Despite the popularity of global superstar Lionel Messi, Argentina’s national football team is currently facing immense backlash online.
Their run to the semi-final of this year’s World Cup has come with several contentious decisions.
Fans have started an online petition, calling for the South American giants to be removed from the tournament altogether.
At the time of writing, the website’s own tracker states that over 9.3 million people have signed the petition.
Source: Argentina Out
The allegations claimed that the tournament is “biased” towards Lionel Messi and Argentina.
“Why should the rest of the world compete when the winner has already been decided?” it questions. “Kick Argentina out of the World Cup and give everyone else a fair chance.”
The reason it came to this conclusion was down to the supposedly questionable decisions received in Argentina’s favour during its match against Egypt.
Fans felt that Argentina was awarded an easy road through the tournament, had received many penalties, and that the referees had been lenient towards them.
Additionally, the site alleged that there had been multiple claims of Argentinian fans being racist.
In the round of 16 tie, Egypt squandered a two-goal lead as Argentina came out on top in an eye-catching 3-2 win.
What was supposed to be celebrated as an incredible comeback by the Argentinians, however, is now mired in controversy.
Egypt’s head coach Hossam Hassan had some damning words in an animated interview after the match.
“This was clearly a rigged match and the whole world saw it,” he said. “If they want Argentina to win so bad, why call everyone to come and participate?”
The controversy generated plenty of discussions online. One thread on Reddit was started for the sole purpose of trying to uncover the reasons why people have suddenly started to root against the Argentinians.
Argentina is scheduled to face England on 16 July at 3am SGT. With fans around the globe now wanting Argentina to lose, the English find themselves in a unique position of receiving unexpected support.
Also read: Argentina Fan Audrey Stclair goes viral at World Cup with over 60M views
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Featured image adapted from Argentina Out.