Batistuta recalls Argentina's World Cup rivalry with England before semifinal

Gabriel Batistuta revisited Argentina’s World Cup clashes with England as Lionel Scaloni’s team headed into the semifinal, a meeting loaded with five previous tournament encounters and a rivalry that still carries more than footballing weight. Argentina arrived as the reigning world champions after Qatar 2022, but the emotional script around England remained familiar: history, media pressure and a match narrative built on what came before.

England and Argentina had met five times at World Cups before this semifinal, in 1962, 1966, 1986, 1998 and 2002. England won the first, second and most recent of those meetings, while Argentina took the two in between. The last World Cup match between them came on June 7, 2002 in Sapporo, where England won 1-0 through a David Beckham penalty.

The rivalry has never been only about results. After the 1966 meeting, England coach Alf Ramsey described the Argentines as “animals,” a remark that triggered indignation and diplomatic protests. The tension around the fixture has also been shaped by the memory of the Malvinas/Falklands war, which continues to appear whenever these teams are drawn together on the world stage.

For Argentina, the most defining moment remains the 2-1 quarterfinal win over England in Mexico in 1986. That match became part of football folklore through Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” and the “Goal of the Century,” a combination that turned a knockout game into one of the most replayed chapters in World Cup history. FIFA later revisited that night in a FIFA+ documentary and has described it as a pulsating showdown that included one of the great individual performances in the tournament.

Batistuta added his own line to the rivalry in 1998, when he scored a penalty in the 2-2 draw with England before Argentina advanced on penalties. That detail matters because it links the old story to the new one: the rivalry has passed from Maradona’s generation to Batistuta’s, and now to Scaloni’s squad, which has had to carry the burden of defending a title while facing an opponent whose history makes every touch feel larger than the scoreboard.