Argentina players display controversial Falklands banner after England match
Vice-president calls the English 'usurping pirates'
Argentina's players held up a banner reading "Las Malvinas son Argentinas" (The Falklands are Argentine) after they beat England 2-1 in their World Cup semi-final on Wednesday, sparking anger across the continent.
The match at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium was played against the backdrop of a lingering dispute over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, known in Spanish as the Malvinas, in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Argentina invaded the islands in 1982 but Britain regained them in a brief war after then prime minister Margaret Thatcher dispatched a naval taskforce.
The conflict ended with the deaths of 649 Argentines and 255 Britons.
After the team’s dramatic comeback victory in Atlanta, midfielder Giovani Lo Celso appeared on the field with a banner saying “The Malvinas are Argentine.”
Lo Celso held the banner, which appeared to have first been displayed by supporters in the crowd, with defender Nicolas Otamendi, only to then briefly put it away. He then laid it out on the pitch.
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 South American country's vice president, Victoria Villarruel, upped the stakes ahead of Wednesday's kick-off by calling the English "usurping pirates".
After Wednesday's victory, 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."
Fights broke out between the fans after full time and a number of arrests were made outside the stadium.