After Argentina’s loss to Spain in the World Cup final sparked a wave of questions and conspiracy theories about the team, the Argentine Football Association (AFA) has now responded. In a video released to mark one month since the final, AFA president Claudio Tapia spoke out. He said clearly that nothing suspicious happened on the pitch — rather, the team fought with everything it had for the title.
Spain beat Argentina 1-0 in last month’s final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey to win the title. After the match, various questions arose on social media about Argentina’s performance, the players’ conduct, and the atmosphere in the dressing room. That is where the “conspiracy theory” originated. From social media to several mainstream news outlets, many outlets ran with the idea that “something happened” within the Argentina squad during the final.
To mark one month since the final, AFA released a video on its social media accounts. The video highlighted various moments from the team’s entire World Cup campaign while praising the players’ fighting spirit. The narration in the video says: “A month ago, something happened. Many didn’t want it to happen, but it happened anyway. Argentina played in another final. Even though many want to look away from that. We turned around every single match. We made history by eliminating England in the semifinal.”
On the conspiracy theories that emerged after the final, AFA’s official statement said: “Despite every kind of anti-Argentina campaign, we still made it to the final. So when someone says something happened, just say: yes. What actually happened was that a team gave everything it had to win. They fought until the very end and never gave up. Even after winning everything else, this time, they had to lose.”
Toward the end of the video, it shows an emotional moment of Argentina captain Lionel Messi receiving the runner-up medal after the final. The narrator then closes the video with these words: “Our captain’s tears taught us once again that you can win or you can lose; but whatever happens, you must never give up.”
Alongside AFA’s message, association president Claudio Tapia has also spoken out. In a lengthy post on social media, he described the allegations that circulated about the Argentina team after the final as a “vile campaign.”
Tapia alleged that after the final, some media outlets and social media figures presented the matter in a way that suggested Argentina’s players had deliberately thrown the match. He claims a deliberate campaign against the team began as soon as the final ended at MetLife Stadium.
What angers Tapia most is that even a month after the event, none of those who made these allegations have admitted they were wrong. In his words, no one has yet said publicly, “We were wrong.”
Tapia further said that while the players were giving everything they had on the pitch, hatred and division were being spread against them from outside. He also alleged attempts were made to tarnish the national team’s image. The AFA president believes such allegations should not be accepted in silence. He is not willing to simply wait for the matter to fade with time. He made clear, in particular, that making serious allegations against national team players without any evidence is unacceptable.
He warned that after allegations amounting to calling national team players “traitors,” the matter can no longer be taken lightly. He said those who made such allegations must now explain themselves.
Finally, expressing solidarity with the coaching staff, support staff and players, Tapia said those who gave everything they had on the pitch owe no one any explanation. Rather, he said, it is those who spread false allegations without evidence who must explain themselves.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report