After the World Cup, can Mexicans and Argentinians be friends again?

It wasn’t just Mexicans and Mexican Americans. In fact, all Latinos united for a few weeks during the World Cup against a team that many outside of Latin America were perplexed to realize wasn’t receiving the same support as the other Latino countries. That team was the Argentina national football team, nicknamed la Albiceleste. 

“I felt sad personally that many of my Mexican friends were rooting for Spain,” Roxanne Lissa said. “You know, like really, you're gonna root for Spain!?” 

Even Lalo Alcaraz drew a cartoon about not being enthusiastic in supporting the colonizing country of Latin America. 

But what drew the hate against Argentina? 

For some fans, the way that the Argentinian team played during the World Cup appeared to be too aggressive. 

“If you go to a game in Argentina, like a Boca River game, people get punched in the face. You know, it is aggressive,” explained Lissa, a publicist who watched games in Los Angeles and in Argentina. “I think the style of play, there is a difference between a South American game versus a European game, complete difference in the style.”

She said she also received insults and was called racist. She lost friends after the World Cup.

When it comes to the Argentinian player who received the most criticism, Lissa doesn’t agree that he did anything wrong during the World Cup games. 

Lionel Messi was at the center of most controversies. Videos online, even from people who said they were Argentinian themselves, said Messi’s performance was embarrassing and that referees would never check the VAR if the play was in dispute against Argentina or Messi.

On paper, Messi broke a few records, including the all-time assist record (now 12 assists, +4 in 2026) . He also extended his own records for the most overall World Cup matches played (now 34) and won (now 23), according to ActionNetwork.com.

Argentina broke Uruguay's record for the longest streak scoring more than two goals in every match (13 matches).

In terms of Instagram followers, Messi gained 7,852,895 new followers according to MyBettingSites.co.uk, placing him in seventh place just above 17-year-old Mexican player Gilberto Mora, who gained 6,642,952 followers. Erling Haaland gained the most Instagram followers (31,832,161).

But the animosity on social media against Argentina and even some coverage from the mainstream media questioned why the country and the players became the de facto villains of the World Cup. 

The videos where a sports commentator insulted Mexicans and other videos where media personalities questioned indigenous Argentinian or declared that Argentinians were European, not Latinos certainly didn’t help. 

“Something shifted in this World Cup,” Lissa said. “It looks like it's a paid campaign.”

Content creator and musician Origami Pink posted a video on July 19 where he shares his take on the trending hate against Argentina. 

“When the hate towards an ethnic group or nationality becomes trendy, I always question who does this benefit?” he says in the video, where he said it is usually a political reason, perhaps related to the right wing movement that has spread throughout Latin America thanks to the Trump administration. 

He also questions why Mexicans would criticize Argentinians for being racists when Mexico also has racism issues, which have historically given fewer opportunities to brown and indigenous people. In other words, Argentina might not be the only country that deals with racism in Latin America. 

Could there be a political reason why a propaganda campaign against Argentina was orchestrated online? Will Mexicans and other Latinos ever see Argentina as part of Latin America? It’s hard to tell, but now that Messi is speculated by many to be leaving the team, we’ll see what happens in the next World Cup.