England and Argentina Clash as Falkland Islands Tensions Flare Up
Newsweek · C · trust 46/100
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. In the mythology of the World Cup, the 1986 quarterfinal between England and Argentina stopped being just a soccer match. When Diego Maradona punched the ball past Peter Shilton at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City and then, four minutes later, dribbled through half the England team, many Argentines did not see two goals. They saw a settling of accounts.
The game came four years after the Falklands War, the 74-day conflict in the South Atlantic that killed 649 Argentine service members, 255 British troops and three islanders. Argentina lost the war. In Mexico City, on June 22, 1986, it beat the country that had defeated it.
Maradona insisted before kickoff that the match had nothing to do with the war. He later admitted that was not true. "This was revenge," he said in his autobiography, describing the young Argentines killed on the islands. In Asif Kapadia's 2019 documentary, he called the win "a type of symbolic revenge over the English."
The years have passed. Maradona is dead. Most of the players who will take the field Wednesday were not even born when the shooting stopped or when arguably the most famous World Cup match ever was played. But some wounds remain on both sides, and they are about to be reopened.
England and Argentina meet Wednesday at Atlanta Stadium in a World Cup semifinal, their first meeting at the tournament since 2002 and their first match of any kind since a 2005 friendly. A place in the final is at stake. So, once again, is the memory of the islands that Argentina calls Las Malvinas.
The signs are already there. After Argentina beat Switzerland 3-1 in the quarterfinal and learned it would face England, players gathered in the dressing room and sang a tournament anthem that name-checks the islands. A viral clip showed Lionel Messi among them. The chant runs, in part, "For the Malvinas, for Diego, for Leo's last one." It was not the first time Argentine players or fans had invoked the islands during this World Cup, and despite FIFA rules against political expression, the federation has imposed no sanctions.
"Anyone who doesn't jump is an Englishman" has long been a staple of the Argentine terraces. The newer song folds the sovereignty claim directly into the country's bid for back-to-back titles.
The rivalry is one of the fiercest in international soccer, and the Falklands sit at its center. In Argentina, the 1986 result carried a weight that transcended the standings. "Beating England was our real aim," former Argentine international Roberto Perfumo once said of that tournament, adding that winning the World Cup itself felt secondary.
The animosity outlasted Maradona's generation. At the 1998 World Cup, David Beckham was sent off against Argentina in a match England lost on penalties. The teams met again in the 2002 group stage, when Beckham's penalty gave England a 1-0 win. Then the fixture went quiet. They have not played in 21 years or met at a World Cup in 24.
What makes Wednesday different is not only the trophy. It is oil.
About 200 kilometers north of the Falklands, in the North Falkland Basin, developers are moving ahead with the Sea Lion project, the largest deep-water oil development in the South Atlantic outside Brazil. After 15 years of delays, the partners took a final investment decision in December. First oil is expected in 2028.
The numbers are striking for a territory with less than 3,700 residents. Phase 1 targets 170 million barrels, with peak production of about 50,000 barrels a day. The full field holds an estimated 917 million barrels. The project is expected to operate for 35 years and generate roughly £4 billion in revenue for the Falkland Islands government—more than £1 million per islander.
For islanders who have waited through 15 years of false starts, the moment finally feels real. "We need to secure more income for the islands," Cheryl Roberts, a member of the Falklands' legislative assembly, told the Financial Times . "This is the closest we've ever been."
The Sea Lion field is operated by Navitas Petroleum, an Israeli company that holds a 65 percent stake, with Britain's Rockhopper Exploration holding the remaining 35 percent. The Falkland Islands government, which treats resource development as a devolved matter, has issued licenses valid for 35 years.
Argentina, which claims sovereignty over the islands, considers all such activity illegal without its authorization. Its Foreign Ministry branded the project "unilateral and illegitimate" after the investment decision and declared both companies "clandestine" operators, citing United Nations resolutions calling on Britain and Argentina to negotiate.
Argentine President Javier Milei has made the point himself, in the sharpest terms his government has used. Marking the 44th anniversary of the war on April 2, he vowed to respond with "all necessary diplomatic measures" and said Argentina would act against activities "that seek to exploit resources belonging to the Argentine people."
"Our islands are not an issue of the past," Milei said in the same speech. "They have to do with the present, the future and the resources that are at stake."
Milei's posture is layered with contradiction. He has drawn closer to Britain, pursued the lifting of arms restrictions and weighed a trip to London. He has said any recovery of the islands must respect the wishes of their inhabitants, who voted 99.8 percent to remain a British Overseas Territory in a 2013 referendum. Yet he has kept the sovereignty claim non-negotiable in principle.
The wider world is split. A 2023 YouGov survey found Americans favored British sovereignty over the islands 35 percent to 24 percent, with Spain the outlier at 52 percent backing Argentina's claim. Argentines themselves are far more united. A separate YouGov poll found 66 percent want the…
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