Why Argentina will wear blue against England today
Some matches are remembered not through statistics, but through the stories they leave behind. Statistics record numbers, but history lives on in people's memories.
Argentina's clashes with England evoke memories of the 1982 Falklands War, that famous afternoon at the Azteca in 1986, the 'Hand of God', the Goal of the Century, and the Beckham-Simeone rivalry.
Perhaps it is to relive those memories that Argentina insisted on wearing their blue shirts.
Soon after reaching the semi-finals, Argentina sought FIFA's permission to wear their blue kit. It is the colour associated with Diego Maradona's two iconic goals against England in 1986—one scored with the 'Hand of God' and the other an extraordinary solo effort.
Twelve years later, Argentina and England met again in the last 16 of the 1998 World Cup, with Argentina once again wearing blue.
On that occasion, David Beckham was sent off for kicking Diego Simeone. After the match ended 2-2, Argentina won the penalty shootout 4-3. The importance of the blue shirt to Argentina becomes even clearer when looking at the teams' most recent World Cup meeting.
In 2002, Argentina wore their traditional white-and-sky-blue kit against England's red shirts. There was no blue that day, and Argentina were eliminated in the group stage after Beckham scored the only goal of the match.
According to FIFA regulations, England are designated Team 'A' for the semi-final because they secured their place first. Team 'A' has the right to choose its kit.
Had England selected their white home strip, Argentina, as Team 'B', would have had to wear their away kit—the blue strip. If England had instead opted for their away colours, namely the red kit, Argentina would have worn their traditional white-and-sky-blue shirts.
FIFA's regulations require teams to select kits that remain clearly distinguishable on black-and-white screens. They also take into account viewers with colour vision deficiency. A technology called a spectrophotometer is used for this purpose.
To ensure England could not prevent them from wearing blue, the Argentine Football Association requested permission from FIFA well in advance.
In reality, however, all those efforts turned out to be unnecessary. As Team 'A', England chose their home kit—white shirts, white shorts and white socks. As a result, Argentina will take to the field wearing blue shirts, blue shorts and blue socks.