What makes a World Cup semi-final with Argentina different from the meetings with West Germany in 1990 and Croatia in 2018

 

What makes a World Cup semi-final with Argentina different from the meetings with West Germany in 1990 and Croatia in 2018 is the history of sporting antipathy and controversy between the two teams stretching back to 1966.

Their quarter-final at Wembley on a sun-kissed Saturday afternoon 60 years ago is best remembered for the sending off of Argentina's brilliant but temperamental captain Antonio Rattin, which threatened to spark a walk-off by his team-mates.

Rattin, who died on 11 July aged 89, was eventually persuaded to leave but the rancour lasted long after Geoff Hurst's late winner, with England boss Ramsey famously refusing to allow his players to swap shirts with Argentina, later describing them as "animals".