World Cup Semi-Finals: France vs Spain and Argentina vs England Both Feel Like Finals

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Sure, an Argentina-England Geopolitics World Cup semi-final has a lot going for it . It’ll be 40 years since the Hand of God and, somehow, the first meeting between the two teams since an incredibly rare event: a memorable friendly, with Michael Owen’s late headers setting up a 3-2 victory in Geneva 21 years ago . In Atlanta, England supporters will finally have the chance to send some choice words in the direction of Lionel Messi. But we all know that the real show – the final in spirit, the game that’ll be far easier on the eye – is the other one: Les Bleus against La Roja .

Filling the gap in GWC action, I just watched Ein Sommer in Italien , the story of the 1990 World Cup from the perspective of the West German national team. It’s a fascinating documentary piece that mixes old home movie clips, archive TV footage, and fresh interviews with the 1990 squad. One moment really stood out. Having beaten Czechoslovakia to reach the semi-final, their manager Franz Beckenbauer wasn’t impressed. Interviewed on German TV straight after the game, he said: ‘It was an awful performance. I simply cannot understand how we played worse against 10 Czechs than against 11.’ As (substitute goalkeeper) Raimond Aumann recalled: ‘We’d won 1-0 and we were actually very happy with the result. Only one person wasn’t happy, and that was Franz.’ With the knowledge of what that German team went on to achieve, here’s hoping there’s a parallel with today’s England squad/manager dynamic” – Roger Mart.

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