A singing priest, an ex-head of state as a bringer of bad luck and dancing grandmothers in the streets: Argentina is going crazy before the World Cup final. Argentine scientists predict: The third title is near.
Positive madness has gripped Argentina. "Others have moons and stars on their national flags. But you stand up for the sun." The sports broadcaster TyC advertises Argentina and the World Cup, 1:43 pathetic minutes long, pinned to its YouTube channel. The occasion is just as important as the message: football, that's a feeling here. National pride, that's football.
The national colors, which are always present anyway, have found even more space on cars, balconies and shops among the 45 million Argentines. Flags hang next to portraits of Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, while some bus destination advertisements in Buenos Aires declare: "We keep dreaming." It goes without saying that the title at the World Cup in Qatar is at stake. About the final against France at 12:00 local time (16:00 CET), during which the sun will reach its zenith.
The tournament hit can be heard on the streets of the city, "Muchachos, we're dreaming again", whether from loudspeakers and via Spotify, where the version by the ska band "La Mosca" has become the most listened song, or from the throats of school groups , who are singing themselves warmly for the two-month summer vacation in the first Spring World Cup in South American history. Football in Argentina is also community and family, which the World Cup makes clear again.
In Villa Luro, a district of Buenos Aires, an alleged grandmother is the star: "Abuela Lalalalala" is the song that fans there sing about an old lady after the national team's victories, whom she chose as her lucky charm for the tournament. A recording of dancing together went viral, others in the country are now doing it, celebrating with the elderly in front of their houses or at retirement homes. Someone uploaded a video to Google of the old lady dancing, which can be seen among celebrating fans.
The newspapers are already speculating about what would happen if he won the title. Is the team coming to the government palace in Buenos Aires? Will there be a triumphal procession through the city and even a joint appearance with "La Mosca"? Eventually, the song became the national team's favorite hit, and Lionel Messi also mentioned it. One thing is certain: a victory would shake the country from Antarctica across the Rio de la Plata to the rainforest at the Iguazú Falls.
After the 3-0 win against Croatia, who were still runners-up in the world, Argentina celebrated perhaps the biggest post-semifinal break in recent football history. In Buenos Aires alone, tens of thousands flocked to the streets towards the center, dancing and singing for hours. There must have been hundreds of thousands across the country. Videos showed blocked highways, celebrating Argentines on the roofs of public buses and police cars, clergymen singing along with the fans.
Not all Argentines rely on their instincts. The Mathematics Institute of the University of Buenos Aires, together with the National Science Council, has already simulated the finale in distant Qatar a million times, fed with statistics from the Albiceleste and the French. The result: The probability of winning the title is a convincing 50.5 percent. The Europeans' title defense only has a vanishingly small chance in 49.5 percent of the cases.
It would be Argentina's first World Cup crowning since beating Germany in the 1986 final. After Mexico and the title premiere in 1978 in their own country, it would be the third overall but the first for Argentina outside of a Latin American country. The importance for the - temporary - well-being of Argentines is enormous in times of permanent economic crisis. Since 2018, the South American country has been sliding from one catastrophe to the next, while real wages are falling and poverty has become entrenched among around 35 percent of the population. Nevertheless, there are an estimated 35,000 Argentines in Qatar, with the exception of the 2014 World Cup in neighboring Brazil, there have never been more at world tournaments in the past two decades.
The political world is discussing what effect the title could have. Most agree: everyday problems will only be postponed, but nobody will benefit from them; Neither the ailing Peronist government, whose Vice President Cristina Kirchner was recently sentenced to six years in prison for corruption, nor the opposition. This includes ex-president Mauricio Macri, who is extremely unpopular among large parts of the population.
Macri is one of the richest entrepreneurs in the country and former president of Boca Juniors, the football club with the most members. At the World Cup he has a role that he doesn't like at all. In the land of footballing superstitions, where after a win everyone tries not to change a single detail about where, how and with whom a game is watched so as not to jeopardize success, Macri has become the involuntary helper of the national team.
Quite a few Argentinians consider the ex-head of state at this tournament to be "mufa", a bringer of bad luck. If he supports a team, they lose, according to the tongue-in-cheek superstition. Photomontages of him as Queen Máxima of the Netherlands (who is Argentine) or of him in the Polish fan block are circulating. Speaking about Croatia, he said they were the best team in the tournament. In addition, photos of him with ex-head of state Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and a Croatian national team jersey including his name circulated. The victory of the Albiceleste was convincing.
Of course there is already a photomontage with Macri holding a rooster in French colors and the trophy. The "discovery" of a photo with a French jersey and his name was celebrated online after France reached the final. Apart from that, it is considered a good omen that the referee's birthday is on January 7th - like the referee of the 1986 final.
But back to the facts: "France should come," the "Diario Popular" now sounds, and there is a plan. One consideration is relegating Gonzalo Montiel, who plays for Sevilla FC, to the unpredictable Kylian Mbappé. Montiel also signed off Neymar in the successful final of the South American championship last year. The defender became a national player in 2019 after the supposedly golden generation around Messi collapsed after the 2018 World Cup without a title.
The last of those left around the superstar, with Nicolás Otamendi at central defender and Ángel di Maria, who is on the bench as a feel-good angel after suffering a minor injury, have formed an effective unit. After the World Cup round of 16 in 2018 - against France - the team had not lost 36 games, a record. Last year she was crowned winner of the Copa America against Brazil at the Maracaná stadium, overcoming the curse of losing the finals.
Now the world champion is to be overthrown. Coach Lionel Scaloni raised the phrase "thinking from game to game" to a practical principle, almost nobody ever spoke of the title. Messi warmly said after the semi-final that it was a joy for the whole country and that the main thing was to enjoy the final. In a newspaper column from "La Nación", a journalist argued that success with the 35-year-old, best-ever Messi, interestingly, only came after Maradona died two years ago. The spirit of the legend probably drove into the current number 10.
The English-language "Buenos Aires Times" also showed a photo of Messi in its final special edition: "Date with Destiny", the captain of the Albiceleste has an appointment with fate. A reporter from Argentine television said to him after the semi-final victory: "Leo, there is not a child in Argentina that does not wear your jersey or imagine it", and assured the visibly emotional captain live: "No matter how the final ends, you touched every single Argentinian, everyone's life. That's more important than any World Cup title and nobody can take it away from you."
