Plaza Manuel Belgrano

A dozen or so years ago, I went to a jam-packed café in Montreal's Little Italy with my friend Pierre to watch the Azzurri compete in a World Cup match. I'll never forget the Italian fans' cries of joy with each goal, their groans with each missed shot and their screams at each call against the blue squad. The fervor of the Italian fans increased throughout the game as their team went on to win. The victory then triggered spontaneous parades of cars waving Italian flags all through the streets of Montreal. I remember commenting to Pierre that it would be great to be able to watch a match in one of the participating countries.

Since we arrived in Argentina a month ago, the build-up to the World Cup has been palpable. The country is football mad and the Argentine team colours are everywhere. Popular products in supermarkets, like alfajores, have been re-packaged wearing blue and white. Number 10 football jerseys are on display in every clothing store window and, it seems, is a part of every Argentine's wardrobe.

Argentina's first game at the 2022 World Cup was against Saudi Arabia and had a 7:00 AM local start time. Brenda and I planned to watch at least one match in a bar or cafe with the locals, but we couldn't imagine there would be anywhere to watch the first match at that early hour.

As it turned out, we started to hear singing and chanting outside at 6:00. A loud roar rose from the streets to our ninth-floor apartment when the match started at 7:00. Needless to say, I didn't need to be watching the game to know when Lionel Messi scored Argentina’s first goal. The same happened with Argentina’s second, third and fourth goals, however, those were followed by groans and boos when each one was called back because of an offside infraction.

Alas, there was to be no joy in Mudville today. The Saudis went on to score two unanswered goals in the second half and handed the Blue and White a huge upset loss.

The Mighty Messi had struck out.Read more