Alan Shearer says 28 years have passed since Argentina ended his World Cup dream at France '98, but the hurt has never gone. And with England set to meet Argentina again in Wednesday's semi-final in Atlanta at 20:00 BST, he believes this is the moment to settle old pain with a new result.
Shearer can still picture Argentina's players dancing and celebrating beside England as both teams waited to get on their buses after the last-16 tie. He said England fell on the wrong side of a penalty shootout and were going home, a finish that still feels raw because he was captain and believed England had an outstanding team.
That is why this semi-final carries so much weight for him. Shearer said England now have a chance to change their lives forever and are two wins away from immortality, with the Argentina match adding extra spice to a tie he called mouth-watering. He also pointed out that there is something special about facing Argentina at a World Cup, given the rivalry and the defeats in the quarter-finals in 1986 and in 1998.
He expects England to be part of the story, not just observers of it. Shearer said he definitely thinks England can win and that it does not really matter how, a view shaped by the memory of a match in Saint-Etienne that he still does not believe was won by the best team. That game, he said, included Michael Owen's goal, David Beckham's red card, Sol Campbell having a goal disallowed and England playing for 75 minutes with 10 men.
But the old anger sits alongside a newer worry. Shearer said he would not be surprised if there was another red card and said he is slightly concerned about where the refereeing will be at and how VAR might affect England. He said there has been a huge shift in the narrative around referees and VAR as the tournament has gone on, with some bizarre decisions already going Argentina's way. He singled out Egypt's disallowed goal in the last 16, saying it was astonishing because a foul at the other end of the pitch had been used to rule it out.
Wednesday's match will be watched with that history in mind, and so will the referee. The appointment of Ismail El Fath for the semifinal has only sharpened the focus on how much control he and VAR will have over a rivalry that already carries enough memory, grievance and meaning on its own. For Shearer, the demand is simple: no more controversy, and an England result strong enough to make the old hurt finally recede.
