Diego Simeone - International Career

International Career

For the Argentine team, Simeone amassed 106 caps, the first coming in 1988.

Simeone won the 1991 and 1993 editions of the Copa América with Argentina. He played in the 1994, 1998 and 2002 World Cups. He was a member of the team that won the silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, as one of the three over-23 players allowed per squad. As a midfielder, Simeone scored 11 goals for his country, including one in the final of the 1992 Confederations Cup.

During the 1998 World Cup, England's David Beckham was sent off for kicking Simeone in retaliation for a foul (see also Argentina and England football rivalry). Simeone later admitted to simulating the injury from the kick, in order to get Beckham sent off. Sports Illustrated was critical of the Argentinians' theatrics in that incident, stating that Simeone first delivered a "heavy-handed challenge" on Beckham and then "fell like a ton of bricks" when Beckham retaliated. In the following match, against the Netherlands, Simeone was injured by a tackle from Arthur Numan during his team's defeat.

In the 2002 World Cup, his last, Argentina was eliminated in the group stage, which included a 1-0 loss to England where David Beckham converted a penalty.

Simeone once described his style as "holding a knife between his teeth". Simeone admitted to being "embarrassed" at having surpassed Diego Maradona as Argentina's most capped player (he has since been surpassed by Roberto Ayala and Javier Zanetti).