More than 500,000 people have signed an online petition launched in Argentina, asking France to “stop crying” after their 2022 World Cup final defeat in Qatar.
“Since we won, the French have not stopped crying and complaining and do not accept that Argentina are world champions,” said Valentin Gomez, the initiator of the petition, which has collected 570,768 signatures on the Change.org website.
Polish referee Simon Marciniak, who refereed the final last Sunday, has drawn criticism in France, especially for his decision to award a penalty to the “Albiceleste” after Osman Dembele fouled Angel Di Maria in the first half.
The French have expressed their regret at the “lack of fitness” of some Argentine players in the celebration after the coronation, especially goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
A few days ago, more than 200,000 people in France signed a petition addressed to the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) to demand a replay of the Qatar World Cup final between France and Argentina.
The petition argues that the refereeing of the match is unfair, because the Argentine’s penalty “wasn’t there”, in addition to the fact that there was an error on Mbappé before Di Maria’s goal, according to the petition.
Despite the large number of signatures on this petition, the possibility of replaying the match is non-existent, and this has never happened before with more controversial decisions such as the penalty kick that awarded Germany the World Cup at the expense of Argentina in 1990 World Cup final, plus Argentinian players sent off in the final.
