Buenos Aires, Argentina)in the book Soccer in sun and shadow (1995), the Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano asked himself: “How is football similar to God?” And he answered: “In the devotion that many believers have for him and in the mistrust that many intellectuals have for him”. Devotion alone would fall short if we had to describe what, a few hours before the World Cup final in Qatar, is being experienced in the city of Buenos Aires. The fans blindly believe in the Argentine team, which will play against France on Sunday after qualifying, last Tuesday, in a placid match against Croatia, with a goal from Messi and two from Julián Álvarez, the “nene” who adored Messi when he was learning to play football.
Tuesday’s party at the Obelisk – the monument where football victories are celebrated – lasted until late in the morning, even though the game had ended at quarter past six in the afternoon. With flags, trumpets and drums, people jumped, danced and chanted the chants that have become popular this World Cup. There were also those who climbed traffic lights, bus shelters and even the national flag pole that flies at the intersection between 9 de Julio and Corrientes, two of the city’s main arteries, cut off for the celebration.
Argentina’s football patriotism is not gratuitous: it has historical and socio-cultural components that must be disentangled to understand a feeling that, from other parts of the planet, can be judged as a simple irrational phenomenon. It all begins in the twenties of the last century, when the magazine The graphicwhich sold around 300,000 copies weekly, distinguishes for the first time the soccer river plate of English football: “Argentine football is starting to be thought of as a particular brand, with the dribble (dribbling) as a characteristic element”, José Garriga Zucal, PhD in social anthropology from the Universidad Nacional de San Martín, explains to the ARA.
Football reaches its peak in the 1986 World Cup
From then on, an “Argentinity” became present in national football that reached its peak with the two goals that Diego Armando Maradona scored against England in the World Cup in Mexico, in 1986. “Only four years had passed since the war in the Falklands, the wound was still open in the country… and Maradona scores two goals for the English”. One of them, the historic “hand of God”, which exemplifies the other indispensable element of Argentine football: “Creole” mischief.
On the 40th anniversary of the war and the first World Cup without “El Diego”, the invocation of Maradona these days is constant. According to the fans, he is accompanying the selection – and more specifically, Messi – from heaven. There is an almost mystical component to the way soccer is experienced in Argentina: “It is experienced as something sacred. It’s not about religion, but about what goes beyond earthly life”, says Garriga. From here derives a tendency to superstition (or magic) that results in the guess: rituals that are followed to bring luck to one’s own team. There are those who always meet the same people to watch the matches, who put photographs of the rival team in the freezer, or the case of coach Carlos Bilardo, who in the 1986 World Cup forbade the players to eat chicken during the tournament. The World Cup, that year, was lifted by the Argentine team.
“The guess they have to do with the fact that Argentines consider ourselves actors, and not spectators, of the game. In a way, we believe that the breath we give to our team will affect what happens on the field.” Loyalty and fervor are the dominant values in Argentina’s fans, considered by many to be the best in the world. This self-representation, successfully exported, also “forces” them to cheer during the 90 minutes of the match, and to celebrate victories or mourn defeats as if the world were to end. “It’s part of our identity”, says Garriga. “But we are not fools”, warns: “No one thought that if we won Holland, inflation would go down. It’s just that festive things can put the juncture aspects on hold for a while: the moment when your team wins is the moment of maximum happiness. The next day the country will be the same, but that’s not why we will give up the enjoyment of football”.
The same goes for the ethical issues surrounding the World Cup: in Europe, they have been reason enough for many people to boycott the tournament, while in Argentina this current has not existed. Garriga explains that the country lives this issue knowing that it is secondary in the international order, and claims the praxis of Maradona, who took advantage of the visibility that football gave him to openly criticize FIFA and the powerful.
The leadership of Leo Messi
Regarding the leadership of Messi, who has the fans in love with a more challenging character than ever, there is a consensus that he is a less questionable character than Maradona, although “el gordo”, as they affectionately call him, will always be incomparable. “Messi has a logic of humility that challenges us”, and the link he has maintained with his native Rosario, where he spends the Christmas holidays despite the fact that he has not lived there for years, is also valued. In the construction of the popular idol, says Garriga, the values that have to do with the nation and with what is collectively loved: Argentina, family and friends are essential. And Messi embodies all this with genuineness.
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2024/04/29/3957777-80369248-2560-1440.jpg?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1)