Rivalry and revenge: the long, bitter relationship between England and Argentina

NEW YORK, July 13 : Antonio Rattin in 1966. Diego Maradona in 1986. David Beckham in 1998.

The matches are the stuff of soccer legend. And on Wednesday, Argentina and England return to the World Cup stage. But this time — for the first time — it will be a World Cup semi-final, a coveted place in Sunday's final at stake.

It will be a match resonant with both historical and footballing rivalry, going back decades.

The death this week of former Argentine footballer Antonio Rattin has revived memories of one of the earliest sporting disputes between the countries.

In 1966, the two met in a World Cup quarter-final match when England were hosting the tournament. Rattin, then the Argentine captain, was expelled from the pitch. He grabbed at a corner flag featuring the British flag as he left, and then sat on a red carpet intended for Queen Elizabeth, refusing to walk away. English fans threw cans of beer at him, he later said.

Tempers on the pitch ran high throughout the game, which ended 1-0 to England, the eventual tournament winners. England manager Alf Ramsey notoriously referred to the Argentina players afterwards as "animals".

It is an insult that Argentina has never forgotten.

Twenty years later, at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, the two sides met again in a World Cup quarter-final. Their two countries had fought a short conflict over the South Atlantic islands known by the British as the Falklands and Argentines as the Malvinas in 1982, in which 649 Argentine soldiers and 255 British combatants died. Emotions were still raw.

In the match itself, the late Diego Maradona, one of the most gifted soccer players in history, scored two goals against England to knock them out of the tournament.

The second goal was a thing of