Historic World Cup rivalries: the duels that go beyond football
Argentina-Brazil, Germany-Netherlands or England-Argentina: some World Cup ties carry decades of history and open wounds.
Some matches are far more than a match. At the World Cup, certain ties drag decades of history, national pride and, at times, wounds that never heal. These are the tournament's great rivalries.
The most passionate in the Americas is the superclásico between Argentina and Brazil. The two South American powers have spent decades competing for the hegemony of their region's football, and every meeting between the albicelestes and the verdeamarelos is lived like a final, on and off the pitch.
In Europe, few duels match Germany against the Netherlands. The spark flew in the 1974 final, when the Germans came from behind against Cruyff's Total Football, and it exploded in 1990, in a tense, ill-tempered round-of-16 tie. Since then, every clash between the two is a matter of honour.
And then there is England against Argentina, perhaps the rivalry most laden with symbolism. In 1986, Maradona produced in a single match the «Hand of God» and the «Goal of the Century». In 1998 they met in an electric duel featuring a Beckham red card that Argentina won on penalties, and in 2002 Beckham himself took his revenge with a decisive penalty.
These rivalries are a reminder that the World Cup does not only pit eleven against eleven: it pits histories, identities and collective memories against each other. In 2026, any tie could write the next chapter of an old feud.
Source: Wikipedia (Argentina–Brazil football rivalry; Germany–Netherlands football rivalry; Argentina–England football rivalry).