\u201cI love playing against the English,\u201d Simeone told me in 2002 when he and his then-wife, Carolina, hosted me at their sumptuous Rome villa for an interview prior to that year\u2019s World Cup<\/a> clash between the two nations. \u201cEnglish football is always more open, aggressive and passionate. Whether you win or lose against English teams, you always feel it\u2019s been a proper contest. The first time I played against them was at Wembley in 1991 \u2026 \u201d At this point, Simeone rolled up his trouser leg and pointed to a scar on his shin. \u201cI\u2019ve still got a souvenir from Stuart Pearce from that day. Great game.\u201d<\/p>\n Diego Simeone on playing England: \u2018Whether you win or lose against English teams, you always feel it\u2019s been a proper contest.\u2019 Photograph: Popperfoto\/Getty Images<\/p>\n As for the famous clash in the last 16 in 1998<\/a>, it was the first World Cup game since Diego Maradona\u2019s hand of God in 1986<\/a> and again England were hoodwinked by Argentinian cunning, specifically Simeone\u2019s. He, though, remembered it principally as one of the great World Cup contests.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is the best international match I\u2019ve played in,\u201d said Simeone. \u201cThey [England] were incredible that night. Alan Shearer and Paul Ince were extraordinary. At times it seemed Shearer was fighting us on his own. You have to remember they played for 70 minutes with 10 men.\u201d<\/p>\n Simeone delivered the above line as though oblivious to the fact he was the main protagonist in that event. If not exactly repentant, he was a mite bashful about the world of pain he caused Beckham for his 47th-minute sending off. \u201cTen heroic Lions, one stupid boy\u201d was the Mirror\u2019s headline and an effigy of Beckham was hung from a noose outside a London pub.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s way over the top,\u201d said Simeone when I relayed the story. \u201cIt\u2019s not that it frightens me but it\u2019s a wakeup call for everyone, including journalists. You have to be careful.<\/p>\n Diego Simeone and David Beckham together at Argentina\u2019s match against Cape Verde in Miami. Photograph: DavidBeckham\/Instagram<\/p>\n \u201cIt was not just my fault. There\u2019s a ref involved, too. I guess David had a torrid few months after that. The press were putting all the blame on him. I don\u2019t think that was at all fair. He just made a mistake, an instinctive reaction.\u201d<\/p>\n It should be said Simeone and Beckham were pictured together in Miami for Argentina\u2019s game against Cape Verde<\/a>. \u201cBumped into an old friend\u201d wrote Beckham on Instagram.<\/p>\n While Argentina will always have Maradona\u2019s second goal from 1986, a goal of considerably more consequence and frequently adjudged the best ever, England do at least have Michael Owen\u2019s extraordinary run from the halfway line and finish to make it 2-1 in 1998.<\/p>\n Owen was only 18 at the time and in 2018 he met up with Glenn Hoddle, England manager that day, on the game\u2019s 20th anniversary. \u201cThere was no fear in him whatsoever,\u201d Hoddle told me. \u201cWhen Michael turns, runs and beats the first couple of players, I remember thinking: \u2018Bloody hell! He\u2019s clean through!\u2019 But [Argentine defender] Roberto Ayala was so deep, he was almost on the D of the penalty area and I hadn\u2019t seen him. But as soon as Ayala squared up to him, it was clear he didn\u2019t have a clue how much pace Michael had.\u201d<\/p>\n Owen concurred. \u201cBecks [Beckham] played the initial ball to me and one of their midfielders was only a couple of yards away from me. I just thought that, if I took a good touch, I could run past him and start an attack. It was only after the first touch, which I took in my stride, that I looked up and thought: \u2018Oh my God \u2013 there\u2019s a goal on here!\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cAs soon as I saw Ayala, who was isolated deeper, it was a case of making the best chance to shoot. You don\u2019t want to go too close to him and get tackled. You don\u2019t want to push it too flat and make the angle too hard. Then it was just about the finish.\u201d<\/p>\n An 18-year-old Michael Owen scores that goal against Argentina in 1998. Photograph: Ted Blackbrow\/Daily Mail\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n Simeone as much as admitted that Argentina hadn\u2019t done their homework on Owen, who had only made his England debut that year. \u201cHe was a shock to us,\u201d he said. \u201cHe was only 18 and we hadn\u2019t seen him play. It was a pleasant surprise for the fans [but] not for us.\u201d<\/p>\n As for the card shown by the Danish referee Kim Milton Nielsen, though it was hard to argue with in theory, the exaggeration of the impact made it hard to take. Hoddle recalled: \u201cI thought: \u2018Oh, here comes the yellow\u2019, but suddenly the red came out. And I\u2019m thinking: \u2018What on earth is going on here?\u2019 It was never in a million years a sending-off. Becks knows he did the wrong thing and that at that level they\u2019ll make it into something else, which they did. But you need strong refereeing.\u201d<\/p>\n In a separate interview later, Simeone conceded: \u201cSometimes you have to be a bit cunning and sometimes you play the fool. I happened to be the intelligent one. Beckham did nothing to me.\u201d<\/p>\n The drama continued with Sol Campbell heading home what looked to be an 81st-minute winner only for it to be disallowed for a Shearer challenge. The England team were celebrating in the corner while Argentina played on, attacking David Seaman\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n
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