Bangladesh is also the homeland of Messi and Maradona

Argentina finished first in their World Cup group in Qatar and the country went from funeral to revelry.

Lionel Messi's team faces Australia this Saturday in the round of 16 with renewed hope after the defeat of the first game against Saudi Arabia.

The World Cup in the middle of the southern summer and the veiled idea that, this being the last time Messi will play, it is now or never, have unleashed optimism in the streets.

Office workers, children and tourists, application distributors, taxi drivers and even pets wear a light blue and white T-shirt with the number 10 on the back.

The party of 45 million Argentines, these days, can only be compared with an echo 17,000 kilometers away.

In Bangladesh, homeland of 167 million people to the east of India, each Argentine goal is celebrated as in the Obelisk of Buenos Aires.

Argentina's victory over Mexico a week ago brought thousands of people to the streets of Dhaka, the Bengali capital, despite the fact that the match ended at dawn.

The same thing happened after the victory –and the classification- against Poland.

Even a television presenter from that country decided to wear the Argentine shirt on the news as a celebration.

The love of Bangladesh and much of South Asia for the Argentine team is an old story that began, of course, with Diego Armando Maradona.

On June 22, 1986, Maradona scored a goal with his hand and then left five defenders on the way to score one of the most beautiful goals in history.

That day, Argentina eliminated England in the quarterfinals of the World Cup in Mexico, in a match that is much more present in national memory than the final they won days later against Germany.

The 10 not only wrote his legend as one of the best players in history, he also earned the title of national hero: by then, Argentina was three years after the return to democracy and four years after the defeat against the United Kingdom in the Falkland Islands war, the latest nonsense of the military dictatorship.

Those goals were also shouted in the Hindustan peninsula, where India and Pakistan (whose eastern part, Bangladesh, claimed its own sovereignty in 1971) had won their independence from the British crown in 1957. Nearly 15 years earlier, Bengal, the most colony, saw almost three million people die in a famine decreed from London.

Winston Churchill and the British Army were suffering against Japan and, fearing that the Japanese Army would invade their colonies, they burned the planted land.

Fans in Calcutta say goodbye to Maradona by throwing petals on the statue that was erected in his honor, on November 26, 2020.Hindustan Times (Getty Images)

Today, a 10-meter statue of the Maradona who lifted that World Cup adorns the city of Calcutta, the capital of Bengal, in India.

The Argentine phenomenon, who visited the city in 2017 for the inauguration of the monument, reminded them then: "I am not God, I am a simple player who made people smile on a soccer field."

The Bangladesh soccer team, which was founded in 1972, a year after independence, has never qualified for a World Cup, and its people renewed their love for Maradona with an almost absolute devotion to Lionel Messi.

This Saturday, as always when Argentina plays, the streets of the region will be filled with light blue and white flags and shirts.

Midnight Party in Mymensingh, Bangladesh 🇧🇩 after Argentina's victory over Poland 🇦🇷🇵🇱 pic.twitter.com/p4Hjxc4yRP

— ARG Soccer News ™ 🇦🇷⚽🚨 (@ARG_soccernews) December 2, 2022

“This is just a soccer game,” Argentine coach Lionel Scaloni recalled after last week's victory against Mexico.

"It's hard to make people understand that the sun rises tomorrow, win or lose."

While Scaloni juggles to control the anxieties of 45 million Argentines, the other homeland of the Argentine team that also dreams of South Asia makes itself felt.

This Friday, after being consulted at a press conference, the coach thanked the support from Bangladesh: "It fills us with pride that they support Argentina."

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