Argentina's footballers unfurl banner to claim sovereignty of Falkland Islands on WC eve

Argentina's footballers unfurled a banner claiming sovereignty of the Falkland Islands to reportedly inflame their country's rivalry with England on the eve of the World Cup on Saturday before defeating Slovenia 2-0.

Argentina's Ricardo Alvarez and skipper Lionel Messi scored a goal each, ensuring a winning send-off for the home side at La Plata, north of Buenos Aires, before they head to Brazil, but the squad would reportedly have raised questions in Britain for showing off their politically-charged banner declaring 'Las Malvinas Son Argentinas (The Malvinas are Argentine)' to the 52,000 crowd before kick-off.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, although the banner is regularly put on show before Argentina's games, the closeness to the World Cup brought new attention.

The South Atlantic Islands, which are the point of concern in the banners, have been ruled by Britain since 1833 but Argentina claims them and had attempted to seize control, sparking a brief but intense war in 1982 and tensions have resurfaced in recent years again, infuriated by the Falkland's government's search for oil in surrounding seas.

Football has been reportedly involved in the rivalry over the Falkland Islands.

Four years after the World Cup in 1386, Diego Maradona had outraged England with his punched 'Hand of God' goal in the 2-1 quarterfinal victory in Mexico and had said that he knew publicly all Argentines saying football has nothing to do with the war, but intimately they knew a lot of their boys had died.

Later in 1998, an epic last-16 match, during which David Beckham had received a red card for kicking Diego Simeone, at the World Cup in France ended in a 2-2 draw with Argentina prevailing in a penalty shoot-out, which was revenged by the former England captain at the 2002 finals in Japan, the report added.