Argentina's Lionel Messi in action against the Netherlands. Photo / AP
Argentina's Lionel Messi in action against the Netherlands. Photo / AP
OPINION:
A friend asked why I am so keen that France win the 2022 Fifa World Cup final. Answer: 44 years of cheering for anyone playing against Argentina after the 1978 World Cup and the subsequent belief, gathered over decades, that they will do almost anything, no matter how cynical,to win.
It’s a nation possibly over-reliant on sporting success to find its place in the world; a country of 45 million that has maybe never attained the status it desires. If you were to draw a parallel with New Zealand and rugby, it’d be hard to argue against - except that while All Blacks fans demand wins, they tend not to add the “at all costs” suffix.
The brutal Argentina-Netherlands quarter-final in Qatar brought all the old Argentine misdemeanours flooding back. In one of the worst-tempered games (admittedly one of the most exciting) in World Cup history, Argentina’s prickly play, ugly celebrations and baiting of the crestfallen Dutch saw even the generally mild Lionel Messi descending into nastiness. Messi was lucky not to be sent off for a blatant handball; so too defender Cristian Romero.
Something strange happens to referees when Argentina are involved. When people wonder why footballers surround the referee, wildly disputing decisions, this is why. Their actions are designed to intimidate, to influence the referee. The dissent is all about ensuring future decisions go their way – like two obvious handballs which should have seen red cards.
Full disclosure: That 1978 World Cup final was the first one I’d watched and disgusted me. Captain Daniel Passarella led the way on the field as the Argentine tackles flew in. If the referee was strangely lenient regarding most Argentine transgressions – and they were numerous and obvious; deliberate fouls, time-wasting, handling of the ball and more – you could hardly blame him.
This final was played in Buenos Aires and was a carefully managed, transparently political event by a bloodthirsty Argentine junta, seeking World Cup glory to divert attention from the 30,000 people they killed or “disappeared”, trying to erase all dissidence. Sportswashing? This was Sportsbleaching.
This was way worse than Russia 2018 or Qatar 2022. This was Fifa overlooking near-genocide. The Argentine authorities left nothing to chance. For the final, the Dutch bus was sent on the “scenic route”, taking them past hostile crowds in back streets who spat at them and worse.
The Argentine team delayed coming on the field so long the Dutch were exposed to the full force of the hostile crowd. When they finally arrived, Passarella took gamesmanship to new levels with another lengthy delay, protesting against a Dutch player who’d broken his arm and who’d worn a forearm cast for the entire tournament, without anyone else protesting. He had to change to a bandage.
Once the game eventually began, it was Passarella who proved to be dangerous in use of the arm. He laid out a Dutch player with a blow to the face.
That’s my major beef with Argentine football. They love their stars’ dark arts. They loved Passarella; they loved Messi gobbing off against the Dutch in Qatar. They promoted Diego Maradona into sainthood for his infamous Hand of God goal against England in their second World Cup win in 1986 – somehow turning a blatant piece of cheating into a national virtue.
In 1978, the Albiceleste stayed in the tournament through typical skullduggery. Their marvellous forward Mario Kempes saved a goal against Poland by flying full length, like a goalkeeper, to use his hand to stop the ball. The Poles missed the penalty, Kempes stayed on the pitch and scored the winning goal, just as he did in the final.
Not everyone remembers Argentina's win fondly. Photo / Getty
Argentina held Brazil in a brutal 0-0 draw (17 fouls in the first 10 minutes) and needed to beat Peru – in those days a good side – by four goals or more to edge Brazil out of the final. They won 6-0 in a match almost universally regarded (except in Argentina) as “a fix”.
The win was prefixed by a visit to the Peru dressing room by then Argentine dictator Jorge Rafael Videla and, astonishingly, the US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, where Videla talked about how important the match was to Argentina. In 2012, an Argentine senator and former opposition leader told a Buenos Aires court the price of the win was US$50 million, 35,000 tonnes of grain and release of some political prisoners.
Before the final, the Argentine FA successfully had Israeli official Abraham Klein replaced, complaining about political links between Holland and Israel. Klein, the only ref who’d showed the required independence in controlling Argentina’s one loss in the tournament (1-0 to Italy), was subbed by a ref from Italy, a land with strong connections to Argentina.
Small wonder the Dutch played like they had the weight of the world on their shoulders in the final. They certainly carried the full weight of Argentina; perhaps no World Cup final since has quite so graphically shown the power of home advantage and lame refereeing.
For this fan, Argentina’s two previous World Cup victories are tainted by wrongdoing and injustice; a France victory in this one would save their third being similarly stained.
