Argentina and England football rivalry

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The Argentina and England national football teams have shared a fierce rivalry for many years, and matches between the two teams often have a particularly competitive and sometimes bellicose edge. It is unusual in that it is an intercontinental rivalry; typically, footballing rivalries exist between countries that are close to one another, for example France–Italy or Argentina–Brazil. Argentina is regarded in England as one of the fiercest rivals of the English football team, along with such rivals as Scotland and Germany; the rivalry is also keenly felt in Argentina with the fixture commonly described as a clásico. Although the rivalry originated in a match at the 1966 FIFA World Cup, it was particularly exacerbated by a non-footballing event, the 1982 Falklands War between the two nations, and has been propagated by various controversial or notable incidents in subsequent matches, for instance the "Hand of God" goal at the 1986 FIFA World Cup.

1 Early history
2 1966 World Cup
3 1980 Friendly
4 1986 World Cup
5 1991 Friendly
6 1998 World Cup
7 2002 World Cup
8 2005 friendly
9 Club level
10 Fans' behaviour
11 References
12 See also
13 External links

[edit] Early history

In the latter half of the 19th century, the Argentine capital Buenos Aires had a large expatriate British community of some 40,000 people. As in many other parts of the world football was introduced to Argentina by the British and the first recorded football match played in Argentina was organized by the Buenos Aires Cricket Club in Palermo, Buenos Aires on 20 June 1867 and played between two teams of British railway workers, the White Caps and the Red Caps^[1] (it was common in the early days of football for teams to be distinguished by caps rather than jerseys).

The so-called "father of Argentine football" was a Glaswegian schoolteacher, Alexander Watson Hutton, who first taught football at the St Andrew's School in Buenos Aires in the early 1880s. On 4 February 1884^[2] he founded the Buenos Aires English High School where he continued to instruct the pupils in the game.^[3] In 1891 Hutton established the Association Argentine Football League.^[4] Five clubs competed but only one season of games was played. A new league, the The Argentine Association Football League was formed February 21, 1893 and this eventually became the Argentine Football Association. In these early days of football in Argentina nearly all of the players and officials were expatriate Britons or of British extraction and the oldest football clubs in Argentina like Rosario Central, Newell's Old Boys and Quilmes Athletic Club and were all founded by British expatriates. As the popularity of the game increased the British influence on the game waned, and by 1912 the Association was renamed Asociación Argentina de Football.

However the British influence on the Argentine game shows in much of the Argentine footballing terminology, which uses English language terms such as "corner" and "wing" rather than Spanish translations. The names of several famous teams in Argentina are also English in origin such as River Plate or influenced by the language such as Boca Juniors.

The national teams had met before their 1966 clash — Argentina were the first team other than Scotland to play England at Wembley Stadium in 1951. They also played two matches in 1953 in Buenos Aires. The first, a 3-1 victory for Argentina, counted as an unofficial international for England, who fielded a second string team dubbed an FA XI. However, this match appears in Argentina's list of official internationals, and so Argentines consider it to be their first ever victory over England. Afterwards one Argentine politician stated that "we nationalised the railways, and now we have nationalised football!".^[5] The second 1953 international was an official match for both teams: England playing with a stronger line-up involving Alf Ramsey, Nat Lofthouse and Tom Finney; Argentina sticking with the same line-up used in the first match. The game was abandoned after 36 minutes due to torrential rain, with a 0-0 scoreline. They also met in the 1962 FIFA World Cup, where England beat Argentina 3-1 in the group stage. Argentina's first victory over England in a full international, recognised as such by both teams, occurred in a 1-0 win in Brazil in June 1964.

[edit] 1966 World Cup

In spite of all of this history, it was not until the 1966 FIFA World Cup, held in England, that the rivalry picked up the fierce edge and sometimes bitterness which it retains to this day. The two teams met in the quarter-finals of the tournament and England won with a combative 1-0 thanks to a goal from striker Geoff Hurst.

However, the game was particularly noted for the sending-off of Argentina captain Antonio Rattín, which Argentinians considered to be unfair, including Rattín himself who had to be escorted from the pitch by police before he would leave. According to The Observer newspaper, "with 10 minutes left in the first half, a German referee sent Rattin off for 'violence of the tongue', even though the referee spoke no Spanish."^[6]

The Englishman Ken Aston, supervisor of referees, entered the field to try to persuade Rattin to leave, in a way the Latin American teams have since concluded that the English and Germans were collaborating to eliminate them from the competition. ^[5]

Rattín even sat down on the Queen's red carpet on his way to the locker rooms, to express his frustration. After the match, England manager Alf Ramsey refused to allow his players to swap shirts with the Argentinians — as is traditional after the conclusion of a football match — and later described the South Americans as "animals" in the press.

