Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni, fresh off a dramatic extra-time quarter-final victory over Switzerland on Saturday, was asked about the looming semi-final against bitter rivals England. 'This is a football match, OK?' he snapped, channeling the spirit of Diego Maradona, who said almost exactly the same thing 40 years ago before the famous 1986 quarter-final. Back then, reporters framed the match as a proxy for the Falklands War - a 74-day conflict that killed 649 Argentinian soldiers, 255 British soldiers, and three islanders, and still stings like a fresh paper cut. Maradona kept up the 'just a match' narrative until the teams walked out of the tunnel at Estadio Azteca, where he allegedly started ranting about 'motherfuckers who killed our neighbours.' Argentina defender José Luis Brown recalled the pre-game fury before his death in 2019: 'After the anthems, nobody said anything. We just went out there and ran.'

Wednesday's semi-final is, of course, not just a game - especially for Argentinians, who keep the conflict alive through oral history, social media, and the ever-present spectre of Maradona. His image has been held aloft by supporters in U.S. stadiums, often alongside heir Lionel Messi, and AI has even generated a viral image of Messi visiting Maradona in heaven with Jesus Christ. (Because nothing says football rivalry like a divine cameo.) A new generation of fans has been exposed to iconic clips of Maradona saying he played that 1986 match with 'a rifle' and recent rants about England stealing the 2018 and 1966 World Cups. The current squad didn't need extra motivation: after beating Egypt in the last 16, they sang 'La Cuarta Estrella,' which includes the lyrics 'For Malvinas, for Diego, for the last championship of Leo.'

All this anti-English sentiment might provide inspiration for an Argentina side that has played 240 minutes of football in less than a week, led by an ageing core, and nearly eliminated twice by inferior competition. They seem to be advancing on chaos alone. Messi, notably, has never faced England - he missed his only chance in 2005 due to a red card suspension. Asked about the semi-final, he gave a media-trained non-answer: 'It’s a special match because it’ll be my first time facing England... England are one of football’s great powerhouses.' But like Scaloni and Maradona before him, he wasn't fooling anyone.