Pub locals on the Falklands say they’re convinced England will ‘send the Argentinians back home’ with World Cup victory and laugh at their latest claim to the islands

Falkland island pub residents say they believe England will ‘send back’ the Argentines with World Cup glory, while some laugh at their latest claim to sovereignty over the islands.

The match, kicking off at 8pm in London and 4pm in Port Stanley 8,000 miles away, will see silence fall on the streets of remote islands in the South Atlantic.

Extra beer has been brewed and much of the population in remote parts of England will be at the capital’s two main pubs, the Victory Bar and The Rose Bar.

The game, which has become more intense considering the dispute between England and Argentina over the Falkland Islands, came after the South American country’s foreign minister, Pablo Quirno, reaffirmed its claims on the islands.

He said that ‘time does not transform an illegitimate occupation into sovereignty,’ adding it was a ‘breach of Argentina’s territorial integrity following the British occupation of 1833’.

Quirno argued that the principle of self-determination did not apply in this case, arguing that the current population of the Falkland Islands had been ‘settled’ by the occupying power and therefore could not decide ownership of the territory.

Sheila Harvey, landlady of The Rose Bar, who was born and raised in the Falkland Islands, told the Daily Mail: ‘I can tell you one thing, it can’t happen, we’re British and we’re British, we’ll stay.’

He added: ‘I’ll be showing the match and I expect it to be full; As you would expect we saw good crowds for all the matches in England.

Extra beer has been brewed and much of the population in remote parts of England will be at the capital’s two main pubs, the Victory Bar and The Rose Bar.

Royal Marine Peter Robinson carrying the Union Jack as he marched towards Stanley in the final hours of the Falklands War in June 1982

‘But as the tournament goes on, we’re getting more and more people, so I’ll open early and take extra stock to make sure we don’t run out of stock.

‘It’s going to be a tense relationship given our history with them but I’m pretty confident we’ll win and so are all my regulars.’

Sheila, who was seven at the time of the invasion in 1982, shared two photos on her social media of Harry Kane, Dan Burn and Jordan Pickford being mocked as Royal Marines in a photo taken as British forces went to war in the Falklands.

Another image showed the England team marching in a line along a muddy track with Kane at the back, an England flag waving on his rucksack, reminiscent of another iconic image of 45 Commando marching towards Port Stanley in 1982.

Sheila added: ‘I was born and raised in the Falkland Islands, I was seven in 1982 so just a little girl but we were living in Hill Cove at the time so we never really saw any conflict.

‘For obvious reasons nobody wants to lose this game, we all want to see England win and send the Argentines back home.

‘I’ll be selling cans for £2 each and beers for £4, so it’ll be a great afternoon and hopefully an even better evening.

‘Wednesday is going to be epic. ‘Let’s begin, after 60 years of pain Homecoming is finally here.’

Staff at The Victory Bar also confirmed they were planning to show the match, with one telling the Daily Mail: ‘It’s going to be quite lively here for obvious reasons.

‘Obviously there’s a lot of history between our two countries and it goes back a long way so hopefully it’ll be OK and England win and get to the final.’

On The Victory Bar’s Facebook page, there’s a photo of a keychain bearing the license plate H982 FLK, which Top Gear star Jeremy Clarkson famously carried on his Porsche while touring a section in Argentina with his crew.

The incident in 2014 sparked massive protests and violent clashes, and Clarkson and his team were forced to flee the country and abandon their vehicles, although he insists it was just a coincidence.

Beneath the photo on the bar’s Facebook page is the caption: ‘Clarkson pissed off Argie more than Thatcher’ and the keychain is a highly sought-after souvenir.

The island’s main Facebook page also mentioned Argentina’s new claim to the Falkland Islands; The bottom of a news article about this said: ‘We need to cut them some slack. Pack them up on Wednesday.’

Carol Phillips, who lives in the Falkland Islands, wrote: ‘They need to get over themselves and start running their own country properly.’

Mel Lloyd, from Goose Green, which was the scene of a violent clash in 1982, said: ‘Both my wife’s ancestors and I have been here since the 1800s.

‘The British did not settle us here. They came and settled, we are still here.’

Paying tribute to a veteran for his contribution to the war in 1982, Port Stanley’s Robin Goodwin added: ‘Thank you sir for putting yourself on the line for us in 1982 and for all those who came and saved us from this crazy mad regime.

‘And we extend our sincere condolences to everyone who made the ultimate sacrifice. We love you all.’

MPs and Argentina’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs want to know why HMS Medway, a Royal Navy ship stationed in the South Atlantic to keep an eye on the Falkland Islands, passed through those waters without prior warning, in breach of rules established after the 1982 war.

The Foreign Office denied the claim and insisted that the British Embassy in Buenos Aires relay the ship’s itinerary, although this is fiercely disputed by Argentina.

As HMS Medway sailed from the Falkland Islands to the port of Punta Arenas earlier this month, Argentinian officials said she had breached an agreement by failing to warn of the passage.

Argentina says it sailed into waters off the coast of Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego, at the southern tip of the country, before heading to Punta Arenas for logistics purposes.

The controversy quickly escalated to the state level, with the government of Tierra del Fuego joining in the condemnation through Malvinas Secretary Andrés Dachary, who described the move as a ‘blatant provocation’ in a region with strategic fishing, energy and Antarctic resources.

Argentinian lawmaker Guillermo Michel demanded that Buenos Aires establish exactly what happened through diplomatic channels in London.