing rivalry between the two sides really developed? Possibly. Probably.

The two teams met in the quarter-finals in a match Argentina, to this day, insist they were robbed in, claiming Geoff Hurst’s winning goal was offside.

That was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to controversy though, with Argentina captain Antonio Rattin sent off after just 33 minutes for two offences in the space of three minutes.

The first was for a trip on Bobby Charlton, the second was for continuing to argue with German referee Rudolf Kreitlein.

The match was delayed for almost eight minutes as Rattin refused to leave the pitch.

England held on, in an incredibly ill-tempered affair, with Three Lions boss Alf Ramsey describing the Argentine side as ‘animals’ and insisting that his players did not swap shirts.

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

“Tackling is fine,” he said. “But it was some of the snidey things, the spitting and pulling the short hairs on your neck, pulling your ear. They were trying to intimidate us. The trouble was when they found out they weren’t going to get their way they fell into some of the worst excesses I’ve ever seen.

“I just consider it the greatest shame that they didn’t play the game they were capable of. We might even have got beaten but they just should have got on and shown what they could do.

“There was a lot of commotion in the tunnel after the game. Nobody was allowed out so we didn’t see it.”

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

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