Argentina fans in Buenos Aires celebrated their World Cup victory over England by burning the national flag and carrying a Union Jack-draped coffin through the city streets.
Wednesday night’s clash reignited a rivalry that had been dormant for 20 years, but the world champions continued their journey to their fourth World Cup with English hearts broken – and they couldn’t be happier.
Argentina won more competitions in 1986 and 1998 by scoring in stoppage time to defeat the Three Lions. Anthony Gordon gave England the lead in the second half before Lautaro Martinez scored the winning goal to take the hosts home.
The grudge match had strong political motives, with the Falklands War still a source of anger among South Americans. Their players refer to this rule regularly during the tournament, and the Argentinians were overjoyed by their victory over England.
Fans were photographed burning England flags during celebrations in the capital, and a coffin draped in a Union Jack was also carried out as thousands took to the streets.
England manager Thomas Tuchel has dealt with heavy criticism of his tactics, particularly the Three Lions’ lead. They adopted a much more defensive approach and his changes led him to bring in more defenders to assess the game.
Lionel Messi became increasingly influential, continuing to close in on the England goal after Enzo Fernandes equalized in the 85th minute, and scored the winning goal in stoppage time.
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner is aiming for a second World Cup to further cement his iconic legacy and mentioned the people of Argentina who are enduring difficult circumstances, but hoped this would give them a sense of joy.
A coffin was burned as part of celebrations in Buenos Aires (Image: JamPress)
Argentina added 2026 to its 1986 and 1998 World Cup scalps (Image: JamPress)
“We are proud and happy to be able to offer this to people. We know that the World Cup is special to us,” he said. “We forget all the bad things we have to go through. There are people who are struggling, people who don’t have jobs, people who don’t have a livelihood. That’s our life and what we’ve always had to deal with. It’s great to be able to give them this joy.”
“We Argentines always want more. If we had lost to England today, there would have been people who would have said something stupid and we didn’t give them a chance…We knew we were better than them in football, but it’s still special considering everything it means.”
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