World Cup row takes another twist as nations accused of funding ‘anti-Argentina campaign’ | Football | Sport

Argentina president Javier Milei has accused two rival countries of funding an “anti-Argentina campaign”, without providing evidence. He made the remarks on Sunday, exactly a week after La Albiceleste were beaten by Spain in the World Cup final. An extra-time goal courtesy of Ferran Torres saw Argentina fall short in their efforts to defend the title they won in 2022.

Immedlately after the full-time whistle, midfielder Leandro Paredes attacked several Spain players as they celebrated their victory. The vast majority of the Argentina squad also turned their backs as La Roja lifted the iconic golden trophy. Those incidents, in addition to their aggressive and theatrical play during the tournament, led to widespread criticism of Argentina from across the football world.

He made the unsubstantiated claims during an interview with Radio Mitre and did not provide any evidence to back up his bizarre accusations.

Milei said: “Who put the most money into this anti-Argentina campaign? The Brazilian government. Twenty-five percent of the funding came from the Brazilian government. And then they lecture me about interference.”

He added that the “campaign” had also been “funded by Mexico, by the Democratic Party in the United States. Who are they? They are the progressive leaders who don’t want the ideas of freedom to succeed.”

Without offering a single shred of evidence to support his claims, Milei said the alleged attacks were taking place because “if the economy prospers and people are better off, they have a huge problem.”

Argentina’s defeat to Spain followed conspiracy theories that the World Cup was ‘fixed’ in their favour, something that has been strenuously denied by FIFA.

The ill-feeling was so intense that over 23 million people signed a petition to ban the four-time champions from the World Cup.

In a pointed response to the widespread criticism of his country on social media, Milei defended the national team in a series of Instagram posts.

One post read: “Do you have enemies? It means you once defended something. We defend Argentina.”

Another said: “The problem with Argentina is that we stand out. We don’t go unnoticed, people are jealous of us, and we’re good at almost everything.”