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BUENOS AIRES (AP) \u2014 After Argentina wins world cup<\/span> in qatar 2022<\/span>The president of the Argentine Football Association carried a replica of the trophy with him every time he appeared in public. He received a standing ovation.<\/p>\nClaudio Tapia<\/span> He had reason to consider himself part of the sporting achievement. AFA leaders gave inexperienced players a chance Lionel Scaloni<\/span> As national team coach, many say this move helped Argentina win their first World Cup in 36 years.<\/p>\nLa Albiceleste are currently preparing to defend their title. June to July,<\/span> Tapia finds himself at the center of a crisis that is rocking the country’s soccer world.<\/p>\nThe public mood has turned against him and the AFA due to corruption investigations, unpopular changes to the domestic football league, and a series of World Cup pre-games against lower-ranked opponents.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Tapia, 58, is confined to her home. power struggle<\/span> Discussions were held with Argentine President Javier Millay regarding the ownership structure of Argentine soccer clubs.<\/p>\nIn late March, Tapia was indicted on charges of tax evasion following Milay’s government complaint. Hours later, the president of the football federation was booed as he accepted the shield on the field before a friendly match between Argentina and Mauritania in Buenos Aires. <\/p>\n
National team players, including team captain and soccer icon Lionel Messi, are trying to distance themselves from the conflict as they prepare for the World Cup.<\/p>\n
“I want to make it clear that we are football players. We came here to play football,” midfielder Rodrigo de Paul said after a friendly against Zambia last month. “We’re not involved in politics and we don’t understand things like that.”<\/p>\n
Tapia has made it a habit to post photos of himself and Messi on social media before national team matches. Argentine soccer commentators have recently taken the lack of such photos as a sign of the distance between the AFA president and the team’s most famous player.<\/p>\n
Messi, who played in a friendly for his national team in March, left Buenos Aires without making any statements. <\/p>\n
Conflict between the football federation and the government<\/h2>\n
The long-standing feud between Mr. Millay and Mr. Tapia stems from the liberal president’s desire to privatize Argentina’s members-only soccer clubs, a move the AFA has resisted.<\/p>\n
Late last year, tax authorities filed charges against Tapia and other AFA executives for allegedly failing to pay 19 billion pesos (about $13 million) in social security contributions for 2024-2025. The court has launched a criminal investigation and formally indicted Tapia in March, which could result in a sentence of two to six years in prison.<\/p>\n
AFA deny the accusation<\/span> And Tapia claims to be the victim of a smear campaign.<\/p>\nTapia has also faced widespread criticism among soccer fans over reforms to the domestic soccer league, which critics say have more to do with strengthening Tapia’s inner strength than improving the quality of competition.<\/p>\n
After securing re-election in 2024, the year before his second term expires, he suspended relegation that season and expanded Argentina’s top league to 30 teams. Most of Europe’s top leagues have between 18 and 20 teams.<\/p>\n
Critics claim the new format has diluted the quality of the league.<\/p>\n
Osvaldo Santander, a 60-year-old San Lorenzo fan, said: “The schedule is terrible. And they don’t play against each other in a round-robin format all year round, so no one can really boast of being the strongest.”<\/p>\n
Tapia still enjoys the support of the leaders of most of Argentina’s football clubs, with the exception of River Plate and Estudiantes La Plata, who withdrew from the AFA Executive Committee. The situation is different at the stadium, where fans frequently hurl insults at the AFA president.<\/p>\n
Will this crisis affect Argentina’s performance at the World Cup?<\/h2>\n
Santander plans to travel to the United States with his son to support Argentina during the tournament. The trip cost about $12,000, an amount they saved up over four years.<\/p>\n
He hopes the players will not be affected by the crisis in Argentine football, “given that most of them play abroad and do not live the daily reality like us.”<\/p>\n
Some point out that Italy won the World Cup in 1982 and 2006 despite domestic leadership crises and corruption scandals.<\/p>\n
“Sometimes the relationship between the regime and soccer is logical, sometimes it’s not. Soccer is unusual in these respects, it’s a world of its own,” said Ezequiel Fern\u00e1ndez Mures, a columnist for La Naci\u00f3n newspaper and author of several books on Argentine sports.<\/p>\n
More decisive for La Albiceleste’s performance at the World Cup may be the dubious preparation of a friendly match against a second-division team that is not a European team, in order to gain greater commercial benefits for the AFA.<\/p>\n
Argentina has played teams far lower in the FIFA rankings, including Indonesia, Puerto Rico, Angola, Mauritania and Zambia. The final two warm-up games will be against Honduras and Iceland in June, but neither of them qualified for the tournament.<\/p>\n
De Paul, Messi’s teammate at Inter Miami, called for the team to come together ahead of the joint tournament between the United States, Canada and Mexico.<\/p>\n
“It’s hard to win, but it’s even harder to win twice,” he said. \u201cIf we want to protect what we have achieved, the whole country must come together.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP Soccer: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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