Bullying, tournament chaos and a 22-hour flight shared between rivals: the Argentine Super Cup (also) is defined in Arabia

Racing Club's Emiliano Insúa disputes for the ball with Boca Juniors' Sebastián Villa during a league match last season. Marcelo Endelli (Getty Images)

Rafael Di Zeo, the legendary leader of the Boca Juniors barra brava, will see his team again in a soccer stadium after almost six years.

Banned from Argentina's stadiums by, among various judicial processes, a trial that investigates him for instigating an internal war between the ultras of Boca that left two dead and six wounded by firearms in 2013, he will do so more than 13,500 kilometers from Buenos Aires.

Boca Juniors will face Racing de Avellaneda in Abu Dhabi this Friday for a tournament invented for the occasion: the "International Super Cup" will face the two teams that defined the 2022 League at the last minute and that last Monday they had to put aside the rivalry to share the almost 22-hour flight to the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

Di Zeo, who, according to local media, managed to leave Argentina by placing a property belonging to his partner as a guarantee before the Court and who will be able to access the stadium because the Emirates does not have an agreement with Argentina to prohibit it, will be one of the few Argentines who will have the luxury of see the long-awaited rematch that has raised criticism against the Argentine Football Association (AFA).

Argentina is the first South American country that has boarded the train that brings the most attractive of global soccer to the countries of the Persian Gulf.

Last June, the AFA signed a four-year agreement with the Abu Dhabi Sports Council for "the holding of various Argentine soccer sporting events," according to a statement published at the time.

The first was a friendly match between Lionel Messi's team and the United Arab Emirates team: on November 16, four days before the start of the World Cup in Qatar where they lifted the World Cup, Argentina thrashed 0-5 against their great stars at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium.

Boca Juniors players train at the Hazza bin Zayed stadium, in Al Ain (United Arab Emirates), on January 19, 2023.SATISH KUMAR (REUTERS)

Almost a week after the World Cup, on December 29, the AFA confirmed that Boca and Racing would play a tournament on the same pitch.

The International Super Cup, which follows the path of the Spanish and Italian Super Cups that were defined this week in Saudi Arabia, is a tournament created for the occasion.

Argentina has been testing different competition formats in its professional divisions for years.

The original Super Cup, which has been played since 2012 and pits the champion of the Professional League against the champion of the Argentine Cup, was one of its few more or less stable variables.

This year it was to be played by Patronato, a humble team that won the Cup last October while descending to the second division, and Boca, who won the league from Racing in a last game that crossed both with the other's classic rival.

Boca had reached the last date of the league as the leader and with Racing just one point behind.

The tournament was defined at the last minute: Boca won the game against Independiente de Avellaneda until the 81st minute, when the tie came, and ended up lifting the trophy because River Plate beat Racing stopping a penalty in the last minute added.

Boca had also won the League Cup, a tournament that was played for the third time last year and was decided in May.

With Boca as the winner of its two new tournaments, the AFA decided to face the second of both in a new one, which ended up being called the Champions Trophy.

Racing played a semifinal against Tigre, who had lost the May final with Boca, and returned to face the blue and gold team almost two weeks after the definition of the League.

This time Avellaneda's team won in an agonizing game: they scored 2-1 in the 118th minute and the final whistle had to be brought forward due to the expulsion of 11 players.

Meanwhile, the Board of Trustees still does not know if it will play its Super Cup.

Racing and Boca, who have not seen each other since then, met again on Monday, when they shared a specially equipped flight to take them to Abu Dhabi.

According to the newspaper Olé, they decided to raffle their places on the plane to avoid uncomfortable crossings: Racing traveled ahead and Boca back.

The match, which with the fresh wound will seek to be the spearhead for the export of Argentine soccer to the Middle East, marks the return of national soccer after Argentina's victory in the World Cup in Qatar.

It will also be a return to reality for the AFA and its president, Claudio

Tapia, who has lived a dream summer with the World Cup in his arms and without having to think about the continuous chaos of the local calendar.

Until this Friday.

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