Argentina’s President Javier Millay accused the two rival countries of funding an “anti-Argentina campaign” without providing evidence. He made the remarks on Sunday, exactly a week after La Albiceleste lost to Spain in the World Cup final. Ferran Torres’ extra-time goal meant Argentina fell short in its efforts to defend the title it won in 2022.
Shortly after the final whistle, midfielder Leandro Paredes attacked several Spanish players celebrating the victory. When La Roja lifted the iconic golden trophy, the majority of Argentina’s national team also turned away. These incidents, along with aggressive and theatrical play during the tournament, led to widespread criticism of Argentina from across the football world.
He made unsubstantiated claims in an interview with Radio Miter and provided no evidence to support his bizarre accusations.
“Who put the most money into this anti-Argentine movement? The Brazilian government. 25 percent of the money came from the Brazilian government. And they’re lecturing me about interference,” Millay said.
He added that the “campaign” was “funded by the Democratic Party in Mexico and the United States. Who are they? They are progressive leaders who don’t want the idea of freedom to succeed.”
Millais offered no evidence to back up his claims, saying the alleged attacks were happening because “when you have a prosperous economy and people’s lives are better, you have big problems.”
Argentina’s loss to Spain followed a conspiracy theory that the World Cup was “settled” in Argentina’s favor, a claim FIFA vehemently denies.
The bad feeling was so strong that more than 23 million people signed a petition to expel the four-time champions from the World Cup.
In a sharp response to widespread criticism of her country on social media, Millais defended her national team in a series of Instagram posts.
One post read: “Do we have an enemy? That means we have defended something before. We will 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.”
