Argentina face scrutiny after World Cup final turmoil
Argentina have been labelled as ‘polite and respectful’ despite triggering an angry brawl that marred the World Cup final. The South American side were aiming to become the first side since Brazil in 1962 to retain the trophy as they took on Spain in New Jersey.
But it did not go to plan for the reigning world champions, with Ferran Torres’ goal seeing them defeated. The behaviour of a host of the Argentinian players was also the target of criticism.
Leandro Paredes and Nahuel Molina were both involved in post-match scuffles, the former having been sent off for his part. Enzo Fernandez was also dismissed during the game for a woeful challenge on Pau Cubarsi.
Despite that, newspapers in the South American nation believe that the team behaved well. A report from Argentine paper Clarin read:
“As never before, the Argentine team displayed, both on and off the field, a range of values that are rare these days. From the pitch and beyond, they gave several lessons and showed the face of a country that we would like to see away from the football pitch. “A team that was polite and respectful, despite a few unfortunate isolated incidents in the last match; that didn't speak ill of its rivals or try to justify its own mistakes by blaming others.”
UK reaction takes a very different line
The response to Argentina’s behaviour is very different when it comes to the UK media. Speaking after Paredes’ red card, Wayne Rooney said:
"Does it surprise you? It doesn't surprise me. We've seen this with Argentina before. “It's just not the reaction you want. We've seen some of the reaction after knocking England out in the last round. That's just sad. If you lose a game of football, be graceful and get out of there. It's really poor from them."
He added:
"That's a reaction to them being outplayed, out-fought, out-thought on the football pitch, and then they resort to that at the end. It's poor from those two players."
Alan Shearer said:
“Paredes threw two or three haymakers into someone’s face. He went for them. There is no place or space for that. “We know how much it means to them and we know how much it hurts to lose, but there is a way to lose. Too many times we have seen that from Argentina. The reaction after the final whistle is terrible.”
Gary Neville also gave his take on the clash. He said:
“They’re very competitive and I love that element of them, but (Paredes) has just been a disgrace for the last couple of games, and why the referees have allowed him to continue doing what he is doing…”
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