The Argentinian press and public were outraged, and one Argentinian newspaper published a picture of the official World Cup mascot, World Cup Willie, dressed in pirate regalia to demonstrate their opinion of the England team. As The Guardian newspaper later described the Argentine view of the English: "Many Argentines read this as classic British racism... England has since been the team they most want to beat. One bumper sticker for the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina showed the tournament's mascot, Gauchito, posing with his foot on a British lion. England had not even qualified for the competition."^[5] (the only British team that qualified for the competition were Scotland, and as there was no rivalry between Scotland and Argentina, it was immediately thought that it must be an attack on England)

[edit] 1980 Friendly

On May 13, 1980, Argentina — who were at the time the world champions, having won the 1978 FIFA World Cup in their own country — visited Wembley Stadium for a friendly match, which England won 3-1. This was the first time that England had played an Argentine team including Diego Maradona, who showed many of the skills he would demonstrate in a more important match six years later.

[edit] 1986 World Cup

The next game between the two teams occurred at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, again at the quarter-final stage. The encounter was made particularly incendiary by the Falklands War which the two countries had fought four years previously, and many in Argentina saw the game as being an opportunity to exact revenge upon England for their loss of that conflict, and incidents during the fighting such as the sinking of the warship General Belgrano in debatable circumstances.

The "Hand of God"

Argentina took the lead through a highly controversial goal from their star player Diego Maradona, who punched the ball into the England net with his hand. The goal was allowed to stand by the referee, much to the fury of the English team and its fans. The goal, dubbed the "Hand of God goal" after Maradona's tongue-in-cheek description of how it was scored, has become infamous in England, particularly as England went on to lose the game and were knocked out of the tournament. Also in this game, Maradona scored a second goal, voted in 2002 as the best goal in World Cup history, before English striker Gary Lineker pulled one back, but England could not score again and lost 2-1. Despite the skill of his second goal, Maradona wrote in his autobiography that "I sometimes think I preferred the one with my hand... It was a bit like stealing the wallet of the English."^[5] He also wrote, in reference to the Falklands conflict, that "it was as if we had beaten a country, not just a football team... Although we had said before the game that football had nothing to do with the Malvinas war, we knew they had killed a lot of Argentine boys there, killed them like little birds. And this was revenge."^[5]

The game added hugely to the rivalry between the two teams in England where they felt that they had been cheated out of the competition by Maradona's hand ball. Meanwhile in Argentina, the game was not seen just as revenge for the Falklands War but mostly for what they still see as the unfair game in the 1966 World Cup.

It is close to inevitable that, whenever the two teams play, this game (and particularly the Hand of God goal in England) will be referred to by the sports media in the build up to the game.

[edit] 1991 Friendly

On May 25, 1991, a friendly match between the two teams was played at Wembley. Argentina, now under the management of Alfio Basile, were preparing for the forthcoming Copa América 1991, which they went on to win. The South Americans had a new generation of players mainly playing locally, replacing the very successful group of the previous two World Cup tournaments. The game was mostly under the control of England, but near the end Argentina came back from two goals down to draw 2-2. In spite of not being a victory, the result was celebrated in Argentina, especially due to both Argentine goals coming from corner kicks, which in Argentina were seen as being a part of the game at which the English usually excelled.

[edit] 1998 World Cup

The next meeting between the two countries came in the second round of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, held in France. The game had many noteworthy aspects including a goal that is also considered one of the greatest of all time by young striker Michael Owen.

However, the incident in this game that most exacerbated the rivalry was when David Beckham received a red card. Beckham had been fouled by Diego Simeone and the two players were lying on the pitch in close proximity to one another. As Simeone attempted to raise himself from the ground, he placed his hands on Beckham's back; Beckham was seen to wince in pain as Simeone regained his footing. In what Simeone himself described as an instinctive reaction, Beckham, still laying face down on the pitch flicked his leg towards Simeone striking him on the calf. Simeone later admitted to trying to get Beckham sent off by over-reacting to the kick and then, along with other members of his team, waving imaginary red cards at the referee, urging him to send Beckham off.^[7]

Playing with ten men, England held out against the Argentinian attacks and, in the dying moments of the game, during a scramble in the Argentine penalty area, Sol Campbell headed the ball into the back of the Argentine net. As the England players began to celebrate a winning goal the referee blew for a foul and disallowed it. The consequent Argentine free kick was taken very quickly, while the England players were still celebrating, and they had to rush back to successfully prevent the Argentinians from scoring themselves. The scores stayed level at 2-2 until the end of extra time. In the ensuing penalty shoot-out that decided the game, Argentina won 4-3 after two English kicks were saved by their goalkeeper Carlos Roa.

There was heavy criticism in England about Argentina's "theatrics" which many fans held responsible for stealing the win. This was somewhat ironic, as the penalty which earned England their first goal resulted from what is generally acknowledged to have been a dive by Michael Owen. When Argentina faced Holland in the quarter-finals, Argentina star Ariel Ortega unsuccessfully sought to draw a penalty which instead earned him a yellow card. When Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar confronted Ortega on the latter's play-acting, Ortega reacted by head-butting him and promptly received a red card.^[8] The English media delighted in the irony of this, especially when Holland's winning goal came shortly after Ortega was sent off.

