DOWNING Street has backed calls for Fifa to investigate Argentina after players waved a political banner at the World Cup.
Players on the Argentine side held up a sign reading “Las Malvinas son Argentinas” after their semi-final match against England.
Downing Street has backed calls for Argentina to be hit with a punishment for celebrating with a Falklands banner Credit: Getty
The banner was held up by fans in the stand before the players held it up Credit: Reuters
The writing translates to “The Falklands are Argentine”, a political statement that could see the team fined.
Midfielder Leandro Paredes went on to tell a reporter in a post-match interview that the Falklands “will always be Argentine.”
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Downing Street retorted today, telling the Argentinian side, that the Falklands are “definitely ours.”
The Falkland Islands is a British overseas territory in the south-west Atlantic Ocean 300 miles off Argentina’s east coast.
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Britain has had control of the islands since winning a bitter war to defend them from Buenos Aires in 1982, after Argentina invaded and occupied the territory.
The conflict claimed the lives of 255 UK servicemen, three islanders, and 649 Argentine personnel.
Argentina has refused to accept Britain’s ownership of the Falklands ever since.
No 10 echoed remarks made earlier by Business Secretary Peter Kyle that the governing body should “thoroughly” probe the behaviour of the defending champions after they beat England 2-1 in Wednesday’s match in Atlanta.
A statement from the government on the controversy read: “The World Cup might not be ours, but the Falkland Islands definitely are.”
Fifa already slapped Argentina with a £20,000 fine in 2014 for holding up a banner with the same message before a friendly against Slovenia.
The South Americans, who face Spain in Jattvibeday’s World Cup final hoping to retain their title, may expect more financial punishment for this latest offence.
Football’s world governing body had banned flags featuring the Falklands from the stadium due to their political significance.
After Argentina’s victory, vice-president Victoria Villarruel posted on X that “it wasn’t another match” alongside a video of what seemed to be Argentine soldiers.
She wrote: “The Falklands are Argentine. They banned bringing them to the stadium and forgot that we carry them in our blood and our hearts.”
The vice-president had inflamed tensions in the build-up to the semi-final by calling England “usurping pirates”.
