Di María kisses the World Cup after beating France on penalties. CARL RECINE (REUTERS)
Dear Martin:
You had said, quite properly, that Argentina needs to suffer to win and confirmed it in a fabled final.
We were before a game to see standing.
There are yawning finals, like the one Germany won in Italy 1990 or the one Brazil won in the United States 1994. Others are spectacular due to the deployment of a single team, like the unbeatable Brazil in Mexico 1970. You rarely see a match like this , where the manifest Argentine superiority was about to be defeated by the French resistance.
If I had to sum up the passion, anguish and beauty of this game, I would choose Dibu Martínez's save in minute 123. The only one authorized to use his hands did a work of art with his foot.
Argentina was saved from a goal that would have been not only lethal but undeserved because they had played better, although we already know that Temis, the bandaged goddess of justice, does not set foot in the stadiums.
Cabals favor those who know how to conceive them and the friends of magical coincidences discovered that the referee who whistled the 1986 final and the one who whistled this one were born on January 7th.
For many, the data was equivalent to a sign from the Holy Spirit.
Also the different fiber of the teams suggested an albiceleste triumph.
While France did what was necessary to win, Argentina risked their lives in every game.
In my last column I commented that I had a greater sense of tragedy to raise the glass.
Today I must say that, if it is about generating drama, yours went too far, demonstrating that they only reach glory through the well-deserved path of pain.
For 75 minutes they seemed to have too easy a win.
The referee gave them a penalty with the kindness of someone who distributes Danish cookies.
The VAR became mysterious again and did not review the play in which Di María seemed to stumble with himself.
Messi converted the maximum penalty gracefully and that sentenced France to Devil's Island.
I watched the match in the company of Franciso Mouat, the extraordinary chronicler of
Cosas de fútbol
who eloquently defended the spontaneous “value of imperfection” before that play.
For decades, soccer captivated because it freely admitted human error.
Thanks to video arbitration, he is now wrong with delay and scientific pretexts.
Beyond that debatable penalty, Argentina dominated with ease.
Scaloni lined up Di María, who scored the goal that meant the Copa América, and
Fideo
did not disappoint him, finishing off a magnetic triangulation started by Messi with a minced touch.
Trailing 2-0, France looked like a ghost team.
According to his coach, three of the players had contracted the camel virus.
But the entire team seemed devoid of antibodies.
Argentina passed the ball as they wanted and in the 40th minute Didier Deschamps made two suicidal appearance substitutions: Dembelé and Giroud left the field.
Later, the coach had the luxury of doing without Griezmann.
It is possible that the decision was due to the physical condition of the stars, but the truth is that France was revived by the new blood.
The apparent tactical error became a success that the exaggerated compared to the unexpected artillery movements at Austerlitz.
However, the miracle was slow in coming.
With fifteen minutes to go, the only problem for the Argentines was to find a hole in their multi-tattooed bodies to include the Qatar Cup.
Then Mbappé appeared.
In two minutes he became what we expected of him.
He scored from a penalty and completed a play with a shot of unusual power.
On the other side was Messi, who gave a perfect match, recovering the ball, placing precise passes with his right and left foot, scoring two goals in regulation time and a penalty in the death shootout.
Since he sang the anthem at the top of his lungs, he put down the accusations of being a "cold chest" and did everything a Captain should do to get his people to the top.
In the penalty shootout, Dibu Martínez once again reminded Goycochea, the perfect shot, who in Italy 90 stopped flashes in the 11 meters of ordeal.
Mbappé left the World Cup as a scoring champion.
At the age of 23, he has scored 12 goals in world cups.
Messi is still the king, but he already seems to have a substitute.
Leila Guerriero wrote a beautiful column in which she tells that her father belongs to the rigorous Argentine minority that does not watch soccer games.
During the Netherlands-Argentina match, she was watching
The Godfather
on television when he accidentally changed the channel.
Just then the Dutch equalized.
With the incontrovertible logic of her fanaticism, Leila's brothers asked her to go for a walk with her dogs.
The father moved away from the house out of respect for the passions of his children and Argentina knew how to win.
Today, the old man walked overtime again to make his family happy.
The heroes were on the field, but also in all corners where achievements depend on superstition.
The fans know that ours play better if we close our eyes or rub the lucky key ring.
Nothing will cure us of thinking that we influence the deed;
not in vain, your country baptized the public as the "player number 12".
The goddess Themis does not reach the stadiums, but is replaced by the Greek choir.
Congratulations on being part of that tribe!
See you in Mexico 2026.
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