The White House has defended Argentina\u2019s decision to display a controversial political banner following their semi-final win over England.<\/p>\n
Lionel Messi inspired the defending champions to a 2-1 victory in Atlanta on Thursday (AEST) to set up a final against Spain on Monday.<\/p>\n
During the players\u2019 celebrations on the pitch, they unveiled a sheet which read: \u201cLas Malvinas son Argentinas,\u201d which translates to \u201cThe Falklands are Argentine\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Falkland Islands are a British overseas territory in the southwest Atlantic Ocean that has been the subject of a long-running dispute between the UK and Argentina.<\/p>\n
The islands were the subject of a war between the two nations in 1982 and led to the deaths of 255 British military personnel, three islanders and 649 Argentine soldiers.<\/p>\n
Argentina could face disciplinary action for unfurling the banner as it may contravene FIFA\u2019s rules regarding political statements.<\/p>\n
But the White House has come out in support of the message, saying Argentina has the opportunity and ability to \u201cmake those statements\u201d in the US.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Andrew Giuliani, head of the White House FIFA task force, referenced the US constitution\u2019s free speech rights, saying: \u201cWe believe in our First Amendment rights here in the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n
By contrast, the UK government has supported FIFA\u2019s decision to investigate the matter.<\/p>\n
A UK spokesperson said: \u201cThe World Cup might not be ours, but the Falkland Islands definitely are. Our commitment to the Falklands will never waver.\u201d<\/p>\n
They went on to add: \u201cWe do not wish to see politics being brought into sport.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cNor do we wish the Islands and their people to be used as a political football in every conversation about England and Argentina.\u201d<\/p>\n
Argentina vice-president Victoria Villarruel took to social media to claim the victory over England \u201cwasn\u2019t just another match\u201d.<\/p>\n
He also shared a video of what appeared to be Argentine soldiers, along with the message: \u201cThe Falklands are Argentine. They banned bringing them to the stadium and forgot that we carry them in our blood and our hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Falklands referendum conducted in 2013 saw residents vote strongly in favour of remaining a UK territory \u2014 with 1,513 of 1,517 votes cast in support of them remaining so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The White House has defended Argentina\u2019s decision to display a controversial political banner following their semi-final win over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[382106,382114,382123,13808,382107,215485,382112,382129,382101,382137,382102,382139,382145,382086,382125,382135,382090,382115,382127,376594,381272,88040,2095,382144,382110,12910,382097,382128,4131,64,63,112962,256555,382146,382122,1208,382117,382091,304711,72098,13201,382104,596,29253,382142,121458,382095,382133,382118,382132,382098,382143,382099,84,382111,40555,382100,382105,1314,2020,588,85,22410,382120,382121,381977,382108,382103,382093,382094,382092,382131,382109,103181,175806,382130,382124,382113,382087,382140,382089,126787,382096,382116,382136,59618,382088,72503,382141,382134,382138,382119,382126,9357,19542],"class_list":["post-807838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-s-decision","tag-s-free-speech-rights","tag-s-rules","tag-13808","tag-382107","tag-215485","tag-255-british-military-personnel","tag-382129","tag-517-votes","tag-649-argentine-soldiers-argentina","tag-a-2-1-victory","tag-a-british-overseas-territory","tag-a-controversial-political-banner","tag-a-falklands-referendum","tag-a-final","tag-a-long-running-dispute","tag-a-political-football","tag-a-sheet","tag-a-uk-territory","tag-a-video","tag-a-war","tag-aest","tag-america","tag-andrew-giuliani","tag-another-match","tag-argentina","tag-argentina-vice-president-victoria-villarruel","tag-argentine-soldiers","tag-atlanta","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-celebrations","tag-contrast","tag-disciplinary-action","tag-divisive-banner","tag-england","tag-england-and-argentina","tag-every-conversation","tag-falkland-islands","tag-favour","tag-fifa","tag-fifa-rules","tag-football","tag-head","tag-las-malvinas-son-argentinas","tag-lionel-messi","tag-monday-during","tag-our-blood","tag-our-commitment","tag-our-first-amendment-rights","tag-our-hearts","tag-political-statements","tag-political-statements-but","tag-politics","tag-potential-punishment","tag-residents","tag-shock-four-word-world-cup-sign","tag-shock-world-cup-sign","tag-social-media","tag-spain","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-support","tag-the-banner","tag-the-contentious","tag-the-deaths","tag-the-defending-champions","tag-the-falkland-islands","tag-the-falklands","tag-the-islands","tag-the-matter-a-uk-spokesperson","tag-the-message","tag-the-opportunity-and-ability","tag-the-pitch","tag-the-players","tag-the-southwest-atlantic-ocean","tag-the-stadium","tag-the-subject","tag-the-two-nations","tag-the-uk-and-argentina-the-islands","tag-the-uk-government","tag-the-united-states","tag-the-us-constitution","tag-the-us-on-friday","tag-the-victory","tag-the-white-house","tag-the-white-house-fifa-task-force","tag-the-world-cup","tag-their-people","tag-their-say","tag-their-semi-final-win","tag-those-statements","tag-three-islanders","tag-thursday","tag-white-house"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}