​ATLANTA — More ghosts loom over England-Argentina than a cemetery. These two nations don’t meet on the pitch very often, but when they do, the stories — and the ghosts — last for generations.Ask a La Albiceleste fan of a certain age about El robo del siglo, the dubious offside call that helped cost Argentina the match against England in 1966, and get ready for a full-blast dose of South American fury about the theft of the century. Speak the words “The Hand of God” to an England fan in the wrong pub, and you might end up in a river. Hell, these two nations even fought an actual war, even if it was technically “undeclared” and lasted only a bit longer than this World Cup.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementPoint being, there’s history here, and ultras and casuals alike will be happy to discuss its nuances with you, at length and at volume.The players and coaches who will meet on the pitch Wednesday afternoon with a World Cup final berth at stake, though … well, they aren’t saying anything.”If a fixture provides … so many iconic moments, I think you cannot just say it’s just another football match, but as a coach, we do exactly that, focus on what we can influence,” said England manager Thomas Tuchel on Tuesday — or Match Day -1, in soccer parlance. “We don’t speak about the historic events, we don’t speak about the iconic moments. It’s in itself iconic enough and the tension is big enough, so we try exactly the opposite.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWhich is how you end up with players offering up comments like this:”It’s an exciting game. Two big football nations, two nations with great history,” England defender Marc Guéhi said. “So it’s just exciting for us as players to be involved in such a big game on such a big occasion.”Now that is how you seem to say something without saying anything at all. But Guéhi isn’t to blame here; downplaying big moments is exactly the right play here. Most of the players were children the last time these two nations met 21 years ago; it’s been 28 years since they met in a knockout round. (Ask David Beckham, who got served with a dubious, crucial red card, about that match … or maybe don’t.)A man walks past a mural depicting late Argentine football legend Diego Maradona and Argentine soldiers in the Falklands War, in Buenos Aires, on July 14, 2026.(LUIS ROBAYO via Getty Images)One of the outside elements looming over this match: the 1982 Falklands War, a conflict over disputed islands off Argentina that resulted in the loss of nearly a thousand lives. But Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni sharply downplayed any attempt to link this match to a real-life war.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement”The reality is that it’s a football match. I can’t mix things up — especially out of respect for what happened so many years ago,” Scaloni said Tuesday in Spanish. “It was a very sad period in our history, and there isn’t much we can do about it now. That’s the reality. It’s a football match;