NEWYou can now listen to Pakinomist articles!
Lionel Messi has a message for Argentina’s opponents: “Nothing was given to us.”
The Argentine superstar hit back at critics who have slammed the reigning World Cup champions over perceptions of beneficial officiating and favoritism by the football establishment. He said the team’s ability to overturn deficits in late games, most recently the semi-final win over England, is the result of Championship pedigree and nothing more.
After trailing 1-0 in the 85th minute, Argentina rallied for a 2-1 win over England on Wednesday to reach the World Cup final.
The victory prompted tens of thousands to flood the streets of Buenos Aires in ecstatic celebrations and marked another remarkable comeback that showed the resilience of a team that is now one win away from back-to-back titles. Argentina will face Spain in Sunday’s final.
Argentina earlier survived beating Cape Verde and Switzerland in extra time and rallied for an unlikely 3-2 win over Egypt after coming back from 2-0 down with 11 minutes of regulation time. But both the Swiss and Egyptian coaches criticized the refereeing. Egypt’s Hossam Hassan went so far as to say his team was the victim of a football business that favored Messi and Argentina.
The comments sparked criticism sparked by fans claiming the FIFA group favored La Albiceleste and unsubstantiated claims on social media claiming football’s governing body want Argentina to be World Cup champions again.
“We have been the best for the last four years, whether you like it or not and regardless of what anyone says,” Messi said after the win over England.
“Once again we have established ourselves among the two best teams in the world. It proves that everything we have done is not by chance and that nothing has been given to us.”
The match against Switzerland sparked a call that infuriated those who believe Argentina have been favored by World Cup officials.
The Swiss had just equalized at 1-1 after Dan Ndoye’s goal in the 67th minute when Leandro Paredes was shown a yellow card for a tackle on Breel Embolo. But video showed the Swiss player fell before the Argentine midfielder made contact with him and when Embolo was booked earlier in the game, he was sent off and Switzerland were reduced to a 10-man defence.
“We were penalized because of a rule which, in my opinion, is completely unacceptable,” Swiss coach Murat Yakin said after the match. “It’s very painful that we were eliminated like that. I don’t think we deserve it today and in my opinion my boys are the real heroes.”
Meanwhile, the Egyptian Football Association had said it “cannot remain silent” after what it believed was unfair and biased refereeing in Egypt’s loss to Argentina.
Argentina’s team had not acknowledged the complaints against referees and FIFA. In previous press conferences, Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni had even advised journalists who asked about the matter to “not consume so much social media.”
But after the victory over England, the reigning champions fought back.
“To reach two consecutive World Cup finals is something very few achieve and this group did it,” Messi said. “If we had lost to England there would have been people coming out to spout nonsense but we didn’t give them the chance.”
Wednesday’s semi-final was the latest chapter in a long-running feud that has transcended the field to include British control of the disputed Falkland Islands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas and claims as its sovereign territory.
The British government on Thursday called on FIFA to investigate Argentina’s team after players celebrating their win over England posed with a fan-supplied banner reading “Las Malvinas son Argentinas” – “The Malvinas are Argentines.”
Enzo Fernandez admitted his goal celebration, which leveled the score at 1-1, was aimed at Argentina’s critics. The Chelsea midfielder first put his hands over his ears, a gesture interpreted in football as a challenge to critics. Then he opened and closed his fingers as if urging them to keep talking.
“There was a lot of talk; it was a mixture of euphoria and frustration,” Fernandez said.
Scaloni, for his part, stated in the post-semi-final press conference that “this talk of ‘help’ will always be there; it doesn’t bother me.”
“With VAR today, it’s very difficult to get help; it should be obvious. We knew there was no help.”
Report from the Associated Press.
