Spite against Argentina and 'Messi'... Egyptian artists declare their support for England

In a photo from a scene where she embodies a simple popular female character, Egyptian actress Nelly Karim appeared to her followers on her official Facebook page. But the shot carried a simple detail, apparently modified with Photoshop, but enough to make the audience laugh, as the Egyptian child she was hugging in the events of the work was replaced with another showing European features and wearing the England national team shirt, with the phrase: 'Hope is in you now.'

Nelly Karim's stance comes within a wide-scale Egyptian popular movement that declared its support for the England national team in its upcoming match against its Argentine counterpart in the semi-finals of the World Cup currently being held in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, in a remarkable and surprising shift, as Egyptians have historically tended to favor the 'tango dancers' over the 'Three Lions,' but their feeling of being subjected to 'refereeing injustice' in their country's match against Argentina made them support the English out of spite against Argentina.

Football legend Lionel Messi turned from a 'fans' darling' among a wide segment of Egyptians into a player who 'accepts injustice and does not want fair play' in the popular sentiment of many who felt he exerted a kind of 'pressure' on the referee of the 'Pharaohs' and 'Tango' match, the Frenchman François Letexier, which resulted in not awarding a 'clear penalty' for Mohamed Salah and disallowing a 'valid goal' for Mostafa Ziko, according to several sports analyses.

A number of artists followed the same approach in confirming their support for England and its desire to win or support for Argentina, considering that they are accustomed that whoever they support gets eliminated from the tournament in what resembles 'bad luck syndrome'; among these are Nesrin Amin and Mustafa Gharib.

Mustafa Gharib and a post through which he hopes for Argentina's loss (Facebook)

Art critic Tarek El-Shennawy considered the interaction of art stars with sports and its hot events 'a kind of intuitive and understandable behavior, considering they are an integral part of the societal fabric and their voice is heard, and they also found in social media platforms a direct medium to express their emotions and convey them directly to the audience.'

He added to Asharq Al-Awsat that 'there are other events and issues of a political, economic, or even scientific nature that the artist may not find himself knowledgeable about or able to take a clear stance on, positively or negatively, unlike football which creates a state of popular mass passion that brings together the artist and the citizen in one psychological moment charged with emotions.'

For his part, young comedian Mustafa Gharib chose a sarcastic style to express his support for the English national team, as he appeared in a photo wearing the Argentina shirt with a comment saying: 'Every time I support a team, it gets eliminated'; in reference to his desire to bid farewell to the 'Tango' from the tournament after being hit by the 'jinx.'

Nesrin Amin is among the actresses who hope for England to beat Argentina (Facebook)

He also published another image edited with Photoshop, in which he blames Messi for still being in the tournament so far, even though 'the poor and the rich have left it.'

Actress Nesrin Amin resorted to a video clip in which she appears in a scene with actor Ahmed El Sakka from their famous series 'Al-Atawla,' Part Two, where a reference to Messi's name and the Argentine flag was placed on El Sakka, whom she was threatening with severe revenge and intimidating but in an emotionally sarcastic manner.

Sports commentator Mahmoud Sabry considered that 'Egypt's participation this time in the World Cup was characterized by things happening for the first time, which made the interaction of public figures and celebrities as strong as we all witnessed, as we achieved victory for the first time in our history and were a strong opponent for Belgium, and we saw how the national team played with strength and remarkable manly performance.'

He added to Asharq Al-Awsat that 'what increased the intensity of public opinion interaction, especially among artists, is that bitter feeling of being subjected to a gross refereeing injustice that everyone far and near witnessed in a historic blunder by the French referee who officiated our match against Argentina.'