"Bigger than football: the dispute against England": Argentina's vice president calls the English "pirates"
Victoria Villarruel made a sharp statement ahead of the World Cup semifinal match against England. Scaloni called for not giving the match a political tone.
Argentina Vice President Victoria Villarruel issued a statement on social media platform X regarding the match against England ahead of the World Cup semi-final. Al Jazeera reported on this.
"We are playing against invaders, pirates. This is not just another game," she wrote.
Villarruel emphasized that the match against England holds not only sporting but also historical and political symbolic significance for Argentina.
"This is about the Malvinas Islands, this is about Diego, this is about Leo's last World Cup, and stopping the invaders," said the Vice President, referring to the late football legend Diego Maradona and national team captain Lionel Messi.
This statement comes against the backdrop of the ongoing territorial dispute over the Falkland Islands (called Malvinas in Argentina) in the South Atlantic. Villarruel's father participated in the 1982 war between Argentina and Great Britain over the Falkland Islands.
At the same time, Argentina national team head coach Lionel Scaloni called for not politicizing the match.
"This is just a simple football game. Mixing football with politics would be madness," he said.
Additionally, the Argentine Ministry of Security announced that flags and other symbolic items related to the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands are banned from being brought into the stadium in Atlanta, USA, where the semi-final will take place.
