ATLANTA — Argentina risked the prospect of disciplinary action after players held up a political banner declaring “Las Malvinas Son Argentinas” (“The Falklands are Argentinian”) after their 2-1 World Cup semifinal victory over England, in apparent contravention of FIFA rules.FIFA’s Stadium Code of Conduct bans “banners, flags, flyers, apparel and other paraphernalia that are of a political, offensive, and/or discriminatory nature” inside stadiums.The defending world champions produced a dramatic late comeback in Atlanta, scoring twice to defeat Thomas Tuchel’s side 2-1 and book a showdown with Spain in Sunday’s final.After the final whistle, Argentina players celebrated while holding a banner reading “Las Malvinas son Argentinas”, which translates as “The Falklands are Argentine”.Lisandro Martinez and Giovani Lo Celso held up the banner, grinning, and waved to fans in the stands. It was unclear where the banner had come from.The Falkland Islands, a British overseas territory in the south-west Atlantic Ocean, remain the subject of a sovereignty dispute between Britain and Argentina.The two nations went to war over the group of islands, situated 300 miles off Argentina’s east coast, from April to June 1982.The 74-day conflict led to the deaths of 655 Argentine and 255 British servicemen. Three people from the islands also died.In 2014, FIFA fined the Argentine Football Association £20,000 after its players held up a banner with the same message before a friendly against Slovenia.World football’s governing body said the gesture had breached rules on political action and team misconduct.After Wednesday’s victory, Argentina vice president Victoria Villarruel posted on X, external, writing “it wasn’t just another match” alongside a video of what appeared to be Argentine soldiers.”The Falklands are Argentine,” Villarruel posted. “They banned bringing them to the stadium and forgot that we carry them in our blood and our hearts.”In the build-up to the game, Villarruel had said the semifinal was “about putting the invaders in their place”.Argentina players also sang chants which referenced the Falklands and Argentina greats Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi following their dramatic 3-2 win over Egypt in the last 16.However, before the semifinal, manager Lionel Scaloni had said he was “not going to mix” football and politics.”The reality is that this is a football match. I can’t mix things up, especially out of respect for what happened so many years ago,” Scaloni had said.”It was a very sad period in our history, and there isn’t much we can do about it, that’s the reality.”Things are happening elsewhere in the world, and we criticise the existence of war. We certainly remember those people, of course. But it is a football match — we shouldn’t confuse the two.”The semifinal, which England lost to late goals from Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez, was held under increased security measures because of the historical tensions between the two nations.Argentina has long claimed it inherited the islands from Spain after its independence in 1816 and that Britain took control in 1833 through an illegal colonial act.It is not the first time the question of political banners has come up during the World Cup. Last month in Los Angeles, Iranian Americans waved pre-revolutionary flags that are symbols of protest against the Tehran government when Iran played. Those matches proceeded without incident.
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