England Faces Argentina Tonight in Atlanta for a World Cup Semi-Final Spot in the Final

England plays Argentina tonight, Wednesday, July 15, in Atlanta with a place in Sunday's World Cup final against Spain on the line. Kickoff is 8 p.m. BST in the UK (3 p.m. ET in the US), according to the BBC and Fox 5 New York, with the match airing on BBC One in Britain and FOX in the United States.

This is the biggest match England has played since winning the 1966 World Cup final at Wembley, according to the BBC's chief football writer. The Three Lions have reached only two World Cup semi-finals since then, at Italia '90 and in Russia in 2018, and have lost their last two European Championship finals. A win tonight would send England to its first men's World Cup final in 60 years.

Argentina, the defending champions, is trying to become the first team to win back-to-back World Cups since Brazil in 1962, according to Fox 5. Lionel Messi enters the match with eight goals, tied atop the Golden Boot standings with France's Kylian Mbappe, who is now out of the tournament after France's elimination. This will be Messi's first career meeting with England, per CBS News.

A rivalry with real history behind it

The England-Argentina fixture carries baggage no other World Cup matchup does. Diplomatic relations between the two countries remain strained over the Falkland Islands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas, according to CBS News. Britain and Argentina fought a war over the islands in 1982 that killed 649 Argentine soldiers, 255 British combatants and three civilians, according to the BBC; CBS News put the total death toll at 907, including more than a third who died when a British submarine sank the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano in what CBS called a "highly controversial attack."

Four years after that war, Argentina beat England 2-1 in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final in Mexico City, a match remembered for Diego Maradona's "Hand of God" goal, which the referee failed to spot as an illegal handball, followed minutes later by what many consider the greatest solo goal in World Cup history, according to CBS News and Fox 5. Maradona later said the handball goal felt like "symbolic revenge" for the war.

England has also lost to Argentina on penalties in the 1998 World Cup last-16 tie in Saint-Etienne, a match former England captain Alan Shearer, writing for the BBC, said still hurts 28 years later. Shearer was on that England team and said he still doesn't believe the better team won that night.

Political tension resurfaces before kickoff

Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni tried to separate the match from politics ahead of kickoff. "The reality is that this is a football match. I can't mix things up, especially out of respect for what happened so many years ago," Scaloni told reporters, according to the BBC. "It was a very sad period in our history, and there isn't much we can do about it, that's the reality."

Argentina Vice President Victoria Villarruel took a very different tone. In a post on X cited by the BBC, Villarruel referenced a chant Argentina's players sang after their last-16 win over Egypt that invokes the Falklands and Maradona. "This is not just another match. I'm not going to be politically correct, against the English, it's always something more," Villarruel wrote. "It's the Malvinas, it's Diego, it's Leo's last one, and it's about putting the invaders in their place."

It is fair for England fans or British officials to view such rhetoric as crossing a line from football rivalry into territorial dispute. Whether Villarruel's comments reflect broader Argentine government policy toward the Falklands, or are simply a politician capitalizing on a big sports moment, is not established by anything in her post. Scaloni's comments suggest the team itself wants no part of that framing.

Atlanta authorities have announced increased security measures for the match specifically because of the historical tensions between the two countries, according to the BBC, though no specific threat has been detailed publicly.

The players on the pitch

England will be without defender Jarell Quansah, who is suspended after a red card against Mexico, according to the Manchester Evening News. Reece James remains a doubt and Jordan Henderson is out for the rest of the tournament. Argentina gets Cristian Romero and Leandro Paredes back after both were substituted against Switzerland due to physical exhaustion.

Jude Bellingham has scored six goals for England at this World Cup, level with captain Harry Kane, and became the first player with two goals in consecutive World Cup knockout games since Maradona in 1986, according to Fox 5. Former England striker Wayne Rooney called Bellingham the best player of the tournament so far in an interview on his show, The Wayne Rooney Show, though he said Mbappe or Erling Haaland would rank