Disclaimer: This is purely a piece of fiction. Any
resemblance to a person living is purely coincidental
Lionel Messi and la Albiceleste are crowned the new
holders of Copa America. A long wait has come to an end for their diehard fans.
Argentina, for some reason is one team with a huge fan following in our state,
Kerala in India. No one knows the exact reason for the fascination the team
holds equally for a septuagenarian Communist leader and a school kid fan of Leo
Messi. One major reason for this fascination for the older generations must be
adulation for Diego Maradona and the series of unforgettable games played by
his team at Mexico in 1986. Diego, highly emotional, immensely talented was
inspiring his group of gifted players to give their best as a team. Valdano,
Burruchaga or Pumpido, members of Carlos Bilardo’s world champions became
household names after the World Cup that we saw in colour on TV. We have one
great fan of la Albiceleste in our close friends circle. Forever loyal,
emotional like him, he even had a striking resemblance to his idol, the great
Diego from a certain angle. Although we watched and played many games together,
he was always guarded when it came to games featuring Argentina. This became
the norm after one unforgettable night 15 years ago when Argentina played
Germany in the quarter finals of the 2006 World Cup. With his team progressing
from the “group of death” as the toppers, he had made all arrangements for us
to watch the game together at a leading club in the city. He arrived at the
venue quite early and reserved the seats in the prime location within the hall.
His entire family, including his Mother was to be seated on a rear table.
Confident of his team doing good on the night, he was very cheerful and saw to
it that everyone was comfortably seated to watch them play. Both teams were
well balanced and evenly matched with Argentina developing their game around
their midfield general Juan Román Riquelme and Germans led by Michael Ballack
had, in their ranks, the lethal striking duo Klose and Podolski. With Riquelme
commanding the midfield Argentina dominated the first half, rarely letting the
ball reach the German strikers. First half ended goalless and he was very
cheerful as we analysed the match during the interval. Argentina continued to
press forward after the break and in the 49th minute, Riquelme delivered in a
corner pin-pointing Roberto Ayala, who merely had to put his head on the ball,
giving Argentina a 1- 0 lead. They appeared well on course for more, when
abruptly, to our astonishment, Jose Pekerman substituted Riquelme with Esteban
Cambiasso. An uncertainty or confusion descended on his face as the Germans
pounced on the opportunity and suddenly started counter attacking. With
Argentina falling back to defend, Miroslav Klose equalized for Germany in the
80th minute, moving him to the edge of his seat. Without Riquelme, Argentina was nowhere near
the team they had been for the initial 72 minutes. Teams could not break the
deadlock after the extra time and the match went into penalty shootout. With
tension mounting and pressure building up, every German player successfully
converted whereas the scorer of their goal in the regulation time Ayala and the
substitute Cambiasso, failed for Argentina. He sat silently, heartbroken,
inconsolable, refusing to get up from his seat. After much persuasion, he came
out of the hall but with his family waiting for him to return home, he felt
reluctant to face his family. Finally, the supporters of Argentina and Germany
and the neutrals somehow managed to send him home. We have never before or
since seen someone so devastated by the defeat of his favourite team, from a
faraway land across the world that he had taken to his heart. Today, as Messi,
and team brought down the canaries at Maracana on the back of an Angel di Maria
strike, to lift the Copa and end a nearly 3 decade title drought, he celebrated
alongside the several diehard Argentina fans from our place who burst crackers
and distributed sweets. And we, his close friends and fans shouted “vamos la
albiceleste” and said three cheers to their greatest fan.
