Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Looming over the World Cup final is another rivalry: the bitter feud<\/a> between Argentine President Javier Milei and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez.<\/p>\n For the past two years, Argentina’s libertarian-populist leader has been embroiled in a war of words with his progressive counterpart in Madrid. Milei has resented S\u00e1nchez’s efforts to cast him as a far-right firebrand, and responded by repeatedly insulting the Spanish premier and his wife, Bego\u00f1a G\u00f3mez, whom he has repeatedly called “corrupt.”<\/p>\n In Buenos Aires, one leading political observer doesn’t expect the president to mix the World Cup final with his personal animus toward S\u00e1nchez.<\/p>\n “I can’t imagine him trying to turn this match into a political issue,” Mart\u00edn Rodr\u00edguez Yebra, deputy managing editor of Argentina\u2019s leading conservative newspaper La Naci\u00f3n, told POLITICO. “It’s not in his interest.”<\/p>\n According to Rodr\u00edguez Yebra, who has spent years following the S\u00e1nchez-Milei feud, Argentina’s leader has identified S\u00e1nchez \u2014 one of the world’s most recognized left-leaning political figures<\/a> \u2014 as a useful antagonist in his “cultural battle” against “woke forces around the world<\/a>.”<\/p>\n “He uses S\u00e1nchez almost as a punching bag to demonstrate that he’s confronting the international left,” he said, adding that the tactic plays well among Milei’s most devoted followers.<\/p>\n But Rodr\u00edguez Yebra noted that for average Argentinians “who likely wouldn’t recognize S\u00e1nchez if he sat next to them in a caf\u00e9 in Buenos Aires,” the contretemps is “a squabble that is seen as a random distraction” on most days, and which would be considered totally inappropriate to bring up in the almost sacred context of the World Cup final.<\/p>\n “There are no words to accurately describe the idolatry people feel for our current national squad, which is perhaps the most admired in modern Argentine history,” he said. “And they \u2014 and in particular [Lionel] Messi, in his role as the squad’s captain \u2014 have made clear that they will not tolerate attempts at politicization.”<\/p>\n In previous editions of the World Cup, Rodr\u00edguez Yebra said, Argentina’s national team had become mixed up with the country’s politics. The squad is widely considered to have been instrumentalized as a propaganda tool when the country hosted the 1978 tournament, when the government was in the hands of a military junta that carried out the forced disappearances of tens of thousands of political dissidents.<\/p>\n A few years later, legendary squad captain Diego Maradona didn’t hide his close relationship<\/a> with center-left populist President Carlos Menem, with whom he appeared on the balcony of the Casa Rosada presidential palace in Buenos Aires following the country’s 1986 World Cup win. Menem would eventually make the striker his government’s official “sports adviser” and even gave him a diplomatic passport usually reserved for high-ranking officials.<\/p>\n Under Messi’s leadership, however, the national team has taken steps to distance itself from Argentina’s polarized political scene, and after winning the last edition of the World Cup, the squad declined an invitation<\/a> from then-President Alberto Fern\u00e1ndez to emulate Maradona and celebrate the victory at the presidential palace.<\/p>\n Rodr\u00edguez Yebra said the current squad captain appeared to have been shaped by his lengthy professional career with FC Barcelona, which played out in parallel with the rise of the Catalan separatist movement<\/a> and the unauthorized attempt to declare the Spanish region’s independence<\/a> in 2017.<\/p>\n “Despite the enormous pressure to do so, he never waded into the issue, and as captain for Argentina he’s taken the same approach and stayed on message,” he said. “Don’t mix us up in your politics: We’re athletes and we represent the entire country, not politicians.”<\/p>\n The La Naci\u00f3n journalist pointed out that following the semifinal match against England, Messi stayed away when some of the victorious Argentine players unfurled a banner<\/a> reading \u201cLas Malvinas son Argentinas\u201d (\u201cThe Falkland Islands are Argentinian\u201d).<\/p>\n “He doesn’t want to be involved,” he said.<\/p>\n Rodr\u00edguez Yebra said Milei is a canny politician who attempts to align himself with overwhelming public sentiment and knows how to be pragmatic. That’s why his war of words with S\u00e1nchez has ultimately not had a significant impact on Spanish-Argentine relations.<\/p>\n “Despite the inflammatory rhetoric between our leaders, the high-level officials below them have continued working together on trade, investment and international issues, including the recently concluded EU-Mercosur trade agreement<\/a>,” he said.<\/p>\n “Ministers continue meeting, and diplomatic channels remain open even as the presidents trade barbs,” he added. “Milei insults S\u00e1nchez when it suits him, and right now, given the team’s insistence to keep politics out of the match, it is not in his interest to do so.”<\/p>\n On Sunday, Argentina’s president will be playing the part of cheerleader-in-chief from Buenos Aires. While S\u00e1nchez will watch the match in person in New York<\/a>, Milei will remain at home in an act of political superstition.<\/p>\n “In 1990 Menem traveled to Italy to watch our team play against Cameroon and he ended up presiding over our most shocking World Cup defeat,” Rodr\u00edguez Yebra said. “The episode was politically devastating for him, because it caused him to develop a reputation for being jinxed, and since then our presidents have steered clear of the matches.”<\/p>\n Rodr\u00edguez Yebra said Milei has every interest in doing whatever he can to ward off bad luck.<\/p>\n Rising unemployment<\/a> and corruption cases involving close aides<\/a> have eroded the president’s approval ratings, with around 60 percent of voters<\/a> saying they disapprove of his performance. While the lack of a serious political rival means that the populist remains the clear front-runner ahead of next year’s presidential election, an Argentine win on Sunday would still be a godsend.<\/p>\n The same goes for S\u00e1nchez, should La Roja emerge victorious. Unlike Argentina, Spain\u2019s unemployment is at a record low and the country\u2019s economy is among the fastest-growing in Europe. But like Milei, the prime minister is grappling with damaging corruption scandals<\/a>. Last month, the country\u2019s former transport minister was handed a 24-year prison sentence<\/a> for bribery, embezzlement and influence peddling, and earlier this week, S\u00e1nchez\u2019s brother was found guilty of administrative misconduct<\/a> after a regional court concluded he had been unfairly awarded a public sector position.<\/p>\n “This World Cup has been a welcome distraction that has already helped him enormously, and could benefit him even further if it results in our team’s victory,” Rodr\u00edguez Yebra said about Milei. “Even without engaging in politics, a win for our team is a win for him.”<\/p>\n