In a few hours the planet will be a soccer ball. The Qatar 2022 World Cup begins and all eyes are on what will happen in the Persian Gulf. On the other side of the globe, in Argentina, soccer is the most serious of all passions, illusion has been overflowing for some time.
The fury, the passion and the expectations of Argentines and Argentines with the competition is something cyclical. Dreams of maximum soccer glory are reborn in these southern lands every four years. They even say that life is what happens between the World Cup and the World Cup. And they are somewhat right.
Qatar will be the fourth World Cup that I live in Argentina. I arrived in the country in July 2010, during the tournament in South Africa. I landed exactly after the quarterfinal match in which Germany broke the gauchos’ dream with a 4-0 win. It was not only Messi’s team, it was Messi under the baton of Maradona, the two historical 10 on the same ground. At the Ezeiza airport, a melancholic choreography of head-down walkers had been unleashed. Not a soul was heard in the streets.
Then came Brazil 2014 and the euphoria of reaching the final paralyzed the country. The inflamed albiceleste fans emulated with the local in the South American giant. It seemed that yes, that this time it did happen. But again the Teutons, in injury time, won.
Four years later Russia 2018 arrived and it passed for the Argentines with much more pain than glory. Better not remember. They were eliminated in the round of 16 by France who, in the end, were crowned champions.
Throughout those twelve years and three World Cups, the history of the country resembles the performance of the national team: cycles of hope and despair. Left and right governments. A president who led the country socially and economically and another who succeeded her and put her in debt for more than a century. Pandemic. Crisis. War. Argentina Champion of America 2021. Devaluation of wages. Rich always richer. Ten million people below the poverty line in a cattle-raising country with large tracts of productive land. triumphs. joys. defeats. Tears. And, every four years, to dream again; and again.
Marcelo Bielsa, coach and a sort of sports philosopher once said: “We should make it clear to the majority that success is an exception. Human beings occasionally succeed. They usually develop, fight, strive and win from time to time. Very occasionally”.
The “crazy” Bielsa did not theorize. He felt it in his own flesh. He directed the Argentine national team between 1998 and 2004. Loved deliriously by some and criticized by others, he is credited with the failure of the albiceleste in Korea-Japan 2002, after being left out in the group stage. At the same time, they applaud him for the Olympic gold medal in Athens 2004.
In Qatar, that long-awaited “very occasionally” could occur. The team led by Lionel Scaloni arrives at the contest with an excellent level. National and foreign analysts give Argentina as a candidate to play the final. The albiceleste has thirty-six games without losing.
He won the 2021 Copa América 1-0 against Brazil, his classic rival, at the legendary Maracana stadium. The victory ended the negative streak of twenty-eight years without obtaining a title and the bitter taste of losing in several finals between the Copa América and World Cups.
Hence, this time the expectations seem to have no ceiling. There is no one who does not want to get on “La Scaloneta”, as the team has been popularly nicknamed by the last name of its young technical director.
To cling to the illusion there is much more than sports: the superstitious have at their disposal a long list, viral and even publicized, of matches between 2022 and 1986, the year in which Argentina lifted the Cup in the hands of Diego Armando Maradona.
There is everything. For those looking for statistics, Canada has only qualified twice in its history for a World Cup, in 1986 and now. For its part, Nigeria will not be present in Qatar 2022, just as it was absent in Mexico 86. The final of this World Cup is scheduled for 12 noon, like the final in the Aztec country. Finally, in Mexico 1986, the albiceleste had the best player in the world, Maradona, in their squad, with the 10 on his number. In 2022 he returns with the 10 Messi, the best in the world.
Very nice extra football coincidences have been scored. One is that Robert De Niro visited Argentina in 1986 to shoot a movie. He would take thirty-six years to return. A couple of months ago he was filming a series on location in Buenos Aires.
The esoterics also have their cabals. In December, while the World Cup is taking place in Qatar, the planet Jupiter, which represents good luck and achievement of goals, will be in Pisces. They say that it was like that during Mexico 1986, when Argentina was champion.
“For those who need coincidences, there are coincidences. For those who believe in the team, there is a team”, says the advertisement for an Argentine beer these days. For now, let the ball roll in the World Cup stadiums in the Middle East and dream and get excited, what’s up.
