I pity Argentina

It says: Alex Glover

First, wing defender Nahuel Molina passionately threw a fist into the chest of Spanish Captain Rodri, while he ran nearby celebrating in the last whistle. Then Armanina midfielder Leandro Paredes struck Spain's centrekeeper Eric García in the neck before hitting the substitute player Gavi in the face, while his fellow Arginas, Theago Almuda, threw the unfortunate boy to the ground. How indignant, it seems, the Argentina players felt, that their opponents celebrated victory in the finals.

The less fervent minds will remember that this happened only four days after Argentina's victory in the semifinals of the extra time to England, which they had celebrated without reason before their defeated opponents. Not to mention their parade of a banner with"The Falkland are silverite", for which FIFA has threatened to take action. Meanwhile, in Buenos Aires, fans burned St George's Cross, as well as a coffin wrapped with Union Jack.

Now is, clearly, a very embarrassing time to be a fan of Argentina.

On Saturday, in the northern town of Santiago del Estero, even the Argentina Road team was involved in the action, wearing football fans copies of the 1986 World Cup (year of God's""), before losing their match against England XV. Amazingly, the Argentinian coach of the street, Felipe Citepomi, later accused England's street players of <x2muge respect"for the loud celebration in the dressing room and hurried away from a nearby press conference.

So now is, clearly, a very embarrassing time to be a fan of Argentina. However, instead of punishing the Argentinians or grieving their loss, I suggest that they deserve our sympathy.

Because if there's ever been a place to win, there it is. Football offers Argentina a glimmer of hope, a glow of extinct national glory. After all, in the outbreak of World War I, Argentina was richer per capita than Germany and France, and twice as wealthy as Spain. It has long been a difficult economic situation.

No doubt that explains partly the passion of their team fans. Today, the silverish peso buys only about one sixth of U.S. dollars less than in 2022 (when a large number of supporters traveled to Qatar). However, this time they were still undaunted by the cost of participating in what has undoubtedly been the most expensive tournament yet, even if for many people that meant selling their cars and collecting debts to do so.

With their country's burden failing on their shoulders, is it any wonder that the players will do everything they can to win and act so dislikably when they fail? Even their admirable talisman, Lionel Messi, fell prey to such impulses last night, trying to exclude Spanish defender Marc Cucurela because he had partially covered his mouth while the pair was speaking (now potentially a violation of red card).

Argentina's football king - who has enlightened the game for 20 years and, even at 39 years of age, witnessed himself as one of the great stars of this tournament - found himself deprived of oxygen from Spain during a common performance. Was this face / that, like the sun, caused viewers to wink at? II fallen of Shakespeare.

Messy has great credit for taking this Argentina team to where it went. But his brave team friends also deserve commendation, not only for eliminating England's superstitions from the tournament.

Argentinaers deserve sympathy for another reason. Their 2026 World Cup competition is the story of how their team (with a long reputation for fraud) and fans (a reputation for arrogance), eventually turned Latin American supporters against them - and, after all, into the arms of the former colonial master, Spain.

Before the final, a global survey of 20,000 fans from the Spanish football picture Marca found that three out of five living in South America wanted Spain to beat Argentina. In North America (including Mexico's population of 130 million), more than seven out of ten benefited Spain.

A war of words had developed with Mexico, one of the three host countries. Mexican President Claudia Shanebaum was forced to respond to a statement by Argentinian journalist Eduardo Feinmann, who had said, “I hate Mexicans... The bell that Mexicans feel toward - and not just football - is real. They want to be like us, but they just don't have what we need to have”.

The Argentinan's reduced economic status and the persistent tendency to boast are well illustrated by a Mexican meme. In a photo, a young man in an Argentina uniform says: "There is no one like Argentina. We have three World Cups. We're definitely the best. "

A second photo finds he's standing next to a Mexican man sitting in a restaurant. The Mexican answers the Argentineans, which is apparently his waiter: “This is a beautiful story, champ. Congratulations. But please don't forget my food. ”

Meanwhile, an unwarranted racist element among the Argentineans - who tend to consider themselves Europeans in comparison with other Latin Americans - has stirred up the ire of their neighbors. After winning the 2024 American Cup, the players, including Enzo Fernández, sang a derogatory song dating back to the team's victory in the World Cup final to France two years ago:

They play for France, but their parents are from Angola. Their mother is from Cameroon, and their father is from Nigeria.

The Argentinans seem to have embraced their status as the opponent they all want to hate. An ad for the plant liquor Fernet-Brca, extremely popular in the country, showed a group of fans' trauma from different parts of the world who started singing to complain: “Others win and celebrate at peace”. But in Argentina, they just don't shut up. )

Perhaps after last night's rebuke and unilateral match, there will be a welcome period of silence by Argentina fans. But, on the other hand, maybe not.

Alex Glover is an independent journalist, former Daily Mail employee.