Argentina players fly a banner about the Falklands after beating England (Image: Getty)
Argentina players broke FIFA rules just minutes after beating England in their World Cup semi-final by holding up a Falklands banner on the pitch. The reigning world champions launched another stunning comeback in North America having been 1-0 down with six minutes of normal time to go. Late goals from Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez cancelled out Anthony Gordon’s opener to set up a showdown with European champions Spain in New Jersey this Sunday.
But during their post-match celebrations, the South Americans were found to have flouted the rules of the world football governing body. FIFA have a clear stance that prohibits any political flags, slogans and symbols from being displayed inside stadiums. Earlier in the tournament, England flags bearing a Barrow AFC logo – which contains a submarine – were not allowed into grounds because they were considered political.
Yet Argentina could now face punishment for their actions after a banner read ‘Las Malvinas son Argentinas’ which references the 1982 Falklands War and translates to ‘The Malvinas (Falklands) are Argentine.’ The incident is expected to be reported to FIFA.
Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni had tried to ease pre-match tensions when he declared it “wrong” to make the match about the conflict. Tensions remain around the Falklands, and Argentina still disputes the sovereignty of the British overseas territory.
Their fans and players have regularly sung songs about the matter. But Scaloni, who led La Albiceleste to World Cup glory at Qatar 2022, said: “It’s a football match; I can’t mix things up, out of respect for what happened so many years ago.
“It was a very sad time in our history, and there isn’t much we can do about it. Mixing the two would be madness. We criticise that there was war. Of course people remember history and what happened. It is a game of football, we need to keep things separate.
“Yes, we remember Argentinian people and people that were lost in the war, but let’s not conflate things. What do the players of today have to do with many, many years ago? It was a sad time, we remember this, of course, but it would be quite wrong to put this into the game.”
By contrast, Argentina’s vice-president Victoria Villarruel stoked the fire by labelling England “usurping pirates” and “invaders”. She added: “Because until our last breath, we’re going to claim what’s ours!”
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Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso hold up the Argentina Falklands banner (Image: Getty)
Giovani Lo Celso laid the banner down on the pitch (Image: Getty)
And Scaloni’s words were not heeded after the final whistle. Tottenham defender Cristian Romero and midfielder Giovani Lo Celso held the banner up in front of the Argentina fans, before the latter – who also used to play for Spurs – laid it down on the pitch.
The incident caused anger online. And there were nasty scenes outside the Mercedes-Benz Stadium post-match too, with the police stepping in to stop some groups of England and Argentina fans fighting.
Despite the Argentine banner, the Falkland Islanders vote overwhelmingly to remain a UK overseas territory when they held a referendum in 2013. Chair of the Legislative Assembly said: “The Falkland Islands are a proud member of the British family and we will defend our status as an internally self-governing, financially self-sufficient British Overseas Territory.
“As a country we have to continually remind the international community that Falkland Islanders’ have the right to self-determination; that will was never more clearly exercised than in the referendum 10 years ago and must be respected by those who value democracy and freedom.
“The political status of the Islands is the decision of our people and not of our aggressive and hostile neighbour. I will never forget the feeling of pride over those two days when we had the world watching our Islands and our people so clearly expressed our wishes.
“A decade on, nothing has changed and the Falklands remain resolute in our allegiance to the United Kingdom and our determination to decide our own political future.”
Argentina look to become the first back-to-back World Cup winners since Brazil in 1962. The only other nation to retain the trophy were Italy in 1938. The holders take on Spain in Sunday’s final at the MetLife Stadium at 8pm UK time.
Meanwhile, England will take on France in the third-placed play-off in Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday night (10pm UK time).