US referee chosen for England v Argentina as World Cup over for British officials

No ref has yet been chosen for Sunday’s final, which will see the winner of England v Argentina play Spain, who beat France on Tuesday.

For obvious reasons, this means that the referee chosen cannot be Spanish or of the nationality of the other country in the final.

But Michael Oliver will be unable to officiate even if it is an Argentina v Spain clash, despite having overseen four games so far - the joint most of any ref. He has dished out 17 yellow cards in that time, the highest of any official.

Anthony Taylor, who has officiated three matches, will also be blocked - meaning that both of their World Cup journeys have finished.

This is because English referees cannot oversee any match involving Argentina due to the hostility between the nations after the Falklands War of 1982.

The rule goes both ways, and Argentine referee Facundo Tello cannot take part in either the third-place play-off or the final.

Ismail Elfath will oversee the England v Argentina match on Wednesday, and he has proved a good luck charm for Lionel Messi, who has twice won a Major League Soccer title when the American referee has been officiating.

The Falklands War continues to be a sensitive topic, with Argentina’s foreign secretary last week stating his desire for Buenos Aires to take control of the islands. Football fans have often sung about the islands.

British foreign secretary Yvette Cooper told LBC that British sovereignty will not end, as she urged those involved to focus on football alone.

"I know there's a lot of focus suddenly on all of these things again because of the football match, but actually we should concentrate on the football match,” she said.

Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni said: “It’s a football match; I can’t mix things up, out of respect for what happened so many years ago.”