Eight minutes at Wembley.

Argentina had gone home after the group stage in 1958 and 1962. In England, Juan Carlos Lorenzo's team returned to the last eight of the World Cup for the first time since the inaugural tournament.

Lorenzo returns

Juan Carlos Lorenzo took charge for a second time shortly before the tournament. He had coached Argentina at the 1962 World Cup, then returned about six weeks before the squad left for England. The short preparation included a European tour and repeated changes to the side.

The eventual team was built around experienced figures from the Buenos Aires clubs: Antonio Roma in goal, Silvio Marzolini and Roberto Perfumo in defense, Rattín in midfield, and Luis Artime at center forward. Rattín, Boca Juniors' captain, wore the armband for his country as well.

Three matches in Birmingham

Argentina played all three group matches at Villa Park. Artime scored twice in a 2–1 opening win over Spain. A scoreless draw with West Germany followed, then goals from Artime and Ermindo Onega defeated Switzerland 2–0. Argentina finished level with West Germany on five points and advanced in second place on goal average.

The record through the group was three matches unbeaten, five goals scored, and one conceded. First place would have sent Argentina to Sheffield to face Uruguay. Second place brought a trip to Wembley and a quarter-final against the host nation, which had yet to concede a goal.

The eleven at Wembley

Argentina started Roma; Perfumo, Marzolini, Roberto Ferreiro, and Rafael Albrecht; Rattín, Jorge Solari, Alberto González, and Onega; Oscar Más and Artime. Lorenzo's selection placed Rattín at the center of a compact midfield, with Más and Onega able to carry the ball toward Artime.

England brought Geoff Hurst into the side after Jimmy Greaves had suffered a leg injury during the group stage. Hurst had made his international debut only five months earlier. His place in the team would decide the quarter-final and, a week later, the World Cup final.

The 35th minute

West German referee Rudolf Kreitlein dismissed Rattín after 35 minutes. Accounts of the immediate cause differ. Kreitlein judged the captain's conduct serious enough for expulsion. Rattín later said that he had approached to request an interpreter and drew attention to his armband to identify himself as captain.

The two men could not speak to each other: Kreitlein knew no Spanish and Rattín knew no German. Rattín remained on the field while officials tried to communicate the decision. Play was held up for close to eight minutes before he finally walked off.

No colored card appeared. Referees still announced cautions and dismissals verbally in 1966, which left players, spectators, and sometimes team officials unsure about what had been decided. The enduring image of Rattín's expulsion predates the physical red card.

Ten men hold out

Argentina played the rest of the match with ten. Roma repeatedly kept England out, and the score remained 0–0 deep into the second half. In the 78th minute, Martin Peters crossed from the left and Hurst moved in front of his marker to head the ball inside the near post.

England protected the 1–0 lead and advanced. Argentina had conceded twice in four matches and lost only after playing most of the quarter-final a man short. England went on to beat Portugal in the semifinal and West Germany in the final.

Traffic lights

Ken Aston, a member of FIFA's refereeing committee, watched the confusion at Wembley. While driving through London afterward, the sequence of traffic lights suggested a system that crossed language barriers: yellow for caution and red for dismissal. FIFA approved the idea, and colored cards first appeared at a World Cup in Mexico in 1970.

The cards gave every player and spectator the same visible signal. Rattín became linked permanently to their origin, even though the referee who dismissed him had no card to show.

The grievance that remained

English and Argentine accounts preserved different memories of the day. In England, the refusal to leave became the central scene. In Argentina, the missing interpreter and the dismissal of the captain fed a lasting belief that the team had been denied a fair chance against the host.

The countries did not meet again at a World Cup for twenty years. By Mexico 1986, the Falklands War had added a recent national trauma to the football dispute. Rattín's walk across Wembley remained the first image recalled whenever the rivalry returned.