Britain DEMANDS FIFA investigate 'unacceptable' Argentina amid CLASH over Falklands and Navy row

The government has demanded FIFA investigate Argentina, after the team unfurled a banner on the pitch stating the Falklands are Argentine, following their win against England. Business Secretary Peter Kyle said the act was wholly inappropriate. Politics needs to be separate from football. In fact, the World Cup has one of its central tenants, that politics is separate from football. Now that is now a matter for FIFA, that we expect FIFA to undertake an investigation into this. It is, of course, I think it was certain to happen because it was such an egregious violation of the rules of not having political activity as part of the football. So I think we can expect that investigation to unfold, and it certainly should do. It was entirely inappropriate. Argentina has sought to politicise its clash with England. Days before the match, the country's foreign minister claimed those living on the Falklands are a quote artificially planted population, in an effort to dismiss the Falklanders' staunch rejection of Argentina. The last referendum on the island's sovereignty saw 99.8% vote to remain British. There have even been screenings of the game for Argentina's Falklands veterans. Two nights before the game, Argentinian fans burned the British flag, confusing it with the English one. Fans were in uproar after video footage emerged of the Argentinian national team singing victory chants in their changing room, which included claims the Falklands were theirs. This appeared to be another breach of FIFA rules against politics within stadiums. Hours after their clash with England, Argentina accused a British warship of an illegal incursion. HMS Medway made a unconsulted journey through Argentinian waters from the Falklands. The foreign minister said he had lodged a formal note of protest with the British embassy. The incident, however, occurred much earlier this month, prompting questions over why Argentina had waited and chose to complain in the hours after his country's victory. The Ministry of Defence admitted the ship had been in Argentine waters, adding they also did inform the Argentinian government. After their win, Argentina will face Spain in the World Cup final. England's manager Thomas Tuchel accepted responsibility for the team's knockout. The story is always told from the back, so if you see the last half an hour, it was deserved for Argentina. If you see the first 55 minutes, I think it's quite deserved that we are 1-0 up. Like I said, I think it's two completely different matches. It's until the goal and then after the goal. In these moments, the harder and the bigger the defeat and the bigger the occasion, the more pain you feel, of course, but it's important to, first of all, that you gave everything, which we did, to respect the opponent and the achievement of the opponent and the win of the opponent. This is how sports is. As soon as you lose, you get criticised. That's just what it is. Get criticised after. No one knows what would have happened if we made different decisions, so it makes no sense to engage in that and lose my head. I'm responsible for them. I took them, so I take the criticism. That's just the way it is. Paul Coit said England lost because they sat back after scoring the first goal. Nick Dunning, GB News. Everybody seems to agree. It doesn't matter whether it's your next door neighbour that watches one game of football a year compared to pundits that are all over who are pros. Everybody seems to say the same and that is why on earth did we then sit back and we just sat back and tried to defend out the rest of the game and we just didn't go forward. Now, Gareth Southgate, before, this is every criticism that was levelled at him. When he was England manager, it happened when we played Italy. It happened when we played the loss to Croatia. It's like, listen, why are we doing this sitting back thing? Thomas Tuchel comes in and from the FA is, now this is a manager who knows how to win tournaments. He knows how to close out these games. So when we go ahead, he's the guy to turn to. But then it pretty much surprised everybody that he went the way every other manager has gone before. I'll go as far. I think it was cowardly. I really think it was cowardly. I think we could have done so much better. Argentina loved this because then Argentina could then push forward. We've got two banks of players. They're all sitting back and it's literally, and then this is when you've got someone like Lionel Messi. Now this man is 39 years old. We were talking about the great heroes of the tournaments like Harry Kane could do this and Erling Haaland who has kept quiet. And then even Cristiano Ronaldo, but still Messi is out there on his own because when he's given the space, which he was, then he could then create. And it was both of assist from him to actually got the Argentinian goals. So the first one that went in was 85 minutes. So we only, we were five minutes away, I mean, plus injury time. And then I think everybody felt the same way. As soon as that first one went in, it's like, you know, you just know, don't you? You just know what's going to come. And then the second goal comes along and that was in the 92nd minute and that's Lutero Martinez and Argentina. We have to put our hands up. We're ultimately better than England, but I don't think it needed to be that way. It really didn't need to be that way. And this is why it's so frustrating because it's such an opportunity that we've missed. After England scored, the amount of possession we had was 12% in the game. And now when you look at Spain who came through against France, now this is, I mean, I don't know whether we would have beaten Spain if we'd gone