Foni

It’s easy, with the same defense as when a politician is caught stealing: “they’re all the same/everyone does it/you’d do it in their position.”

There are no examples of top-level teams doing anything similar; yes, there have been bad or mediocre teams doing things like that, but it’s something that tournaments have been trying to curb for a long time, it’s not something to boast about and take to the highest level, as Argentina has done so many times.

The same goes for racism; many Spanish fans chant nonsense believing it’s justified in the stadium. The difference is that the press, institutions, and society are ashamed of it and try to shame those who do it, instead of justifying and defending it with things like “Well, it’s just the game.”

That is simply not true, no one has played like this, not 30 years ago or ever, things like this (https://imgur.com/nEfw1Tr) are not acceptable on a football field and never have been and things like this (https://imgur.com/tuvOdJ1) are not acceptable on a stadium and never have been.

There is no coordinated campaign against argentina either out of envy or strange unknown interests, It is an accumulation of years playing outside the rules, playing “roughly” does go against the rules, the rules are explicitly for that, scoring a goal with your hand is illegal and should embarrass whoever scores it if the referee does not realize it, It’s not something about “smart people” it’s something about cheaters and obviously the rest of us don’t like anyone to win that way, I don’t think it’s anything surprising

I think it’s because football fans have been dealing with this crap from Argentina basically ever. They are a dirty and underhanded team at all times, and that generates hatred from championship to championship.

The lack of sportsmanship shown by the Argentine players has been despicable throughout the tournament. As a Spaniard, I appreciate the great support on social media, but I know we didn’t earn it; Argentina earned that support for us.