England has been called “invaders” and “usurping pirates” by Argentina’s vice-president in a bizarre rant ahead of the teams’ World Cup semi-final clash.
Political tensions linger between Argentina and Great Britain over the Falkland Islands, which boiled over into conflict in 1982.
Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said it would be “madness” to mix up sport and politics ahead of the match, but his country’s vice-president Victoria Villarruel stoked up the rhetoric around it in a post on X.
“Tomorrow we play against the usurping pirates,” the post began.
“This isn’t just another match. I’m not going to be politically correct or cold-hearted; against the English, it’s always something more.
“It’s the Malvinas, it’s Diego, it’s Leo’s last one, and it’s putting the brakes on the invaders. Go Argentina! Because until our last breath, we’re going to claim what’s ours!”
Las Malvinas is Argentina’s name for the Falklands, which in 2013 held a referendum where islanders voted overwhelmingly to remain a UK overseas territory.
A meeting involving the FBI, Fifa, and local police addressed the deep-seated historical animosity between the nations and potential fan escalations. Atlanta has deployed additional personnel for Wednesday’s semi-final in an effort to ensure safety and security.
Scaloni did his best to steer away from any geopolitical discussion in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
“It’s a football match; I can’t mix things up, out of respect for what happened so many years ago,” he said.
“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?”
Meanwhile in the UK, pubs are expecting to sell six million extra pints on Wednesday.
The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) said pubs would expect to sell eight million pints on an average Wednesday in July, so the extra six million equates to a 75 per cent increase.
BBPS chief executive Emma McClarkin said: “Thanks to the World Cup, we’ve seen millions of extra pints sold off the back of home nations matches.
“Given the nail-biting stakes, we expect Wednesday to be the most successful night of the tournament, with more than six million extra pints potentially sold – which is a bigger boost than we’d normally see on a bank holiday or New Year’s Eve.”
