Stories of passion and fanaticism, traditions, cabals and World Cup anecdotes came together this afternoon at the Obelisk in the crowd that gathered there to celebrate the victory of the Argentine team against its Croatian counterpart that qualified it for the Qatar 2022 World Cup final.
Columns of fans advanced towards the obelisk walking along Diagonal Norte and Avenida de Mayo, while in the Plaza de Mayo a large family group jumped and sang in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral, waiting for the traffic light to enable them to cross; Sergio Galván, a music producer from the Matanzas town of San Justo, told Télam: “we were watching the game with the whole family and as soon as it was over we grabbed our children and grandchildren and came to celebrate with all the people.”
“This team and these players showed that we are Argentina, that despite stumbling in the first game we got up and on Sunday we will have the dream of playing in the final,” he added.
Lucas, Sergio’s son-in-law, added: “We watched all the games together, and now we don’t want to get out of this beautiful madness, I want to celebrate this until the final starts on Sunday.”
Olga Monzón is the sister of Pedro Monzón, the defender of Independiente who in the 1990 World Cup became the first player to be expelled in a world final, in a corner of Diagonal Norte he offered Argentine flags with the faces of Messi or Maradona to 1,000 pesos each.
In dialogue with Télam, Olga recounted: “we are a very soccer-loving family, today I came with my granddaughter and since noon we have been going around here; I have already sold about 20 flags, but the joy of sharing this celebration with all these people and That the youngest members of the family can participate is the most important thing”.
Juan Carlos, 60, who, together with his friend, came from the town of Villa Elisa in La Plata to celebrate Messi’s victory with their faces painted blue and white at the Obelisk, was confident: “We came out champion” , although he confessed that “I thought we were going to penalties, but we didn’t suffer anything.”
Fabián, a street vendor who arrived with Argentina team shirts from the town of La Matanza, told Télam: “Since I arrived I have already sold about 15 shirts, but what makes me really happy and content is the game that these kids played. and this joy of all these people; hopefully on Sunday they can take the little step that is missing for us to be champions”.
Rodrigo, an engineering student, told Télam: “with my brother and my friends we came to watch the game in a bar near the Obelisk to be here as soon as it’s over, this is a huge emotion and we have a huge illusion of being able to give the back on Sunday.”
Cristian, a high school student from Lomas de Zamora, told Télam: “Today I took the best photo of my life, I climbed to the top of the traffic light and the kids took it with the Obelisk and this band of people celebrating in the background. “.
“We are ‘ready’ for everything, this team is a candidate and already being able to play the final is a joy that no one will be able to take from us, my brother died in a car accident and I know from heaven he is also celebrating with us,” he added.
Iñaki, a resident of the city of Buenos Aires who arrived at the Obelisk with his girlfriend, his sister-in-law and their friends, told Télam: “Today we stay here until the party is over; at home we have many cabals for each party, we put incense sticks in each room, we have an egg disguised as the Acuña ‘egg’, although we are bosteros we use a River mate, we order the same flavors of ice cream at halftime, for each match that the team wins we add a flag to the balcony, and many more things that we are going to repeat on Sunday because we feel that it is our way of helping these kids”.
Mauro (31) arrived at the obelisk with his wife Daiana, their two sons Julian and Esteban, fans of Messi, his cousin, his uncle and his father from Pablo Nogues.
“We watched all the games at home, the four of us alone, in the same chair and in the same place, nobody could move, then we went to look for my cousin Rocío (17), and the two grandmothers of the boys and friends of the boys”, said Daiana.
The designated driver to transport the whole family in an Amarok van is Mauro’s father, named Fernando, who was buying a poster of Messi and Dibu.
“They couldn’t miss it, I got the 12 of us on top of the truck and it took us more or less an hour to get there,” Fernando said.
“We feel joy, and with great enthusiasm to return on Sunday,” said Mauro.
Carlos Hernández (28) traveled from the La Matanza district with his son (6) and his friend, also Carlos, who, on the verge of tears, carries his daughter (5), and said he was “proud to be Argentine and live the World Cup with his family”, while his wife Carolina carried their baby Thiago (1) in her arms, while his brother took photos.
Carlos’s son wants to be a goalkeeper just like Dibu.
“This is our first time at the Obelisk with the boys, I’m very excited,” Carolina said.
In the middle of the Metrobús was the family of Luciana Toscana (37) who traveled from Saavedra with her comadre, sister, her two children and her comadre’s son.
Gian Lucas (10), Nahuel (11) and Galo (8), are the three fanatical cousins of Lionel Messi.
Paola Ocampos, Luciana’s comadre, was with her one and a half month old baby in her arms, while Melani Ocampos confessed to watching the game with her sister for the first time since she had had to work in previous games.
