There are millions of Argentines who make up a generation that, for many years, was not linked to the National Team
.
Who lived on anecdotes from parents, grandparents and uncles who convinced them that "everything in the past was better", who consumed hours and hours of these new ways of communicating where they were mercilessly criticized, where even the intentions of some were questioned. players when they wore the albiceleste shirt.
All that was left behind:
the party of the World Champion Team at the Monumental stadium came to deliver a new sample of 'Argentinity'
, the one we sometimes boast of and other times we prefer not to reflect on.
Because you don't have to try to explain or analyze passion,
football is a mass phenomenon
.
Life crosses us on a daily basis, our state of mind often depends on the result of our team.
It is enough to remember the streets of the City of Buenos Aires flooded with people on December 20 or the miracle that it meant to have
had the privilege among more than 2 million people of getting one of the 63,000 tickets
that were put up for sale to witness the match against Panama.
Without fear of error, there was a
large percentage
of those who were at the Monumental this Thursday who
were baptized in a National Team match
and even in a football match of any kind.
As happened in 1978 -covering up the darkest time in our country- or in 1986, the title in Qatar 2022 served to distance us a bit from reality.
Or not make us think, at least.
There is no crack there worth.
Parents and children went to the field to enjoy the fields of the world.
Photo: Juano Tesone
The chill that runs through the skin
when eleven guys running after a ball makes
everyone excited and celebrate
: there is no gender, there is no age, there is no political color, there is nothing else.
And if they don't tell those thousands of boys and girls (yes, because there were thousands in a proportion of 1 or 2 for every adult) who endured almost six hours of waiting until the entrances opened under intense heat and humidity, even causing some minor health problem.
Everyone, absolutely everyone, had an Argentine National Team shirt, and there was no need to dwell on whether they had two or three stars, but rather on their backs.
Madness before the doors opened.
Photo: Juano Tesone
Messi predominated, Di María followed him and De Paul and Julián Álvarez were also repeated a lot.
Be careful, it was not only albiceleste, but also some green or red stood out in honor of 'Dibu' Martínez, one of the most applauded of the night.
After avoiding the control rings and under a massive police operation, fathers and mothers explained to their children hand in hand where they had to enter, what they were going to see.
"Where is the court?"
, asked a little boy no more than five years old to his father, without realizing that he was just 50 meters from the Monument.
"It's all that, inside is the field where they play
," the man replied, in a didactic way.
But all that
joy and illusion contrasted with another image
, which unfortunately was repeated a lot during the entire unforgettable day of the Monumental.
You had to pass the turnstiles that validated the tickets, three in different sectors of the way to the grandstand.
And when we talk about those situations in which we prefer not to reflect on ourselves as Argentines, we are referring to this: despite previous warnings,
many bought tickets that were not official
, due to the hope and emotion that being able to be present caused them.
Some fans were cheated with trout tickets.
Photo: Juano Tesone
And those children with their dreams on their backs, changed to a
total disappointment
.
The tears were instantaneous when the employee on duty announced that
their tickets were "true"
.
That happened to the first family (dad, mom and two girls under the age of 15) that crossed the security fence and showed their entrance: bounced and a heartbreaking cry from the smallest, who had to leave head down.
For that, there is no explanation either
.
Those who were drawing levels even celebrated it.
There were some who were encouraged to dance like 'Dibu' in the warm-up, with his iconic celebration after the missed penalty by Frenchman Aurélien Tchouaméni in the penalty shootout at the Lusail stadium.
"I just want to see Messi, I traveled from Río Negro after my parents got the tickets. An hour and 13 minutes by plane and three taxis to get here,"
Santiago explained, with surgical precision despite his short 10 years.
Los Totora, one of the afternoon shows to wait for the National Team.
Photo: Juano Tesone.
The entrance to the Monumental was agile.
Inside, the party was already set up with DJ Fer Palacio -the one chosen by the world champion players- playing music that left no room for boredom.
Before each 'field' song, the public did its part and the skin shuddered again.
It was all timed and well conducted by
Sergio Goycoechea
, another who raised fanaticism in his past days as goalkeeper for the National Team and who did not want to miss the party, like several of the champions of 78 and 86, who received the players in the locker room door.
Of course, to avoid repeating the scenes of last December, a post-lunch transfer operation was set up at the Ezeiza property and in separate vans, so that the soccer players could rest in the River concentration the hours before the duel.
The cabal field reconnaissance with Paredes and De Paul at the helm.
Photo: Juano Tesone
Los Totora
,
La T y la M
, Tula with its bass drum and Fernando Romero -the author of the hit 'Muchachos' that echoed over and over again in the stands of the Monumental- were the ideal prelude.
The first outburst came with the appearance on the screen of the footballers walking around the ring of the stadium, and it extended to the moment in which
De Paul
and
Paredes
went out to fulfill their custom of eating chewy candies in the central circle.
The third musketeer was
Alejandro Papu Gómez
, absent due to injury.
As much as you have experienced it many times, it is even difficult to put words to what the Argentine National Anthem causes then on a soccer field and in a match of the Argentine National Team.
That is why
Dibu Martínez cried
uncontrollably,
Messi's glassy-eyed emotion
and the
smile contemplating the panorama of Alexis Mac Allister
, keeping it in the depths of his heart.
Yes, there was a game in the middle but the innumerable number of goal options that La Scaloneta accumulated until relief with
Thiago Almada
's volley did not matter much afterward ;
or the delay of the harsh and long-winded Panama, which was the only thing that exasperated the public.
Messi, the magnet of all the applause.
Photo: Juano Tesone.
The icing on the cake was put by the King, the Flea, Leo or whatever you want to call him: on his sixth free kick attempt -he had nailed two to the posts- he hung it at an angle and caused the idyll to be even stronger,
his
arms move in praise format with the famous "Messi, Messi" (with the stretched e) and the party is complete with the 800th goal of his professional career.
The 35-year-old from Rosario took the microphone and showed what a good leader he is:
he asked to remember all those who tried by his side and were so close to winning the World Cup and the Copa América before this golden age
.
Messi and family with the World Cup in the Olympic lap.
Photo: Juano Tesone.
The objective was accomplished
.
To enjoy a celebration that waited 36 years to see the World Cup lift again and that, hopefully, the next generations will not have to keep repeating that "every time in the past was better."
look too
Panama delayed the smiles of the world champions until Almada and Messi, with goal 800, made the Monumental explode
The applause meter of the Argentine National Team party: who were the most applauded after Messi?