Messi’s Argentina take on England, but football cannot forget the Hand of God
Football has spent the last four decades making sure another Hand of God never happens. Every major tournament is now wrapped in technology. There are more cameras than ever before, referees have VAR in their ear, goal-line technology removes doubt and semi-automatic offside checks dissect every attacking move. A handball like Diego Maradona against England in 1986 would almost certainly only survive until the first replay appeared on the stadium screen.
Yet for all the technological advances that have transformed the game, they haven’t diminished the power of the moment. If anything, they made it even more extraordinary.
Almost 40 years later, The Hand of God still shapes the way England and Argentina are talked about every time the two nations meet on football’s biggest stage.
So as Lionel Messi prepares to face England for the first time in his international career with Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane standing between Argentina and another World Cup finalit’s remarkable how quickly the conversation reverts to a moment that modern football simply wouldn’t allow.
THE GOAL THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
The goal itself lasted barely a second.
Steve Hodge puffed towards the penalty area, Peter Shilton raced off his line and Diego Maradona, giving away nearly eight inches of height, somehow got there first. Well, not quite with his head. His left fist made just enough contact to guide the ball into the net as Tunisian referee Ali Bin Nasser and his assistant looked away. England’s protests were immediate. The target still stood.
Football has spent the best part of four decades debating what happened next.
Maradona never denied it. Instead, he gave the moment a line that ensured it would survive him.
“A bit of Maradona’s head and a bit of God’s hand.”
22 June 1986 when Argentina won and England lost. Maradona scored a goal with his head and hand. Later he even accepted and said it was the hand of God. pic.twitter.com/xqANGdIIIi– Moments and memories (@momentmemori) July 7, 2026
This phrase entered the football vocabulary almost immediately. England saw blatant cheating. Argentina saw genius wrapped in mischief. Somewhere in between sat one of the most unusual ironies the game has ever produced.
Because The Hand of God wasn’t even the best goal Maradona scored that afternoon.
Four minutes later, he picked up the ball in his own half, skipped past five England players, rounded Shilton and rolled the ball into the net in one of the greatest individual moves football has ever seen. FIFA later voted it the “Goal of the Century”, while Uruguayan commentator Victor Hugo Morales immortalized the moment with his memorable cry of “Space dragon, what planet did you come from?”
This sequence always made the 1986 quarter-finals impossible to categorize neatly.
One goal was illegal.
The other was immortal.
Together they became football’s most enduring story. A mural of Maradona’s Hand of God moment in Rio de Janeiro in 2010 (Reuters photo)
FOOTBALL HAS MOVED ON. MEMORY NO.
The game around such moments has changed beyond recognition.
Today’s referees work with VAR, goal-line technology, semi-automatic offside and more TV angles than anyone at the Azteca Stadium could have imagined in 1986. A Maradona-like handball would almost certainly have been seen within seconds, the referee sent on the monitor and the goal disallowed before the celebrations had properly begun.
But technology has only solved one part of football’s oldest problem.
This World Cup created its own points for referees. Argentina’s Round of 16 win over Egypt reignited the debate after Mostafa Ziko’s equalizer was ruled out by VAR, while Egypt was frustrated by the lack of review for the late appeal. Social media quickly filled with claims that Argentina benefited from crucial decisions, while others argued that the incidents remained subjective and completely within the laws of the game.
The arguments sounded remarkably familiar.
In 1986, there was one decision, one referee and no second chances. Today, every controversial moment is replayed from every conceivable angle before millions of people make their own verdict online. Technology has made another hand of God almost impossible. It didn’t make football any less argumentative.
The Hand of God belongs to the analog age of football.
Modern football, for better or for worse, would almost certainly not let it.
THE RIVALRY NEVER REALLY GONE
That may be the reason England v Argentina has always felt different from most football rivalries.
Politics could no longer be ignored. The wounds of the 1982 Falklands War lingered heavily after the 1986 meeting in Mexico, with both countries viewing the quarter-final through much more than a sporting lens. Maradona himself later admitted that the victory was like “symbolic revenge”, even writing in his autobiography that beating England was “like beating a country, not a football team”.
But football has added enough chapters of its own to ensure the rivalry survives long after politics have faded from the front pages.
There was the infamous sending off of Antonio Rattino at the 1966 World Cup, a moment that helped precipitate the introduction of yellow and red cards to the sport. Michael Owen scored a breathtaking solo goal at Saint-Etienne in 1998, but David Beckham’s red card after his clash with Diego Simeone made him England’s public villain as Argentina progressed on penalties. Four years later, Beckham found a measure of redemption, calmly converting a penalty to give England a 1-0 win in Sapporo – still their last World Cup victory over Argentina.
The countries have met only five times in football’s biggest tournament.
Remarkably, England broke this record with two wins against Argentina’s two and one draw.
However, the numbers never really explained this game.
People remember moments.
NEW CONTENTS, SAME PHASE
Can Messi inspire Argentina against England? (Photo by Reuters)
Which brings us to Atlanta.
For the first time in his glittering career, Lionel Messi will face England in an international match and carry Argentina’s hopes of defending their World Cup crown. Eight goals into another remarkable tournament, the 39-year-old has once again found himself at the heart of everything Argentina do, turning moments of pressure into moments of inevitability.
England, meanwhile, arrive with two players who have shaped this World Cup in very different ways.
Harry Kane has rediscovered the kind of sharpness that has often eluded him in previous tournaments, his six goals underlining what could be the best World Cup campaign of his career. Jude Bellingham, also at number six, once again made a habit of turning up when England needed him most, delivering decisive goals and performances that cemented his reputation as one of the game’s defining midfielders.
The semi-final itself adds another layer to an already packed occasion. It is the first time England and Argentina have met in a World Cup semi-final, with a place in Sunday’s final against France or Spain on the line. England are chasing a first appearance in football’s biggest game since 1966, while Argentina look to defend the title they won in Qatar and move a step closer to back-to-back World Cups.
If Messi represents football’s enduring greatness, Kane and Bellingham embody England’s belief that this generation can finally end the six-decade wait.
But before any of these new stories unfold, the facility inevitably asks football to look over its shoulder one more time.
Not because the hand of God will affect what happens in ninety minutes.
Not because Maradona’s shadow still rules England against Argentina.
But because some moments are bigger than the match they belonged to.
Almost forty years after Diego Maradona’s hand slipped past Peter Shilton, football has evolved in almost every way imaginable. Referees have more help than ever before, technology leaves little room for doubt, and another goal like this would almost certainly be erased before making it into the history books.
Every time England and Argentina meet on the World Cup stage, this image still comes before the teams.
And that is perhaps the greatest reminder of all.
God’s hand was never just a target.
It became the most unforgettable football memory.
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– The end
Issued by:
Akshay Ramesh
Published on:
14 Jul 2026 12:24 IST