The pantheon of heroes and villains awaits ahead of tonight's momentous clash, sports reporter Paul Coyte writes

England have only ever played Argentina 14 times in history.

It seems inconceivable that with the amount of football played these days that the last time was nearly 21 years ago.

It was a friendly, a term used lightly in this fixture, and England won 3-2.

When it comes to World Cup matches, every game has been memorable.

In 1966, England won 1-0 at Wembley with the late, or very late as the case was during this game, Argentine captain Antonio Rattin getting sent off and refusing to leave the pitch.

After the game Alf Ramsey called them “animals”, maybe a bit strong, and stopped any English players from swapping shirts (lucky for Steve Hodge, he wasn’t around in 1986, see below).

The dark arts were very much on display although to this day most Argentinians blamed a biased referee.

The Azteca stadium was next in 1986 with the infamous ‘Hand of God’ and one of the greatest goals ever seen by Diego Maradona.

What nobody ever mentions is that Argentina were hanging on at the end as John Barnes terrorised them after coming on as a substitute and very nearly got to extra time.

It was after that game whilst in for a drugs test alongside Maradona that plucky Steve Hodge asked for his shirt.

It stayed with him for the next 35 years, sometimes being shown from the plastic bag it lived in until it was sold at auction for £7.1million.

Worth the stick he took in the dressing room for getting it and maybe even for the cheated goal.

18-year-old Michael Owen’s brilliant goal, David Beckham’s petulant little kick out at Diego Simeone that resulted in a red card, the disallowed Sol Campbell Golden Goa,l then the loss on dreaded penalties.

Then redemption in Japan 2002 and a penalty given away by Mauricio Pochettino that David Beckham dispatched that ended up the only goal of the game.

Never have the stakes been higher though, a World Cup Final place awaits as does the pantheon of heroes and villains of one of football's least played yet greatest rivalries.