Politics Gatecrashes Argentina-England World Cup Semi-Final

Latin America Correspondent Jon Bonfiglio speaks to Carole Walker for Times Radio. 

Transcript

Carole Walker 0:00

Uh just on that point then, um stay with us, Matthew, um, because we can speak to John Bonfiglio, uh Latin America correspondent, um, on just that point. Good evening to you, John. Hey, Carol. I'm really good to have you with us. So, I mean, look, uh, Argentina through to the final of the World Cup, but I'm looking at that um banner held up by some of the Argentine players. Las Malvinas son Argentinas. Um I mean, I don't think they were supposed to do that sort of thing at a World Cup match.

Jon Bonfiglio 0:33

No, they're not supposed to at all. I mean, it's it's expressly prohibited, of course, to bring political symbols or signs into uh into any aspect of the of the World Cup or FIFA events, but for Argentina, like it or not, the issue of the Falklands uh is inextricable from uh from anything to do with England and anything to do with playing England on the uh on the football pitch. And um look, I think for for for um Argentina, this World Cup, there's been a kind of a religious fervor to uh to to their play, to their s to their narrative, which which links in specifically to the Falklands, it links in specifically to Diego Armando Maradona uh and his no longer being uh around, and of course, 1986, what happened against England in 1986, and um and defeating England is a kind of key part of that narrative, the perceived narrative of Argentina going on to win the World Cup and bringing uh coming to a sort of full circle of an Argentine national narrative.

Carole Walker 1:29

Yeah, and I mean we we've seen senior politicians in Argentina really ratcheting up that whole issue over uh Las Malvinas, as they call it, and Argentina's claim uh on the Falkland Islands in just the last couple of days.

Jon Bonfiglio 1:46

Yeah, and clearly Argentine politicians see an opportunity here, an opportunity not just with the national fervor that this is whipping up, but also the fact that this is a tournament, a finals, which is taking place in the United States of America, and the fact that Argentina has never been as close to the USA, and very specifically this Trump administration with its uh anarcho-libertarian president, uh Argentine president Javier Millet, to be able to push that particular uh button. And it's a point that Donald Trump is relatively receptive to. So that there's a kind of that there's a perception of a window of pot of opportunity that sport is actually providing and allowing for leverage of.

Carole Walker 2:22

Yeah, I mean it's fascinating that. And um I mean, a couple of the uh players in the Argentina side, including Martinez who scored that uh the second goal that clinched the victory. Oh, I'm sorry, it was a different Martinez, another Martinez who's in the team, um uh plays for uh an English club, Man United.

Jon Bonfiglio 2:42

Yeah, well it's it's you're right. There's a number of Martinez in the in the Argentine um just to confuse us all. It's really interesting because, for example, another um Argentine player, midfielder Alexis McAllister, who plays for Liverpool, just in the last couple of days, his mother, who lives in England with with the family, has had to say that she will not join in anti-English chance, that the English that England has been very good to her, and the very fact that she's had to sort of um deny that right, if you like to behave in what is perceived to be a sort of a standard Argentine patriotic way, which of course means anti-English way, is pretty staggering.

Carole Walker 3:20

And tell us a bit more about the reaction that there's been there in Argentina to tonight's victory. Um clearly they they they've got the final looming now against Spain. Um but tell us a bit more about the reaction to the result over England tonight.

Jon Bonfiglio 3:38

Yeah, of course. And and I'm and I I don't want to sort of say or convey that the final is not important for Argentina and Argentines, but actually this victory over England is almost uh as important as the the winning of the World Cup itself, if not a sort of a step towards that, that um holy crap. Well, look, what we're seeing now, of course, is thousands of ecstatic supporters that have completely taken over the central streets of uh of Buenos Aires, and and that's going to go on long into uh into the night. By tomorrow morning in the UK, we're gonna be seeing sort of frenzied scenes and photographs and video of what's taken place with tens of I mean, at the moment, tens of thousands of supporters, but that could actually increase into the hundreds of thousands.

Carole Walker 4:17

Um, great to speak to you. Uh John Bonfilio. Um