Argentina and England will take to the field in a FIFA World Cup semi-final on Wednesday night. Ahead of this eagerly anticipated match, the colours of the two teams’ jerseys have sparked a new debate.
England’s home jersey is white, and Argentina’s traditional jersey is sky-blue and white. The dominance of white in both kits could cause confusion for players and spectators on the field.
Representatives from the Argentine Football Association (AFA), the Football Association (FA) and FIFA are scheduled to meet today to finalise which team will wear which jersey, along with other match-related logistics.
Under FIFA rules, the team positioned higher in the bracket in the knockout stage is designated as Team A. In this case, that team is England. If England choose to wear their white home jersey, Argentina will be required to play in their blue away kit.
There is, however, another possibility. England could opt to wear their red away jersey, in which case Argentina would play in their traditional sky-blue and white strip.
Should Argentina wear their blue away jersey, it would evoke powerful memories of the 1986 World Cup. In the iconic quarter-final in Mexico, Argentina beat England 2-1, with Diego Maradona wearing the blue jersey on the day the Hand of God goal and the Goal of the Century were scored.
England have worn their white home jersey in five of their six matches at this year’s World Cup. The only occasion they wore red was against Panama, as Panama’s kit was also red.
Argentina, meanwhile, have only worn their blue away kit once at this tournament — against Jordan, when Lionel Scaloni’s side were required to change because of a colour clash with Jordan’s white jersey.
Whether Messi takes to the field in the famous sky-blue and white or in the blue reminiscent of 1986 will be confirmed at the conclusion of today’s meeting.
