LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Defending champion Argentina will face England in a World Cup semifinal Wednesday in Atlanta with free watch parties planned throughout Los Angeles County.

The Argentines advanced to the semifinals for the second time in three tournaments and seventh time in their 19 World Cup appearances with a 3-1 victory over Switzerland Saturday in a quarterfinal in Kansas City, Missouri.

Argentina has never lost a World Cup semifinal.

England advanced to the semifinals for the first time since 1990 with a 2-1 victory over Norway in extra time Saturday in a quarterfinal in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Lionel Messi of Argentina shares the tournament goal-scoring lead with France's Kylian Mbappé. Both have eight.

English teammates Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane are tied for fourth with six goals each.

Argentina's roster consists of seven players who play on club teams in Spain, six in England, four in France, two in Argentina, Italy and Major League Soccer -- Messii and his Inter Miami FC teammate Rodrigo De Paul -- and one each in Brazil, Germany and Portugal

The Three Lions' roster consists of 21 players who play on club teams in England, two each on teams in Germany and Spain and one in Saudi Arabia.

Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and England defender Ezri Konsa, midfielder Morgan Rogers and forward Ollie Watkins are teammates with the English Premier League club Aston Villa.

English defenders Trevoh Chalobah and Reece James and Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernández are teammates with Chelsea of the EPL.

Argentina defender Lisandro Martínez and England midfielder Kobbie Mainoo are teammates with Manchester United of the EPL.

English defender Djed Spence and Argentine defender Cristian Romero are teammates with Tottenham Hotspur of the EPL.

Argentina is third in the unofficial rankings released after the completion of Tuesday's France-Spain semifinal by FIFA, soccer's global governing body. England is ranked fourth.

The ranking is considered unofficial until all matches are approved as international `A' matches. The latest official ranking was released June 11, the day the World Cup began.

The Opta supercomputer gives England a 52.53% chance of advancing to the final based on 10,000 pre-match simulations, Argentina a 47.43% chance.

The match is set to begin at noon Pacific Daylight Time in Atlanta. It will be televised in English by Fox and in Spanish by Telemundo.

The winner will advance to Sunday's final in East Rutherford, New Jersey against Spain, a 2-0 winner over France, Tuesday in a semifinal in Arlington, Texas.

The loser will face France in the third-place match Saturday in Miami Gardens.

This will be the sixth time the combatants in the 1982 Falklands War will meet in the World Cup. England won the first two, both 1-0, Argentina the next two, with the second coming in a penalty shootout, and England winning the most recent meeting.

England's 1-0 victory in a 1966 quarterfinal is known in Argentina as "the theft of the century" for the ejection of captain Antonio Rattín after receiving his second caution of the game.

According to the website of the FIFA Museum, West German referee Rudolf Kreitlein cautioned Rattín, two teammates and the English brothers Bobby and Jack Charlton.

"Legend has it that the Charlton brothers only learned of their cautions the next day -- from the newspaper," according to the museum. "These warnings, but also expulsions, were only given orally and the brothers had simply not heard theirs."

In the 35th minute, Rattín received his second caution after running from behind and shouting aggressively at Kreitlein.

"For Kreitlein this was a clear offense, a point he made after the game," according to the museum. "However, he also admitted that he did not understand a word of Spanish. Rattín's side of the story was that he simply wanted to speak to the referee and that he did not understand that he was being sent off due to the language barrier, so he refused to leave the pitch."

Rattín did not leave the field for almost 10 minutes until police officers led Rattín off the field.

Englishman Ken Aston, FIFA's chief refereeing instructor, watched the England-Argentina match from the sidelines. The incident involving Rattín and Kreitlein convinced him that verbal bookings were no longer sufficient and had to be replaced by a visible penalty.

The next day, Aston told Kreitlein how he was stopped by a few traffic lights after the match inspiring him to transfer this system to soccer. "Yellow, take it easy; red, stop, you're off," was how Aston described the formula, which he then presented to the FIFA Executive Committee, according to the museum.

The idea was quickly met with approval and adopted for the 1970 World Cup.

The teams next met in the World Cup in 1986, with Diego Maradona scoring both goals in Argentina's 2-1 quarterfinal victory, punching the ball into the net for the second goal, which he dubbed after the game "the `Hand of God goal."'

In their 1998 round of 16 meeting, David Beckham was fouled by Diego Simeone and as Simeone stood up, he rubbed his knuckles against the back of Beckham's head as Beckham lay face-down on the field.

Lying on the ground, Beckham swung his leg at Simeone, after which Simeone fell over, and Beckham received a red card in the 47th minute and the score tied, 2-2.

Neither team scored again. Argentina won the penalty shootout, 4-3.

The British national daily tabloid newspaper the Daily Mirror the following day described the England team as: "10 Heroic Lions, One Stupid Boy."

In a 2002 group stage match, Beckham scored on a penalty kick to give England a 1-0 victory.

Free watch parties will be held at the Jackie Tatum Harvard Recreation Center in South Los Angeles, Venice Beach Recreation Center and the Los Angeles Central Library's Taper Auditorium as part of the Kick It In the Park program organized by various city of Los Angeles departments that also include youth soccer clinics, neighborhood programming and community resources.

More information is available at kickit.lacity.gov.

Free watch parties will also be held at the Grand Central Market in downtown Los Angeles; south of the Hermosa Beach Pier in Hermosa Beach; Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica; and the Hammer Museum in Westwood.

The John Kobylt Show

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