through, but what Spain did when they scored their goal, they were completely in control. They didn't go, oh, you know what? We'll just defend now and just defend for our lives. We did that against Mexico and it worked, but there wasn't as long. There was still a fair time against Mexico, but with respect to Mexico, we're now talking about Argentina. They didn't have Lionel Messi playing for them. And ultimately we paid for it. And that's the reason that we lost. Oh dear. I'm just so gutted. It's just so disappointing. Absolutely. Well, let's go to Atlanta and you know what, that's how we're feeling here. It'd be interesting to see how Ben Leo feels. You know, Ben was saying, I mean, Ben, it's good to see you. And you're saying, you know, we ultimately should be proud, but we've got to be extremely disappointed about what we saw. How was it for you? And how was it for all the fans over there? Just a hello. Good morning to you. Emotionally exhausting. The same sort of thesis, sporting wise. 30 minutes out from the end of the game, I posted on an ex, I said, we can't sit back like this. We're asking for trouble. As you said, it had sort of memories, chilling echoes of Italy in Euro 2020, which of course was played in 2021 because of COVID. We scored in the first couple of minutes. And then for some reason, Southgate at that point decided to try and park the bus, which never was going to work. And of course we got punished then. And we got punished last night, but I'd still stick by what I said. People are proud of this team and the adventure they've given the Travelling England supporters over the past, was it five or six weeks? Miami, Boston, Atlanta, Mexico City, New York, back to Atlanta. They're very proud. And sport, as you know, Coyte, is all about fine margins. An hour before the game, everybody was praising Thomas Tuchel as being one of the best England managers in recent history. Some not so convincing performances against the likes of Congo and so on. And Ghana, we had the nil-nil draw, but let's not forget Argentina, all the big dogs of this tournament, the current world champions, they struggled during the campaign as well. They just about scraped the win against the lowest ranked team. I think they were Cape Verde. It took a last minute winner, extra time winner for them to win that. They probably shouldn't have even been in the semi-final after just scraping by Egypt with the help of VAR and FIFA. Spain, they had a nil-nil draw in their first group game. So lots of big teams have struggled. So we were five minutes away from reaching our first World Cup final in 60 years. So to say I'm gutted and the fans are gutted is a massive understatement. And let's not forget these fans who have followed England so valiantly and loyally over the past weeks. The time, the energy, the money, most importantly. So they are proud. They're staying strong and brave in the face of some pretty blatant RG goading on the streets of Atlanta, but everybody, for the most part, well behaved. But I'm still proud of this England team, these England boys and the fans, because for five or six weeks, we had a great escapism of day-to-day politics and all the news. And for once, we had some unity and patriotism and yeah, just disappointing to go out like that in the last five minutes. Yeah, I think the difference is, I think from where you are and from what we see, you're amongst the fans and you're very much part of that. And you felt the whole momentum and the excitement of going from place to place. Whereas I think now we're looking at that and thinking, you know what? I think the players gave everything that they could, but never really delivered. There was never a great performance. And also when we see Argentina, you know, with Cape Verde and it's all about the big games. And that for me is the worry. And that's what we just can't seem to get over the line. And that's the main frustration for me. And also as far as Thomas Tuchel's concern, I don't know how you feel, Ben, but you know, I think he blew it. I really think he blew it. Yeah, he did. The last 30 minutes we did blow it because we should have turned the screw and not brought on loads of defenders. And then Dan Byrne at the back, the big six foot eight Newcastle player. So we did. It could have been so much different, especially when we had the belief in the team from the Azteca that iconic, and it will be remembered as iconic, win in Mexico City. Everything against us, the altitude, red cards, penalties, it's, you know, we had so much belief in the team and the fans that as well, you know, so much momentum and hope. Of course, it's the hope that, it's the hope that kills you. Yeah, it's the hope that kills you. But listen, Ben, absolutely. But I've got to say, if they'd have played the way that you've been throughout this whole World Cup, then it would have been ours. I think you've done a fantastic job. So well done. Well done. So onto the Euros. We'll send you there in a couple of years and then you can go there and then we'll have another go all together. Well done, Ben. We'll speak to you later. Well done, Ben. Thank you. Yes, he's done a really good job. It looks a bit less. I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised. Yeah, he's been everywhere, you know, and he's spoken to, he's spoken to, I think, every England fan, everyone that there's been the same people all the time. Well, this is the same groups. And this is when I think Ben, like I say, sees it and like, you know, we're really proud of what we've seen because the feeling is a different feeling there being amongst it, which is a fantastic feeling compared to now looking back and we think, you know what? I don't want to be like miserable about it, but I just think it's another missed opportunity.