'The Match' at Cannes asks if England v Argentina 1986 was the greatest | OneFootball

The 2026 World Cup will produce no shortage of drama. Yet it is unlikely any game will rival the England v Argentina quarter-final at the 1986 World Cup, the focus of The Match, a documentary co-directed by Juan Cabral and Santiago Franco that has just premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

According to El Periódico Mediterráneo, The Match sets that epic within a wider geopolitical frame, presenting it as payback for England’s 1966 triumph and, above all, as Argentina’s symbolic revenge after defeat in the Falklands War four years earlier.

Blending archive footage with first-hand recollections, the film hears from England’s Gary Lineker, John Barnes and Peter Shilton, and from Argentina’s Jorge Valdano, Oscar Ruggeri, Julio Olarticoechea and Jorge Burruchaga among others. It delivers nostalgia while packing enough anecdotes to hold even casual viewers.

Among the details are Argentina’s array of superstitions, including a secret ritual of burying sweets in the turf. There is the odyssey of Diego Maradona’s match shirt, long forgotten in an English attic before fetching more than seven million pounds at auction. And how manager Carlos Bilardo, a qualified doctor, sent aides into Mexico City markets 48 hours before kick-off to source breathable, lightweight shirts.

The Hand of God goal is revisited in a brief but meticulous sequence that concludes it was handball and should have been ruled out. Through such moments, The Match presents itself as historically pertinent, politically alert and joyously celebratory, restoring fresh relevance to the often repeated idea of sport’s healing and unifying power.

Source: El Periódico Mediterráneo