The Argentine team has had a reputation of playing dirty through the years, but they outdid themselves in this year’s final. It was one of the ugliest games I have ever seen, and a lot of casual fans likely got very turned off by it. People who like entertaining sporting events, let alone people who like soccer, are infuriated.

Combine that with how badly Egypt got screwed over by the referees when they played Argentina (and Argentina fans waved Israeli flags at Egypt’s team). And overall it looked like FIFA, who are corrupt but also outdid themselves this year, was favoring Argentina in the tournament. That pissed off fans of the sport.

And combine that with public well wishes for the team from Netanyahu and Ben Gvir, which likely turned most of the world’s non-genocidal, casual fans against Argentina, and anyway, it’s organic. Media are following, not leading this one.