Argentina, Argentina, Argentina…! Champions of the world…! Better than that, three-time champions…! Argentina champion in the best final in the history of the World Cups and in a spectacular Cup, for brilliance and grandeur, for football and ups and downs.
The mind escapes and flies, crossing 13,000 kilometers in a fraction of a second and thinking of the forty-five million exultant Argentines, crazy with happiness, celebrating the Argentine style, overwhelmed, visceral, because England is the cradle of football and Brazil the homeland of the beautiful game, but Argentina is the capital of passion.
(Argentina and Messi, the Cup is theirs: world champions in Qatar 2022)
(Argentina: this was the madness in the dressing room of the world champion, video)
We are soccer. This Cup returns the pride of having given birth to Di Stéfano, Maradona and Messi, three of the four gods of round Olympus. It also returns it to South American football, so frayed in recent times. Now we force the world to look at us on the map, here we are, this is what we are: champions.
The journalist is a professional and his analysis must be aseptic of passions, but he is also human and has a childhood, a sense of belonging, his training, a culture behind it. And he asks the reader for permission to incur in the first person singular and release the DNA that gives one’s homeland.
What one suffers for being Argentine does not compare with what one is grateful for being one. An anarchic, disorderly, chaotic, exaggerated, but irreverent and talented country, the homeland of humor and music, of barbecue and wine, of Borges, Gardel, Di Stéfano, Maradona, Messi, Fangio, Piazzolla, Ginóbili, Cortázar, Tita Merello, Discépolo, Che, Fontanarrosa, Mafalda, Sandro, Calamaro, the Pope FranciscoDarín, Francella and so many geniuses in all fields of human activity.
And we get bigger, and we fall, and we push our chests out again, and we hit the ground again, in the country and in soccer. But as soon as an improvement appears we stand up again and fill the planes to be local wherever. Taste…? Let’s go forty thousand.
Sometimes insolent, sometimes hateful, but how beautiful it is to be Argentine…! It’s like we’re so daring we’re not afraid of anything. We are a thick stew of our native and the gaucho, scrambled with Galicians, Tanos, Poles, Germans, Yugoslavs, Russians, Turks, Arabs… A tiny particle emerged from all that mixture: the Argentine.
In a critical moment of his, Argentina is world champion. That speaks of resilience. The soccer world title exceeds sports, he says of high spiritual and intellectual values, of ingenuity and stamina, of a strong and temperate leg. The Argentine player, with confidence, works with everything that he has behind him, with his family, the neighborhood, his friends, he goes all there… He feels that he should not fail.
Lionel Messi
There is an Argentine way of playing soccer, it is this, with class and intelligence, but with passion and attitude. As Calamaro says in Aztec stadiumthese guys have “what you have to have and not all of us have”.
And Messi is obviously a guy with a divine connection. He is capable of making the rest of the world turn around and love us. But then he would miss out on the compelling taste of having everyone against him. That opposition, that almost hostility feeds us, gives us an overwhelming inner strength. Messi is the cause of a good part of the universe wanting our victory.
He finally achieved that elusive title. And with all letters: he was the savior against Mexico, he scored 7 goals, he was the most valuable player in 6 games, World Cup Golden Ball and the captain of victory. He ended the debate forever: he is the best player of all time. And he raised the bar from 30 to 35. Never has a player of this age reached such high levels of performance.
Pelé withdrew from the World Cups at 29, Maradona was almost a former player at 30. Diego was the most present absentee. If he had been alive, he would surely be here in Doha and would have hugged Messi. He marked the way forever: you must not slack off, you must persist until you achieve it. Leo did everything humanly possible to be champion. And went. And now he’s going for the eighth annual Ballon d’Or. Or who else…? He is also going for another Champions League. He silenced the contras forever, he buried the comparisons with Cristiano Ronaldoentered eternity.
To the long gallery of illustrious Argentines we must add Dibu Martinez, the hero goalkeeper, the one with the extroverted and overflowing personality. In minute 138 and a fraction, the last action of the tournament, he avoided defeat. He covered an impossible goal ball to Kolo Muani and sent the game to penalties. And there he stopped one again, which was decisive. Dibu confided years ago: “if they take me to the national team, I will make Messi the champion.” He complied.
Superiority
“First you have to know how to suffer”, says Homero Expósito in his tango Naranjo en flor. And here it was demonstrated that soccer is an emotional fact above tactics and individualities. Argentina displayed fantastic football for eighty minutes. He was far superior in all aspects of the game. He won 2-0 and gave lessons. The second goal, from Di Marìa, competes to be the best of the tournament. Messi, Mac Allister and Cuti Romero were the emirs of the field. Advance, mental vigor, category in the pass, precise and precious movement.
Such was the superiority that the French DT Didier Deschamps He made two tactical changes at minute 41 of the first half, something that is never seen even in regional matches. It must be a record in the World Cups. But the disorientation of his troops was total and he had to get his hands on it. Nothing changed. France continued as stunned. But one of those changes – Kolo Muani – would bring him to life.
When the result seemed close and packed, a long run by Kolo Muani caused an error by Otamendi, who committed a penalty. It was the alarm clock for Mbappé, who had watched the game up until then. Mbappé shot very hard and made it 1-2. And unleashed the storm. There were 17 minutes left adding the discount. An eternity. And seconds later it fell 2-2, again from Mbappé with a dream volley.
Argentina, as against the Netherlands, seemed to be knocked out. But they went to extra time and the light blue and white came back again, Messi scored 3-2, Mbappé made it 3-3 with another penalty (all three were well penalized). Unlimited drama and emotion, non-stop back and forth.
France ended up acting in extra time with ten Afro-descendant outfield players and physically commanding because scaloni He delayed the replacements until the end to see if they would go to penalties and put two specialists: Dybala and Montiel.
It was not fair that France took a Cup that from there was reviled and boycotted, to which they turned their faces. But let’s not fall for France country or this magnificent team of Mbappé, it was his journalism that fired non-stop to bring down the billboard.
He could not: the French people broke all television audience records. It was the final of the finals for spectacle, drama and changing situations. And the winner is perfect: he did much more for the victory. Come on, Argentina, still…!
(Dibu Martínez, ‘king of the world’: memes of the world title of Argentina vs. France)
(Lionel Scaloni: who is the brain of the Argentine champion? Profile)
last tango…
Jorge Barraza
For the time
@JorgeBarrazaOK
#world #yours.. #Argentina #tango