Some matches have stories written not in the record books but in people’s memories; statistics show only numbers, while history lives on in memory. The Argentina-England match is bound up with the 1982 Falklands War, that 1986 afternoon at the Azteca, the “Hand of God,” the goal of the century and the Beckham-Simeone clash. It is as if, to hold on to those cherished memories, Argentina’s plea is that they be allowed to wear the blue jersey.
As soon as they reached the semifinal, Argentina obtained FIFA’s permission to play in blue — the colour tied to Maradona’s two goals in 1986, one the “Hand of God” and the other a miracle of footwork. A dozen years later, in the round of 16 at the 1998 World Cup, Argentina and England met in the same jersey.
That day David Beckham kicked Diego Simeone and was shown a red card. After a 2-2 draw in normal time, Argentina won 4-3 on penalties. Why blue matters so much to Argentina becomes clearer still on looking at the two sides’ most recent meeting: in that 2002 match, Argentina played England’s red in their white-and-sky-blue jersey. There was no blue that day, and Argentina crashed out of the World Cup group stage to Beckham’s only goal.
Under the rules, having reached the semifinal first, England are officially “Team A” for the match, and Team A gets to choose its jersey. Had England chosen white for themselves, Argentina, as “Team B,” would have had to play in their away, that is blue, jersey; and had England chosen their away red jersey, Argentina would have had to play in white-and-sky-blue.
Under FIFA’s rules, jerseys must be chosen so that the two teams can be clearly told apart on a black-and-white screen, and so that colour-blind viewers do not confuse them — for which a technology called a spectrophotometer is used. To make sure England could not in any way stop Argentina wearing blue, the Argentine Football Association had sought permission to wear blue well in advance.
In the end, though, there was little need for all this: as Team A, England chose their home jersey — white — with white shorts and white socks, which is why Argentina have ended up in blue jersey, blue shorts and blue socks.
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