Argentina will take the field for Wednesday’s World Cup semi-final against England in Atlanta wearing their dark blue change strip, a choice freighted with four decades of footballing mythology. The Argentine Football Association (AFA) submitted a formal request to FIFA over the weekend, and while the final decision rests on the pre-match technical meeting that also determines the designated home team, officials in Buenos Aires and reports across Argentine media indicate the governing body is expected to grant permission. The current jersey, a black-based design with blue fileteado porteño detailing, was used only once before in this tournament, during a group-stage victory over Jordan.

The colour carries an almost talismanic weight for Argentines. In the 1986 quarter-final in Mexico City, Diego Maradona scored both the ‘Hand of God’ and the ‘Goal of the Century’ in a hastily acquired blue shirt, eliminating England 2-1 just four years after the Falklands War. Twelve years later, in Saint-Étienne, Argentina again wore blue and again knocked England out, this time on penalties after a 2-2 draw. By contrast, the two World Cup defeats to England—in 1966 and 2002—came while wearing the traditional white-and-sky-blue stripes. The symmetry has not been lost on a football public that treats the alternate strip as a historical good-luck charm.

For Lionel Messi, the match carries a more personal novelty. The 39-year-old captain, now in his fifth World Cup, has never faced England at any level. A red card on his international debut in 2005 ruled him out of the only subsequent meeting between the sides, a friendly in Geneva that England won 3-2. “I’ve played against everyone except England,” Messi told reporters after the quarter-final win over Switzerland. “It’s special because they are a great team, a powerhouse, and it’s always nice to play a match like this, especially in a World Cup semi-final.” He enters the contest as the tournament’s joint top scorer with eight goals.

The broader rivalry tilts England’s way in World Cup head-to-heads: three wins to Argentina’s one, plus a draw that Argentina won on penalties. Yet the South Americans have prevailed in the two knockout ties that matter most to collective memory. Both sides reached this stage after extra-time victories—Argentina 3-1 over Switzerland, England 2-1 over Norway—and both coaches have publicly sought to drain the fixture of political overtones. Lionel Scaloni, like Carlos Bilardo before him, described it as “just a football match,” a framing that has done little to dampen the anticipation in either country.

The winner will advance to the final on 19 July, where they will face either Spain or France. For Argentina, the blue jersey is more than a sartorial preference; it is a deliberate reach into a past that still shapes the emotional landscape of their football. Whether it can influence the present will be decided over 90 minutes, or more, in Atlanta.