At any other time the political opinions of the Argentina women's hockey team would, one suspects, go unheeded by the wider world. But there is nothing like an Olympic Games for forcing sportspeople into awkward corners, and so it was that 10 minutes after watching his team lose 2-0 to Great Britain, Argentina's coach, Carlos Retegui, found himself being asked to explain his views on the sovereignty of the Falklands Islands.
"We came here only to play hockey," Retegui said. "Sport has nothing to do with politics." And then, with a mischievous smile spreading across his face, Retegui added: "But we can talk about it, because the Malvinas are Argentinian." Retegui was only joking, but he may still want to take a lesson or two in media-management before his team come back for the Olympics. The British tabloid press were not out in force for the final game of the group stages of the Visa Invitational Hockey Tournament, but they would have had a field day with his remark if they had been.
The slightly surreal press conference came about because of a party political advert shown on Argentinian TV this week, which showed the male hockey player Fernando Zylberberg training in Port Stanley. "To compete on English soil, we train on Argentine soil" ran the tagline.
The ad has been dismissed as a "sad stunt" by the foreign secretary, William Hague, and criticised by the International Olympic Committee, which said: "The Olympic Games should not be a forum to raise political issues and the IOC regrets any attempts to use the spotlight of the Games for that end."
That the Games should not be so used may be true, but they always have been. At any rate, the match felt like an indisputably British event, with a sizeable crowd huddling up in anoraks under umbrellas while the rain lashed down on the open-air stadium. Cups of tea and overpriced pies were the chief source of warmth.
It is a fixture that hardly needs extra baggage. The Argentinians are the world champions and beat Great Britain 1-0 in the final of the Champions Trophy last year. This victory was all the sweeter for the British players because of that, but they know that this result will count for little if they do not win again when the two sides meet in the tournament final on Sunday. "It looked like there was lots of needle out there, didn't it?" said the GB captain, Kate Walsh. "We're both fierce, fiery sides, and that's why our games are always so close."
GB's two goals came in the first half. The first was a superb reverse-hit from Alex Danson, the second was scored by Ashleigh Ball after a penalty corner. Now they are getting accustomed to playing in front of big crowds on their home pitch, they are turning into a formidable side.