Immediately following the game, Beckham was vilified by the English press for his perceived petulance and naivety on the international stage. The headline in The Daily Mirror the following day described the England team as "10 heroic lions, one stupid boy". Soon however, the initial reaction was tempered by analysis of the incident and the game is now principally remembered in England for the sense that Simeone had cheated in prompting the Beckham red card and that, again, a victory had been "stolen" by the Argentine team. Argentines, in contrast, still think that Beckham's reaction deserved the red card and Simeone's act was rightly to demand the deserved card, although most admit that it was also partly gamesmanship. In the end, most people on both sides agreed that Beckham should have kept calm and avoided the incident altogether.

[edit] 2002 World Cup

This "photoshopped" image mocking Argentine players, a typical example of British humour, was e-mailed all over the world during the 2002 World Cup and featured on the front-page of The Daily Mirror.

Another friendly was played in 2000, again at Wembley, but ended 0-0. Argentina fans did not observe the minute's silence in memory of Stanley Matthews.^{[citation needed]} Then, the teams were drawn to meet once more in the group stages of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Korea-Japan. Having been knocked out by Argentina in two of the previous three World Cups they had competed in, tension in England was high. This tension was raised by the England team only gaining a draw in their opening match, meaning that they needed a good result against Argentina to avoid being eliminated from the competition.

The meeting between England and Argentina was one of the few times there had been so much attention given to a first round match. Commentators described the match, which began at twelve noon UK time, as the "longest lunch break in history" as millions in England and throughout the world stopped their jobs and activities to watch the game on TV.

David Beckham, who was then the England captain, scored the only goal of the match, a penalty kick which many felt redeemed him in the eyes of the English sporting public for his dismissal four years earlier. As The Times newspaper described it in their match report, "vilified for the red card that helped to usher England out of the 1998 World Cup at the hands of Argentina, he wakes this morning with his halo brighter than ever."^[9] Despite a late onslaught from the Argentinian players at the end of the second half of the game, England maintained the scoreline and won 1-0, and partly as a result of this Argentina (one of the pre-tournament favourites to win) were knocked out in the first round.

Although the Argentinian players and public criticised the awarding of the penalty kick — given for a controversial foul on Michael Owen, whom they felt had dived — the game was generally played in a good, if highly competitive, spirit, and there was none of the bitterness that had affected the 1966 and 1986 meetings.

[edit] 2005 friendly

The most recent game between the two nations occurred on neutral ground in Geneva, Switzerland on 12 November 2005 when the two teams, having both already qualified for the following year's World Cup, met in a friendly. Both teams selected strong sides. England twice came from behind to beat Argentina 3-2 with goals from Michael Owen from crosses by Steven Gerrard and Joe Cole. The result and performance were welcomed enthusiastically by the English public, although the Argentinians were dismissive of any wider significance of the result, having withdrawn many of their first-choice players when they were in the lead. The Times reported: "by the unpleasant standards of previous confrontations, the skirmish between England and Argentina edged towards the saccharine, although the concept is deeply relative. The latest encounter featured punches on the terraces, songs about the Falkland Islands, jibes regarding players' sexuality and general churlishness that (sic), believe it or not, represents a significant thaw in diplomatic relations."^[10] This game followed the general tone of the last one (2002 FIFA World Cup), with players focusing more on trying to play football and less on getting revenge on one another.

[edit] Club level

At the club level, matches have also been heated. Argentine and English clubs have not had many chances to play against each other, but when they have done so there have been notable incidents. The most memorable matches happened in the now defunct European/South American Cup. In 1968 Estudiantes La Plata played against Manchester United for the cup, then known as the "Intercontinental Cup". The first leg was in Buenos Aires where Estudiantes' supporters were highly vocal and the game was played in a very physical manner, as is frequently the case when South American teams play against a European team, with a disputed red card and physical injury.^[11] Manchester United could not recover the 1-0 deficit in the replay and Estudiantes won the title.

Nine years later, in 1977, Liverpool FC refused to play against Boca Juniors, so Boca played against European runner-up Borussia Mönchengladbach and obtained their first cup. In 1978, Liverpool alleged "scheduling conflicts"; the cup was not played.

In 1984 Independiente played Liverpool for the trophy that, by this point, had been renamed the "Toyota Cup". The format had also changed, to a single game played in Japan, making it easier for teams to attend. Independiente won 1-0 with a goal by Percudani; this was the last time Argentine and English clubs met in a championship.

[edit] Fans' behaviour

Much of the colour and intensity in this rivalry is added by the fans themselves. The early matches generated interest and emotion but it was the 1982 Falklands War that fuelled passions and elevated this rivalry. Before the 1986 game ultras from both countries (Barra Bravas and Hooligans) had a fight in a Mexico City street ^[12]. During games, though, behaviour so far has been generally peaceful on both sides; probably because of the heightened security in the stadiums.

In the 21st century, fans in Argentina still use anti-English chants. The most used one is "El que no salta es un inglés"^[5] (The one not jumping is an Englishman). This chant is used to rally the whole stadium into jumping, threatening ridicule to those not jumping with this perceived insult. English fans, on the other hand, frequently mock Argentines with references to their nation's defeat in the 1982 Falklands War.