20 days and 18 hours until the World Cup.  So what the hell, as part of the build up I will be sharing 20 memories that mean something to me to help set the stage.  I am English so there is a slant, but I am also a lover of the game no matter who is playing and there are plenty of players and games in the list that have nothing to do with England what so ever.

#1 Argentina vs England 1986

There are a handful of games that define England’s football psyche.  Angry.  Hostile.  Entitled. Disappointed.

This is one of them.

Most English fans fit this profile, and why not?  I just bought a 1966 World Cup Jersey  – the same one the late great Sir Bobby Moore wore when he hoisted the World Cup Trophy over his head.  In many ways it would have been better if he had never done so because the expectation of greatness has never gone and you have to be 50 years or older to realistically remember the last time England won the World Cup.  This moment of glory came nine years before my birth and yet I can name the complete 1966 World Cup winning team without blinking on a good day — I can’t do that with the team from any other England game but the World Cup Semi Final defeat against West Germany.  

Between 1966 and 2010 there has been a long trail of heartbreak and sorrow. For a nation that refuses not to dream about winning again it is hard to take.

The backdrop to the 1986 Quarter Final between England was different to most games.  Just four years earlier England and Argentina fought not for a spot in the Semi-Finals but the Falklands war and with the memories fresh at heart the game felt like more of a final than a quarter final.  We simply hated “The Argies”, losing to them wasn’t going to sit well and I am guessing they felt the same way about England.

The game simply was a classic, although not high scoring or that tight – but it featured two moments that haunt the average English football fan to this day.  The “Hand of God” goal where Diego Maradona handled the ball from a chip into the box – it landing neatly in the net.  At first I was confused – I thought it actually was a header which is the way the referees saw it.  The second goal for Argentina is consistently voted the best goal of all time in England and is simply a pure moment of genius from the greatest player that I have ever seen play.

Diego Maradona – the only player I ever truly learned to love and hate, all in one game and my first real memory of the bitter sting of supporting England in the World Cup.

Argentina deserved the win …