60 years from ''66: England 1-0 Argentina

Sir Geoff Hurst has been speaking about his breakthrough moment at the FIFA World Cup of 1966, which came against Argentina in the quarter-final at Wembley.

It was 60 years ago today that the match took place and it’s a game which is still spoken about to this day.

For Hurst, it was his first opportunity in Sir Alf Ramsey’s team following an injury to Jimmy Greaves in the final group game against France.

And he was thrust into the thick of the action as the Three Lions came up against their toughest test yet against the South Americans, who were reduced to ten players following the second off of captain Antonio Rattin in the first half.

“I would say that was probably the toughest, most physical game that we were going to get,” revealed Hurst, who was speaking at Wembley Stadium recently as part of the 60-year commemoration of our last senior World Cup victory.

“I still go back 60 years and say the most memorable and physical game we had to encounter was certainly Argentina in that quarter-final, without a shadow of a doubt.

“They had some good players, they were physically very tough, much more so than the other half a dozen countries we played against.”

Having made the breakthrough into senior football with West Ham United in the top flight, Hurst was used to the physical nature of the English game at that time.

But he admits that what the Three Lions came up against that day was an entirely new approach to all of the players.

“It was quite something, is a good way of putting it,” revealed Hurst.

“It wasn’t just tackling, there was a bit of fighting, punching and spitting that went on in the game which we hadn’t seen before.

“I didn’t see much of that myself, but George Cohen recounted that kind of aspect on top of the game at the time.”

And of course, it was Hurst’s goal in the second half which won the game, to set up a semi-final against Portugal.

“I remember the header, and I do jokingly say that when I came on I made an impact in the finals,” he added.

“I scored the winner in the quarter-finals, made the winner in the semi-finals and scored a hat-trick in the final!”