Córdoba

The year was 1986. Canada made their first appearance at the World Cup. Diego Maradona led Argentina to a 3-2 victory over West Germany in the final. Leo Messi wasn’t even born yet!

Prior to this year, Argentina had been to the World Cup final five times, winning in 1978 and 1986 and finishing second in 1930, 1990 and 2014.

Given the rarity of Argentina’s World Cup appearances, how fortunate are we to be here to watch them win only their third World Cup trophy? I mean, our original plans had us in Argentina for just the first ten days of our three-month winter getaway. But, as it turned out, Chile, our planned destination, turned out to be too unattractive for our tastes causing us to change our plans and return to Argentina. On top of that, this is the first time the World Cup has been held in the Northern Hemisphere’s winter because Qatar is too hot in the summer. In other words, under normal circumstances, the tournament would have been played six months before we arrived here.

All the stars aligned for us to be a part of this spectacle.

After being handed a 2-1 upset loss in their first game against Saudi Arabia, things were not looking good for the Blue and White. However, Argentina came out on top in all their remaining matches, including the nail-biting semi-final and final, to bring home the cup.

Brenda and I watched all but the first of Argentina’s games at the Mayo Café located just around the corner from our apartment. The locals were very welcoming to us foreigners and, at $800 ARS (about $3.35 CDN) for two pints of ice-cold craft beer, the price was right. At the end of each game, we made it a point to reserve our table for the next match.

I will never forget the roller-coaster of emotion the final match produced. Leading 2-0 with ten minutes remaining to play, it looked like Argentina would coast to a victory. But then France was awarded a penalty kick and scored, narrowing the margin to 2-1. No problem, La Scaloneta is playing well, the lead isn’t in danger. But then Kylian Mbappe scored again one minute later to even the score! The crowd grew quiet. The game went into overtime and Leo Messi scored at the 109’ mark making it 3-2 Argentina and the entire city shook with the cheers. But at the 118’ mark, with only two minutes remaining in OT, France was awarded another penalty kick and Mbappe got the hat trick. The 1.5 million voices in Cordoba let out a collective groan knowing we were heading to the dreaded shoot out.

Mbappe opened the shoot out with a goal that was immediately nullified by Messi’s score. The next two French shooters were stymied, the third one scored while all the next three Argentine sharpshooters hit their marks. On the fourth strike, the café, and the city, erupted in a cry of joy with hugs and high-fives all around.

As I write this, it is three hours since the match finished and the noise outside our apartment is getting louder and louder. Singing, car horns honking, hoarse voices yelling, and the occasional firework explosion make up the cacophony that is Cordoba tonight. I suspect this will go on until at least 5:00 tomorrow morning when the bars close.

Yep, it will definitely be an ear plug night tonight. But that’s OK. I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything.Read more