Most individuals handled the situation with remarkable grace, truth be told. At a dining spot close to Plaza de Mayo, our server clasped our hands and offered kind compliments about Jude Bellingham. The metro journey back from the supporter gathering area also lacked any real crowing, just wide‑eyed youngsters draped in Lionel Messi jerseys, carried along by a wave of national joy. “Vamos, Vamos Argentina!” they chanted, almost unable to grasp that their side had secured yet another place in a World Cup final.
And to find oneself an English outsider in a capital completely flooded with sky blue and white was … a genuine honour. A number of us currently out here following England’s rugby union series have been fortunate to experience several famed sporting arenas, but witnessing Buenos Aires in the immediate wake of Argentina overcoming England at a football World Cup ranks among the very pinnacle.
From train operators blasting their horns in celebration at every subterranean stop to revellers whirling in the roads and elderly women fluttering flags from high‑rise balconies above the traffic, the whole spectacle made even a feverish cricket World Cup clash between India and Pakistan resemble a gentle village fair. “Tell them you’re Scottish,” suggested my Argentinian companion, worried for our wellbeing had England prevailed. In the end, no such pretence proved necessary.
For a spell, though, that outcome was far from assured. Picture, if you can, the hush of a forsaken reading room in the most remote hamlet of Tierra del Fuego. Even that would scarcely match the stunned silence that fell when Anthony Gordon nudged England 1-0 ahead. Forty years on from Diego Maradona’s Hand of God, the Foot of Gordon came close to etching itself just as deeply into folklore. For an instant it seemed as if every last gasp of ‘air’ had been pulled from Buenos Aires.
Sadly, dear England, the finale is now familiar to all. And, setting to one side the foolish fan zone compere briefly bellowing about the ‘Malvinas’ and an individual torching a homemade St George’s flag as the festivities intensified around the city, the overriding impression is of a country utterly consumed by football. Trucks and automobiles with national colours draped over dashboards, Messi’s face staring from every advertising hoarding … Mexico and Brazil might dispute the claim but Argentina inhabits a league of fervour entirely its own.
Vast numbers of Argentinian supporters poured into the avenues to hail their side’s march to the World Cup final. Photograph: Daniella Fernandez Realin/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock
One can only wonder how delirious the mood will be throughout Sunday’s final. After Argentina lifted the World Cup four years ago, roughly four million people flooded the capital’s streets. The city became so impossibly gridlocked that a scheduled open‑top bus procession had to be scrapped; ultimately the squad was flown over the crowds in helicopters instead. I inquired of one local how long the mass revelry had lasted. “It’s still going on,” came the bone‑dry retort.
And defeating the English invariably supplies an extra spark. On the journey from the airport into town earlier this week, our parka‑clad cab driver taunted us with ‘Hand of God’ motions the moment he established our nationality. It might have raised a bigger laugh had he not been careering along a hectic dual carriageway at 90mph at that precise second.
Argentina fans revel in their team securing a World Cup final berth
Later on, having deliberately ensured he charged us an outrageously inflated sum by insisting his meter “had broken”, our chap made a point of lowering his window and hollering “Campeones, Argentina!” as he sped off. For certain folk, getting one over Los Ingleses never loses its lustre.
Fortunately, however, there are also those resolute in their refusal to allow simplistic comparisons between a straightforward football fixture and the 1982 Falklands upheaval. Argentinian war veterans even issued a statement on the eve of the match imploring politicians not to exploit the semi‑final to press claims over the South Atlantic territory, asking supporters instead to pay tribute to the memory of the Argentinian soldiers who lost their lives in the conflict.
Argentinian war veterans released a pre‑match statement urging politicians not to use the semi‑final as a lever to advance sovereignty claims over the Falkland Islands, referred to in Argentina as the Malvinas. Photograph: Rodrigo Abd/AP
All that being said, “El Que No Salta Es Un Inglés” – “Anyone who doesn’t jump is an Englishman” – continues very much to be the terrace refrain of choice. On a related note, the recent passing of Bonnie Tyler also generated headlines here because her smash single, It’s a Heartache, furnishes the melody for another wildly popular chant, the words of which are probably best kept to oneself.
Whatever happens, it is now down to Messi and his colleagues to complete the mission. Argentina’s population stands near 46 million – the wider Buenos Aires metropolitan region alone houses around 16 million souls – and the scenes around the capital’s Obelisk monument, where devotees traditionally gather to salute great triumphs, will be beyond anything recorded should Spain be toppled.
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