Its Muchachos vs Wonderwall in the battle of Arg vs Eng anthems, with the Falklands looming large

A schoolteacher in Buenos Aires, Fernando Romero, was cooking his breakfast when the lines gushed out of his mind: “I was born in Argentina, land of Diego and Lionel, Of the kids from Malvinas, which I will never forget.” He set the lyrics to the background score of a popular song Muchachos, composed by the reggae and punk nine-piece band La Mosca Tsé-Tsé at the stroke of the century.What Argentines refer to as Islas Malvinas and claim sovereignty over, are the Falkland Islands – a self-governing British Overseas Territory now, but also the cause of the 10-week war in 1982.Little did Romero then know that, in December 2020, a week after Maradona’s death, his song would become his country’s sporting anthem, rendered passionately by the fans in stadia, players in the locker room and by masses in the streets. Romero was not the first one to adapt the song which meant “Boys, we will get drunk”; several adaptations could be heard during club games in most stadia around Buenos Aires. But this became the most iconic one, and the band, which was disbanded several years ago, reunited to re-record the song with Romero’s lyrics. He wanted to sing during a World Cup qualifier between Argentina and Bolivia inside Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires. But he couldn’t procure tickets. He and his friends started singing the song outside the arena, which a local television crew captured and the original band members happened to watch and later re-recorded. The band won the equivalent of a national award and Romero was invited to sing this song to an audience that included Lionel Messi. His only regret, he told Argentina media outlet EFE, he could not take a picture with Messi.Story continues below this ad In the streets, people stop him and thank him. “They’ve told me that I did more for them with the song than the last 40 years of democracy,” he told EFE. For this edition he tweaked the chorus again to suit the context. “I want to win the third one, I want to be a world champion again.” Messi, though prefers his original one penned for the 2022 World Cup. The song still resonates with the fans, and most of them have internalised the lines, and hum it in public spaces. In fan zones, parks, supermarkets and airports, flooded with Argentinians for the semi-final against England on Wednesday, fans have the song on the tip of their tongues. In the corner of Atlanta airport, Lorenzo Alberto was watching a reel his friend had sent him from Argentina’s round-of-16 bout against Egypt a few days ago in the city. He was waiting for his flight to Kansas for the quarterfinal. He briskly took his ear phones out and said: “You should watch this without the earphones, and you feel you are in the stands again.” He then recited almost the full chorus of Muchachos He explained its connection among the fans: “It fills us with energy and belief. It’s something of an identity,” he said, raising the volume, to the ire of a security guard’s piercing glance. He doesn’t stop, and she doesn’t care. “Even if you are the only man in the stadium, or if I happen to be amidst non-Argentina fans, I will sing it. Even if it’s the English fans,” he says. But the reference of the Falklands War, or Malvina War as the Argentines say, wooed controversy after videos of Argentina footballers singing Muchachos in the dressing room. The victory over Switzerland ensured a contest between football’s bitterest rivalry for the first time in a competitive game since 2005. But the FIFA decided not to impose any sanction, even though they insist on taking stringent action against “political expression within stadiums.”Story continues below this ad Forty four years have passed since the war that cost 9,000 lives, for the archipelago in South Atlantic. The angst might have faded, but old timers still nurse it. Says