“EI was born in Argentina, land of Diego and Lionel...” This is how the song “Boys, now we got excited again” by the Ska and Alternative Rock band La Mosca Tse Tse begins, which has become a mantra for Argentine fans during the World Cup Qatar 2022.
And it is that gauchos soccer fans have been dreaming of getting the third world title in their history for 36 years. The last one was built in Mexico in 1986, when Diego Armando Maradona he was immortalized as an eternal football idol of that country.
But in the years that have elapsed between that moment of glory and the present, the honey of triumph has been elusive, though close at hand. In the 1990 World Cup in Italy they reached the final of the tournament, but they lost it to Germany by a penalty with a few minutes to go until the end of the match.
In Brazil 2014 history was repeated. The Argentines were left looking at each other with a sad face, wondering why they were not given what they so longed for, while the Germans, with their usual serenity, celebrated their fourth world championship.
For this moment Lionel Messithe one chosen by fate and the Argentine fans to succeed Diego Maradona as the greatest idol, cried, as did the fans.
“I can’t explain it to you because you won’t understand, the finals we lost, how many years I cried for them. But that ended because in the Maracaná the final with the Brazuca was won again by dad ”, follow the popular song.
It refers to 2021 when soccer destiny smiled at the Albiceleste again and Lionel Messi, who for many is the best player in history, lifted the Copa América at the Maracana stadium in Rio, after defeating Brazil. The fans became excited again that his team could get the long-awaited third World Cup.
“Guys, now we are excited again, I want to win the third and be world champion”was heard in unison in the Qatar stands every time the Argentine National Team took to the pitch.
That impulse from the fans led the team led by Lionel Scaloni will qualify for the sixth final in its history in the World Cups.
This final, which may be Lionel Messi’s last dance in the World Cups, will be the first that the Argentine team will play without Diego Maradona, who died in November 2020.
“And to Diego that we can see in heaven, with Don Diego and with La Tota, encouraging Leonel” says the last verse of the song, which even Messi himself and his teammates have sung in the dressing room after the victories in this World Cup.
This Sunday Messi has the opportunity to lift the third cup for the Argentines in Lusail and, in this way, shout that they were born in the land of Diego and Lionel.
Oh… and that Maradona, together with Don Diego and La Tota (his parents), a divine smile from heaven, which, like the Argentine flag, is usually dyed blue and white.
40.000
Argentine fans traveled to Qatar to see Messi’s last World Cup
The most striking facts that the Qatar 2022 World Cup has left
The move to the final of the Argentine National Team unleashed madness among the fans in the gaucho country, who celebrated. In cities like Buenos Aires and Rosario, where Lionel Messi was born, large groups of fans gathered to celebrate. In the capital, thousands of followers gathered in front of the Obelisk, a renowned monument located in the Plaza de la República, in the downtown area of the city. While in Rosario, some soccer fans made a giant Lionel Messi shirt fly over the Paraná River, attached to a helicopter. The jacket was 15 meters long by 12 meters wide and weighed about 60 kilograms.
This tournament had a removable stadium. It was 974, built from containers. The name of the stage is due to the number of these elements that were necessary to erect it, since that number is the international code of Qatar for long distance calls. Seven games were played in it. Six of them were for the group stage and the last one for the round of 16 between Brazil and South Korea. After that game was over the teardown began. It is speculated that it would be donated to Uruguay to be used if the South American country is chosen to host the 2030 World Cup.
The Qatar 2022 World Cup will also go down in history for events that occurred off the pitch. In addition to the complaints about the violation of the human rights of the migrants who worked in the construction of the stadiums and the discrimination against homosexual people, the death of three journalists during the tournament was added. The American Grant Wahl, apparently died of a cardiac arrest that he suffered during the extension of the match between the Netherlands and Argentina. The other two deceased were the Qatari photojournalist Khalid Al Misslam and the Englishman Roger Pearce, also from a heart attack.
Moroccan forward Youssef En-Nesyri, one of the figures in the African team that became the first team from that continent to reach the semifinals of a World Cup, surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo as the footballer who had jumped the highest to score a goal upside down The attacker, who plays for Sevilla in Spain, rose 2.78 meters to connect a cross that his teammate Yahia Attiyat Allah sent him from the left sector of the field and scored the 1-0 with which Morocco defeated Portugal in the round of 16 final of the World Cup. The record that Cristiano had was 2.56 meters.
