The rivalry between England and Argentina is one of the most iconic in world football. It began back in 1962, when Britain’s victory in the World Cup group stage knocked the South American side out of the tournament. The rivalry intensified at the next World Cup, when the English again won in the quarterfinals and set out to meet the first — and so far only — trophy of the world champions in their history. Exactly twenty years later Argentina defeated England in the quarterfinals and, led by the great Diego Maradona, claimed the title. There have been glorious football clashes between the two countries and later as well, and all of this has formed a great history, another page of which will be turned on Wednesday. The England national team is one of the most criticized teams of the last decade. At every major tournament the Three Lions arrived as favorites, but have forgotten what trophies look like. Gareth Southgate has led the English to Euro finals twice, but both times ended in defeat. The current World Cup under the guidance of Thomas Tuchel has seen the English players perform ambiguously. At times the England side looked poor: for almost the entire matches against Ghana, Panama and DR Congo. However periods such as the second half against Croatia or the first half against Mexico give hope that Jude Bellingham and his teammates have hidden reserves and can improve in key moments. The leaders of Tuchel’s side are especially good in critical moments. Besides the Real Madrid midfielder, Harry Kane regularly does his job. The Argentina team in this World Cup has left not a single neutral fan indifferent. The other thing is that Messi and his teammates’ knockout draw was the weakest among all the semifinalists. Meanwhile Scaloni’s side managed to push Cape Verde and Switzerland to extra time, and in the match against Egypt they fought back from 0-2 down as time approached the end of regulation. It is unknown whether the Argentines would have reached the semifinals if Brazil, Germany or Morocco, who had been eliminated earlier, had faced them. England may not be up to the task for the South American side.