It might be stretching it to say Brazil's loss in the World Cup semifinal saved a marriage, but it could be true, suggests Napier man Santiago De Marco.
He's Argentinian, and wife Sandra is from Brazil, and he reckons if both South American sides had gone through to Monday morning's final, domestic harmony might have needed referees better than those 12,400km away in front of 77,000 fans at Rio De Janeiro's Estadio do Maracana.
"Imagine if it was Brazil and Argentina," said Mr De Marco.
Yesterday there were, however, clears signs of a warm marital bond despite Brazil's Wednesday-morning demise, which Sandra De Marco had analysed before deciding to get on with life.
She even donned the blue and white shirt of Argentina to help ensure that the World Cup returned to somewhere south of the equator and not too far east of the Andes.
The couple, with children Mateo, 6, and Lucia, 3, headed into town to help Napier Latin dance bar operator Joe Taylor prepare for the telecast of the final at the Provincial Hotel.
On hand to show their allegiance to Germany, the other team that has made it through to the final, were Napier woman Emily Otto and her children.
Germany has ended Argentina's cup campaigns three times since Argentina last won the prize in 1986.
That hand included a 4-0 quarter-final pasting in the last cup in 2010 in South Africa.
The Provincial is expected to be one of the haunts, perhaps a town base for fans from the rival nations, while Shed 2 on the West Quay at Ahuriri will be another.
It may test the patience of employers expecting staff at 7am, the scheduled time for the kickoff.
But if Mr De Marco were back in Argentina, from where he emigrated with his wife 14 years ago to work in Hawke's Bay, it wouldn't matter. "We're used to it," he said. "Everything else stops."
As for the outcome, it's an Argentina call: "2-1" he reckons.
And it will definitely have something to do with No10 and a man named Messi.
That number and that name are on the back of a new shirt proudly worn by 6-year-old Mateo. But it can't all be left to one man, and the bounce of the football. "Our hopes will be on Messi, the messiah," Mr De Marco said.
"But from now to Monday we'll have to pray to Pope Francis to see if he can convince God. Pope Francis is Argentine."