The IMF says the law discourages investment (bankers won't back an IMF plan if they might be jailed). A quick end to uncomfortable investigations is also what it looks like. To many Argentines it all just serves as proof that the empire ­ whichever one it happens to be ­ has won again, and that empires only abide by the rules when it suits them. Which brings us back to football.Fortunately for Argentina ­ and for the game it worships ­ it is really Maradona's second goal in the 1986 match against England ­ the one he scored after beating five England players in a spectacular run from the halfway line ­ that is celebrated by his compatriots."The popular mythology goes like this," explains Hernan Brienza. "After avenging the historical slight with the goal with the hand, we showed ourselves to be superior in football too, sticking in their faces the best goal in the history of the World Cup.

For us the second goal is by far and away the more important and emotive goal."Argentina's chaos and corruption is, of course, close to the heart of their passionate anti-Englishness. Arguably, they resent the English because they are ashamed of themselves; of the fact that, despite their huge wealth of natural resources, they are mired in economic desperation. They ought to be one of the world's most prosperous countries, and they are anything but. In the words of the Argentine sociologist Professor Alberto Quevedo: "We're sitting on a chest of gold that we cannot open. How can it be that this is not a great country? This is a culture of frustration." The only outlet for that frustration at the moment is through asserting ­ through sport ­ Argentina's superiority over the English.It is a sporting commonplace that, other things being equal, victory in any contest will go to the side that wants it most. If that applies tomorrow, it is hard to imagine any outcome but a victory for Argentina..

Since the days of samurai and shogunates, Japanese society has lived by a series of moral codes. Often incomprehensible to outsiders, and sometimes taken to unacceptable extremes, they still influence everyday life. In football, the need to show respect to elders meant that Philippe Troussier, the Japan coach, had to overcome players' desires to pass to older team-mates before younger ones. Yesterday, as they discussed tomorrow's World Cup tie with Argentina in Sapporo, England's footballers gave an insight into their honour code and the way it is evolving.Part of their motivation tomorrow stems from the way that Argentina broke the code four years ago. Many would assume this to be the way in which Diego Simeone provoked David Beckham into kicking him, then conned the referee, Kim Milton Nielsen, into believing the blow was serious.Far from it Beckham has forgiven Simeone. He revealed, after training at Tsuna yesterday, that the Internazionale shirt that Simeone gave him after the 1999 Champions' League tie at Old Trafford now hangs in his snooker room."It is not next to the dartboard," said Beckham, "it is in pride of place We've shaken hands I've forgiven him.