FUTBOL :ARGENTINA & ENGLAND

Futbol

            Like all Brits of my generation I grew up knowing nothing of Argentina,let alone the major role Britain played in its development and financing.Perhaps I had picked up from dad that the government was Peronist and anti-semitic;Juan and Evita were not good people.More likely that’s a false memory and I knew nothing.By the time I left  grammar school in 1965 I had forgotten I had an Argentine uncle.I went to Manchester University,where I majored in talking,football,women and more talking -un pauco economics on the side.

     I of course learned nothing about women and they took little trouble learning about me.I did come to believe Argentine women,like all Latins,were sultry,beautiful,romantic,dusky thighed,and passionate.I had no way to verify this,still don’t.The talking, indeed orating,flourished and has caused me endless trouble ever since.Football was a great,disappointing passion.In my first year I played on the freshman team and went backwards from there;never getting a place in the varsity first or second teams.I had peaked as a striker at 14.My contemporaries continued to grow and I lost my edge;flat feet did not help with the running.Alas I would never play for England.

   For two of my years in Manchester I shared a small terraced house in Moss Side.A few hundred yards from Maine Road-the home of Manchester City FC.

I passed the ground everyday to and from University.In1996 Spurs,with remnants of the glorious DOUBLE side,won 0-2;I was not at the game.I was the next two seasons,4-1and 4-0 to City.Lo these 50 years later,my recollection is that City sneaked it with some very questionable goals against the run of play. The referee was intimidated by the home crowd.City took the League title in 1967/8. 

    At the end of that first college year England hosted the World Cup.At the Wembley final England beat Germany 4-2 in extra time;West Ham players scoring all four goals. It was the tournament England discovered Argentina.They met in the quarter finals.Their captain Antonio Rattin was sent off by the German referee for a second caution.

                                     Rattín (#10) sent-off during the Argentina-England match

       The Argentines were incensed,Rattín had to be escorted from the pitch by police.He received the second booking for arguing with the German referee.Kreitlin said that he had sent him off because he did not like how Rattín looked at him.The English newspapers cited the official report gave the reason as"violence of the tongue,"despite Kreitlin speaking no Spanish.

 Rattín claimed his intention was to speak with the German,as he appeared to be ruling in favour of the English team.He had made a visible signal showing his captain's armband and wanted to call a translator.
 Alf Ramsey England's manager later called Rattin“an animal”.A bit rich for someone who had selected“the toothless tiger”Nobby Stiles for the England team.

                                              

    In the previous game,Stiles tackle on Jacques Simon put the Frenchman out of the game.No subs back then and France already had a player hobbling on the wing. The referee missed it,not even giving a foul.To see how bad the foul was note seconds 35 to 60 in this video clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQybpbgwKZg .

    As Simon lay prostrate,England scored.Even the British press thought he was“fortunate beyond words to stay on the field” and the FA wanted him dropped from the squad.
Ramsey threatened to quit if Stiles was disciplined and told his team“if Stiles does not play,England does not play”. Commentators regarded Stiles as a “blot on England's landscape, a carbuncle on the beautiful game" They went on to meet Argentina in the next round.

Fifa’s choice of a German referee was compounded by an English ref for the German/Uruguay game.Argentina was the best team in the world and favoured for the cup.Germany and Portugal would welcome not meeting them in the final.The choice of refs inflamed their suspicion of European bias.They foolishly reacted by resorting to cynical fouling.Their behaviour against England was outrageous enough to lead to calls for them to be banned from future World Cups—by the English tabloids. .  

 
England struggled to beat the ten men by a single goal.Ironically, match stats showed Argentina committed 19 fouls, England 33.
Argentines call this game el robo del siglo (the robbery of the century). 

Stiles later said"There is no doubt that they were the best team we played''. 

Interestingly the other quarter-final also proved controversial. Germany beat Uruguay 4–0; the South Americans complained that referee Jim Finney missed a handball by Schnellinger on the goal line and he sent off  two Uruguayans.

         Thus began one of the greatest rivalries in world football.


    Stiles was quoted “that Argentina was the biggest threat to England's aspirations". 
                                    
                                       Ramsey, Moore and Stiles with Cup


The two nations did not meet again until Mexico 1986.Four years after the Argentine-British  Falklands War.

In the quarter final Argentina beat England 2-1 with assistance of Maradona’s hand. 
                                       “Mano de Dios” Hand of God. 
                 
                         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ccNkksrfls  
     Six minutes into the second half,a miscued clearance looped back toward England’s goal,Peter Shilton ran out to punch clear.Maradona, six inches shorter, managed to force the ball over him into the empty net. He had used his fist to get to the ball before keeper Shilton.The referee missed the infringement.After the match Maradona conceded the goal was scored "un poco con la cabeza de Maradona y otro poco con la mano de Dios"("a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God"). It became known as the "Hand of God" goal and deeply intensified the rivalry between the two nations.

Followed by: GOAL of the CENTURY
 
                                       
 Four minutes after the Hand of God goalcame The Goal of the Century.Maradona received a pass in his own half,ran sixty yards shaking off two England players,slipped two more challenges in the box,dummied Shilton and slid the ball in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wVho3I0NtU He was the player of his era.
        
   In the buildup to the 2002 competition this was voted World Cup 'Goal of the Century'.Second,a goal scored in 1998 by Michael Owen...England against Argentina. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag8fANDq_qc

When I first went on business to Buenos Aires in1998 I must have been regaled by twenty people about that Owen goal and what a great striker he was.In England they were still talking about the “hand of god”and Maradona's“wonder"goal that followed.Pele -who?

The countries have met in 4 World Cups since 1966.Two wins each.Four goals each.Each has knocked the other out on the way to winning World Cups –England in 1966,Argentina in 1986.Each beating Germany in the final!Argentina has won the cup twice since 1966.Also runner up in 1990 and 2014,losing each time to.... ..Germany.Germany has won the Cup thrice since 1966,Argentina twice,England never again.

    Maybe not a two nation rivalry at all but as Germans say a Dreier.

When I finally got to Buenos Aires,I was to discover that my passion for football paled before that of Los Argentinos-Male and Female.

                       Members of the Argentine Women’s Squad. 
                                                                                                                                           

                  
                                               
                                           
                                                   

Sorry ,silly sexist joke. But to show that I am an equal opportunity boor .Members of the current Argentine team.
                               
                                                                              

                                    

Argentina has produced 3 of the best 5 players of all time.DiStefano,Maradona, Messi ;only Pele and Cruyff compare.So many great“also rans"such as Ardilles,Villa,Aguero, Tevez ,Rattin & Mascherano. At least the English contribute abundantly to the second tier with Lofthouse,Finney, Matthews, Greaves, Gascoine, Hoddle and Moore.A footnote: Di Stefano was 5’10”; Maradona 5’5”, Messi 5’6” and Aguero 5’8”.Pele was 5’7” and Cruyff 5’11” and he’s Dutch! Just to say you do not need to be a physical freak to be a great footballer.
  r  




footnote:

Argentine players at English clubs Despite Rattin, the hand of god and the Falklands/Malvinas war many Argentine footballers have played and still play for English clubs.Osvaldo Ardilles and Ricardo Villa became cult heroes at Spurs joining after Argentina won the 1978 World Cup. Ardilles played there for 10 years[missing a single season for the 1982 war], was for a time Spurs manager and still lives in England.Many followed,including world class players such as Carlos Tevez ,Javier Mascherano and Sergio Agüero.The last,Maradona’s son in law,and the best striker in English football since Jimmy Greaves.The current Spurs manager is Mauricio Pocetino;the most succesful in fifty years.