Sixty years ago, England stood on top of the football world. On Wednesday night, the Three Lions get their best chance since then to climb back there.
England face Argentina in the World Cup semi-final at Atlanta Stadium in Georgia, and the scale of what's at stake shows in the numbers. The stadium is packed, the pre-match news conference had to be moved to a bigger room just to fit everyone in, and millions of fans back home will be watching. This is England's biggest match since Sir Alf Ramsey's side lifted the World Cup trophy at Wembley in 1966.
The wait to return to a final has been agonizing. England came close in 2018, reaching the semi-finals in Russia, but lost 2-1 to Croatia after extra time. They were even closer in July 2021, scoring after just two minutes against Italy in the European Championship final at Wembley, only to lose on penalties. Then came another Euro final loss to Spain in 2024. Three times, the Three Lions have reached the final doorstep. Three times, they haven't been able to push through.
Now comes Argentina, a team England has a long and heated history with. Back in 1966, during the very tournament England won, Argentina's captain Antonio Rattin was sent off in a feisty quarter-final at Wembley. The Argentine players nearly walked off the pitch, and Ramsey famously refused to let his players swap shirts afterward. Four years later in 1986, in the shadow of the Falklands War, Diego Maradona scored his infamous "Hand of God" goal against England in Mexico, though he also scored a brilliant second goal that day. In 1998, England faced Argentina again at the World Cup in France, a match remembered for David Beckham's red card and a teenage Michael Owen's stunning solo goal.
Head coach Thomas Tuchel, who took charge of England in 2024, said his squad is ready to end this long wait. "We now want to squeeze the last bit out," he told reporters. "We want to take the next step. The players are very excited, very ambitious."
Wednesday's match kicks off at 20:00 BST. For England, it's a chance to do something no English men's team has done in six decades: reach a World Cup final. The world will be watching.