"These buckets of cold water, it's better to receive them now," a journalist on the TN
news signal resigns
, giving encouragement.
“Before there was a goal and you celebrated it.
Now you have to wait and think two or three times before celebrating”, replies another, very angry at the new VAR dictatorship, which cost Argentina the cancellation of three goals in the first half.
They all talk together, without listening to each other.
The confusion was huge on television, while Buenos Aires went out before daylight.
The Argentines sat in front of a television at 7:00 in the morning, convinced that the first chapter of a great party awaited them.
A few thousand even left home to watch the game on some of the giant screens that the municipalities placed in the most emblematic squares.
The children did not go to school, authorized to enter later.
Argentina has lost 2-1 in its Qatari debut against Saudi Arabia.
The older ones remembered Argentina 0 – Cameroon 1 that in 1990 left a team that had just been champion in Mexico frozen.
That day Diego Maradona was on the field.
"When they scored the goal, Maradona ceased to exist, I didn't expect it," he said after the defeat, in the third person.
The road was tortuous, but at the end of the day Carlos Bilardo's team reached the final, which they lost against Germany.
The Argentines now cling to that memory, to convince themselves that all is not lost.
Maradona is missing, but Messi is there, they are repeated like a mantra.
Statistics lovers lament that
La Scaloneta
was, with 36, one victory away from reaching the undefeated record held by the Italian team.
On Monday everyone considered the feat accomplished, if in the end Saudi Arabia was just a minor team, the "easy" one in the area.
Now everyone has pulled out the calculator, tormented by the obligation to win.
“And if we lose to Mexico?
And if we stay outside?
Today we leave sad, but we trust in a rematch soon”, says another journalist on camera.
Better not think too much.
More information
Saudi Arabia leaves Argentina dreaming
Now everyone is looking at Messi.
"We have to show that we are a strong group," says the star, just after the game.
Just a moment ago he was clutching his head and now he has put on the group leader shirt again.
The 10 seemed lost in the second half, without the spark with which it dazzled in the Copa América.
The feeling of perpetual defeat once again devastates a country that had clung to the World Cup as a spell against general discouragement.
The economic crisis does not let up, inflation does not stop growing, politicians fight and suddenly this slap arrives without warning.
“It happened to Spain against Switzerland”, in the debut of the World Cup that they finally ended up winning in South Africa 2010, a fan wrapped in the Argentine flag cheered.
"It's a sad day, but we have to keep going," said Lionel Scaloni, in charge of raising the spirits of his players.
“In four minutes they scored two goals for us, in what were the only two shots on target.
There is no other option but to get up, we have to win the next two games.
Head up and continue, ”the coach harangued, without hiding his bitterness.
The question is whether the Argentines are willing to make such an effort.
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Classification
Group C | PT | P.J. | PG | PE | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 KSA | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
two MEX | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
3 POL | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
4 ARG | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Group C | PT | P.J. | PG | PE | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 KSA | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
two MEX | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
3 POL | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
4 ARG | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |