From Buenos Aires to Sheffield: Meet the bandmates that will be rooting for Argentina to beat England
Siblings Julia and Pablo Calvo are cheering on Argentina in their World Cup semi-final showdown with England
An Argentina football fan living in Sheffield says she hopes that her band will still speak to her on Thursday morning as her nation prepares to face England in a mouthwatering World Cup semi-final clash.
Aiming to become the first team since Brazil in 1962 to win the prestigious trophy consecutively, Argentina face the Three Lions on Wednesday in one of the most anstiscipated games in the competition so far.
It’s a fixture which has always produced fireworks, whether it’s England’s 1-0 win en route to winning the whole thing in 1966 - referred to those from the opposition as ‘the theft of the century’ after a controversial offside goal and sending off - or the Hand of God two decades later when Diego Maradona quite literally took matters into his own hands by scoring a controversial goal with his fist and one of the sport’s greatest ever solo goals to send Bobby Robson’s men packing at the Azteca Stadium.
And that’s without even talking about David Beckham’s stamp on Diego Simeone in 1998 before subsequently turning the tables by scoring the winning penalty against Argentina in a group game four years later.
Julia Calvo, who moved to Sheffield from Buenos Aires for work in 2010, told The Star: “It’s always a good game when England faces Argentina. I’m sure I watched it when they played in 1998 and 2002, but I was born the year after the Hand of God so never saw it live.”
The singer will be watching the game with her younger brother Pablo, who joined her in moving to the Steel City for work in 2016.
The pair have decided to watch the game at home rather than heading to one of the many Sheffield sports bars showing the fixture.
“We’re more into our music so we’re normally not really that sporty. But the World Cup is something else. We always watch it as a family. When it’s on it’s almost like a religion to the people of Argentina.”
Pablo and Julia are both part of a rock band called Syteria. Julia is the lead singer and guitarist and Pablo is the drummer.
The Argentine duo are also joined by two England supporters in the band: Bassist Steph Dawson and guitarist Jackie Chambers, who is also known for being a member of the longest-running all-female rock band Girlschool.
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Syteria, who have performed at Tramlines and Rebellion Festival in the past, are set to celebrate their 10-year anniversary at Corporation in October and are preparing to release their new single ‘Stop this ride’ in August.
When asked if there’s been any banter between the bandmates ahead of the semi-final, Julia joked: “All I hope is that everyone from the band will still speak to me on Thursday if Argentina wins. I don’t know who’s going to win though as they are both brilliant teams.”
Julia adds that she’s hoping Lionel Messi can make the difference on the night.
Julia already knows how it feels to win the World Cup as a fan after her trip back home to Buenos Aires for the 2022 final.
“It was an amazing memory. Everyone was partying in the streets. There were celebrations everywhere, lots of dancing and music,” she said.
“As people got more drunk though I must say it felt a bit scary as it started to look like the TV show the Walking Dead.”
Argentina could win the World Cup for a fourth time this year.
“It would be really cool to have a fourth star on the outfit, Julia said. “It'd be very cute and amazing. It’s going to be massive for our national pride if they do it again - and we’d all go out to buy the new kit with the four stars on the front.”
England are aiming to reach their first World Cup final since winning the competition in 1966. Ironically, The Three Lions beat The White and Sky Blue en route to winning the competition in 1966 - which is the last time they beat the South American outfit in a knockout match.
The Three Lions have fallen short at the semi-final stage in 1990 against West Germany and in 2018 against Croatia, but this time around they have Thomas Tuchel in the dugout, who has never lost a semi-final match in his managerial career.