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What a fun World Cup this has been… If only FIFA and Argentina hadn’t ruined the whole thing.
It’s a sentiment shared by many online, who believe that this year’s tournament has brought the culture of football further into disrepute – whether it’s the exorbitant ticket prices, the controversial “hydration breaks”, the Trump-Infantino relationship leading to the infamous red card scandal, some dubious refereeing and allegations of favouritism… The list goes on, and went on up until the final, in which Spain defeated Argentina 1-0 in extra time.
Indeed, FIFA has confirmed that Argentina will face an investigation regarding altercations with Spain players, with players like Nahuel Molina, Leandro Paredes and Thiago Almada appearing to be involved, as well as assistant coach Roberto Ayala.
Molina appeared to throw a punch at Spain’s captain Rodri as he ran past him, while Paredes clashed with Spain’s Eric Garcia.
Faced with these pathetic scenes, FIFA’s disciplinary committee has appointed an ethics prosecutor to assess what happened.
The actions of the Argentinian team could be judged as “violating the basic rules of decent conduct” and “behaving in a way that brings the sport of football and/or Fifa into disrepute”.
This has been a long time coming, as supporting Argentina during the World Cup became increasingly problematic as the competition progressed. The team and their fans went viral for all the wrong reasons – be it racist chants, some questionable calls during the quarter-final game against Egypt which seemed to suggest favouritism, a banner that read “Las Malvinas son Argentinas” (“The Falklands are Argentine”) during their post-semifinal celebration against England – to name but a few.
The conspiracy theory that the World Cup was rigged in Argentina’s favour gained much traction online, with many expressing their “disgust” and anger through AI-generated videos and photos.
