Argentina’s Lionel Messi eyes the ball during the 2018 World Cup football qualifier match against Ecuador in Quito, on October 10, 2017. Image by PABLO COZZAGLIO/AFP/Getty Images

BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — The Israeli embassy in Argentina spread a message of support for its host country’s national team at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, despite the cancelled friendly match between Israel and Argentina.

The delegation posted on social media a video saying that they “will be waiting for ´Lío´…” referring to team star Lionel “Lio” Messi and the friendly match that was announced despite a BDS campaign against it and later cancelled.

The message continued: “but not so much Lío… “ which in Spanish means “troubles,” referring to the final cancellation three days before the match that led to global criticism by Jewish groups and a disciplinary proceeding against the president of the Palestinian soccer governing body.

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The video shows embassy professionals painting their faces with blue and white for Israel but also light blue and white, the Argentina team’s colors. The video, tweeted by the embassy, shows Israeli ambassador to Buenos Aires Ilan Sztulman wearing an Argentinean team t-shirt and saying: “No doubt, we will be supporting the light blue and white.”

The Israeli support for Argentina’s national team gained attention from major Argentinean media and was followed by another tweet just before Saturday’s  match wishing the team “success.”

Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman also used took to Twitter to discuss Argentina’s national soccer team, but with a much different message. “In the Argentina against Iceland game we saw just how much Messi needed the warm-up game against Israel,” he tweeted, suggesting that Messi missed the penalty because of the cancellation of the match in Jerusalem.

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

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