Argentina players display Falklands banner after beating England

Agence France-Presse ·
TOPSHOT - Argentina's midfielder #11 Giovani Lo Celso adjusts a banner reading "The Malvinas (Falkland Islands) belong to Argentina," after winning the 2026 World Cup football tournament semi-final match between England and Argentina at the Atlanta Stadium in Atlanta on July 15, 2026.
JEWEL SAMAD / AFP / Getty

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.

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.

The South American country's vice president, Victoria Villarruel, upped the stakes ahead of Wednesday's kick-off by calling the English "usurping pirates".

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