Kristie AckertUSA TODAY
Updated July 15, 2026, 4:02 p.m. ET
The England vs. Argentina World Cup semifinal started out chippy on Wednesday, and there is a very good reason for that. The countries have a long history on and off the pitch.
Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands on April 2, 1982. The islands sit in the South Atlantic. Britain has held them as an overseas territory since 1833, and Argentina, which calls them the Islas Malvinas, has wanted them back ever since. Margaret Thatcher sent a naval task force. The fighting lasted 74 days and killed about 649 Argentine and 255 British troops before Argentina surrendered.
The animosity carried over onto the field.
The teams didn’t meet again until the 1986 World Cup, in the quarterfinals, and that game is the one people still argue about. Argentina won 2-1. Diego Maradona scored both goals. He knocked the first in with his hand, now known as the “Hand of God” goal. The second goal he scored on a run past four England players from inside his own half.
That goal gets voted the best goal in World Cup history about as often as anyone asks. Maradona said later the game felt like payback for the war.
That was 40 years ago, and the veterans of that war don’t want that to carry on this time around.
“Sport is not war,” read a statement made by the April 2 Veterans Federation of the Malvinas, a group of those who fought in the conflict. “The semifinal match is a sporting event with global reach, not an armed revenge or historic compensation. Sovereignty is defended in international forums, with diplomacy, historical truth and the peaceful and inalienable claim made in our national constitution.”
England knocked Argentina out in the 1966 quarterfinals in a match so nasty that Argentina captain, Antonio Rattin, was sent off and would not leave the field. In 1998, David Beckham got a red card for kicking Diego Simeone and England lost the shootout playing shorthanded. Beckham was tortured for that for four years. He got even in 2002 and scored the winner from the penalty-spot in a 1-0 England win.
This time, it’s the three best players left in the tournament on opposite sides. Lionel Messi had eight goals going into the game, tied for the tournament lead, and broke the World Cup’s career assists record on the way. Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham have six apiece, and Bellingham scored twice to beat Norway in the quarterfinals.
It’s the first time Messi has faced England, but clearly he knows his history.
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World Cup knockout round format
The World Cup becomes a single-elimination tournament once the knockout stage begins. The 32 remaining teams have been placed into a bracket, and the field will halve itself during each ensuing round of the tournament until a winner is crowned.
The lone exception is that the two semifinal losers will play in a third-place game ahead of the World Cup final.
World Cup knockout stage bracket, matchups, schedule
Round of 16
- July 4: France def Paraguay – Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia
- July 4: Morocco def Canada – Houston
- July 5: Norway def Brazil – East Rutherford
- July 5: England def Mexico – Mexico City
- July 6: Spain def Portugal – Arlington
- July 6: Belgium def USA – Seattle
- July 7: Argentina def Egypt – Atlanta
- July 7: Switzerland def Colombia – Vancouver
Quarterfinals
- July 9: France def Morocco – Foxborough
- July 10: Spain def Belgium – Inglewood
- July 11: England def England – Miami
- July 11: Argentina def Switzerland – Kansas City
Semifinals
- July 14: France vs. Spain – Arlington
- July 15: England vs. Argentina – Atlanta
Final
- July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey
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