Raphael Stevens

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    How Argentina Celebrated the 2022 World Cup Win

    Argentina erupted in celebration after the country’s World Cup victory over France.Anita Pouchard Serra for The New York TimesBUENOS AIRES — After 36 years, the parade couldn’t wait.Half a world away, Argentina’s beloved men’s national team hoisted its third World Cup trophy. And the nation began to march.In a sort of euphoric procession that played out across the country, millions of Argentines paraded to central squares and monuments in cities and towns, large and small. In Rosario, the hometown of their World Cup hero, Lionel Messi, they marched to the Flag Monument. And here in the capital, Buenos Aires, fans streamed down broad avenues that all pointed to the city’s effective center — a large plaza centered around a 235-foot-tall monument known simply as the Obelisk.“It is our pilgrimage,” said Elsa Diaz, 70, a handywoman draped in an Argentine flag, making the same walk she made in 1978 when Argentina won its first World Cup, but this time with her 32-year-old daughter. “We are all going to the Obelisk. It is our monument, and the center of Argentina.”In a country where soccer is religion, this was among the holiest of Sundays. And so when Gonzalo Montiel’s penalty kick hit the back of the net — vanquishing France, ending a World Cup final for the ages and bringing the championship back to this soccer-obsessed country for the first time since 1986 — Argentina was plunged into a sort of rapture.Strangers hugged. Friends kissed. Grown men wept. And everyone shrieked. “Argentina, mi amor!” one man yelled during extra time, tears streaming down his face. “Argentina, my love!”“Emotion, joy — and a release,” said Federico Polo, 19, right after the victory.Argentines celebrated the country’s first World Cup title in 36 years.Anita Pouchard Serra for The New York TimesThousands had gathered in Centenario Park in western Buenos Aires to watch the game on a large screen set up by the city. After the match, everyone had the same idea: Head to the Obelisk.But the roads were jammed, the metro was shut down and the city buses were parked. So they walked.“The entirety of Argentina is on this avenue right now,” said Sergio Gutierrez, 46, a drugstore worker banging a drum, who walked with his wife and three children down Corrientes Avenue, a famed thoroughfare closely associated with the tango for the many theaters and dance halls that line the way. “We will walk until we can’t get any farther.”The walk from the park would take 70 minutes, according to Google Maps, but the avenue was jammed, the pace was slow, and there were plenty of distractions along the way.Every woman who looked to be of grandmother age was serenaded with a chant that has become a rallying cry of this year’s World Cup in Argentina: “Abuela, la, la, la, la, la.” The chant, of the Spanish word for grandmother, began in Buenos Aires after one of Argentina’s victories, when a group of young men sang it to a dancing older woman who wore a medical mask and wrapped herself in a flag.“She still doesn’t know why everyone is singing to her but she loves it,” said Silvia Belvedere of her 89-year-old mother, Nelida Peralta, who was standing on the sidewalk along the procession, gripping a cane and waving two small Argentina flags. As the procession passed, each group that noticed her stopped to serenade her and take photos.“I’m so happy,” Ms. Peralta said. “I can’t go there, so I’m staying here waving the flag.”Farther down the avenue, a group of Bangladeshi immigrants were greeted warmly by the marching fans. Bangladesh’s love for Argentina’s national soccer team has become a major storyline here, and so Argentines parading down the route stopped for photos and high fives. One of the men from Bangladesh, who said he had lived in Buenos Aires for 24 years, said he had never felt more connected to his adopted home.Along the route, Argentines expressed their joy with whatever was at hand. Cars stuck at intersections watching the procession beeped incessantly; one man banged a pan with a spoon. And over and over again, the crowd sang this year’s anthem of the Argentina national team, “Muchachos, Ahora Nos Volvimos A Ilusionar” — or “Guys, Now We’re Getting Excited Again.”The song has become a sort of celebratory hymn in Argentina over the past several weeks, and it speaks of Argentina’s late soccer star, Diego Maradona, a sort of deity in this country, looking down from the sky to help Messi and his teammates bring Argentina another World Cup. After the song’s prediction came to fruition on Sunday, it was the soundtrack of the march.Vast crowds surround the Obelisk in the center of Buenos Aires on Sunday.Anita Pouchard Serra for The New York TimesAs the Obelisk came into view, the crowd thickened. A city bus that had been abandoned in the middle of the street had more than a dozen revelers dancing atop it. Elsewhere, men hung from light poles, and people climbed to the roof of a restaurant via a ladder that created a sort of bridge between the restaurant and the top of a newsstand.Some people had already been to the Obelisk and were heading the other way, their pilgrimage complete. A man with his face and chest painted blue and white looked drained. “My throat hurts from screaming,” said Pedro Humberto Aguilar, 51, behind blue-tinted shades.The procession ended at Republic Plaza, a sea of celebration in every direction. Every avenue leading to the plaza was clogged with revelers. From above, the plaza was an expanse of humanity, hundreds of thousands of people, interspersed with waving flags and occasional fireworks.Through the rapturous cacophony, the anthem could be made out here and there.Over and over again, revelers belted out the lyrics, which try to convey Argentina’s intense love for its soccer team.“I can’t explain it to you,” they sang, “because you won’t understand.”Macarena Funes and Valeria Dorrego contributed reporting. More

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    Qatar Got the World Cup It Wanted

    DOHA, Qatar — In the end, Qatar got what it wanted.The tiny desert state, a thumb-shaped peninsula, craved nothing more than to be better known, to be a player on the world stage, when in 2009 it launched what seemed like an improbable bid to stage the men’s soccer World Cup, the most popular sporting event on earth. Hosting the tournament has cost more than anyone could have imagined — in treasure, in time, in lives.But on Sunday night, as the fireworks filled the sky above Lusail, as the Argentina fans sang and their star, Lionel Messi, beamed while clasping a trophy he had waited a lifetime to touch, everyone knew Qatar.The spectacular denouement — a dream final pitting Argentina against France; a first World Cup title for Messi, the world’s best player; a pulsating match settled after six goals and a penalty shootout — made sure of that. And as if to make sure, to put the nation’s final imprint on the first World Cup in the Middle East, Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, stopped a beaming Messi as he made his way to collect the biggest trophy in the sport and pulled him back. There was one more thing that needed to be done.He pulled out a golden fringed bisht, the black cloak worn in the Gulf for special occasions, and wrapped it around Messi’s shoulders before handing over the 18-karat gold trophy.The celebration ended a tumultuous decade for a tournament awarded in a bribery scandal; stained by claims of human rights abuses and the deaths and injuries suffered by the migrant workers hired to build Qatar’s $200 billion World Cup; and shadowed by controversial decisions on everything from alcohol to armbands.Fireworks went off at Lusail Stadium after Argentina was presented the World Cup trophy after its win.Robert Cianflone/Getty ImagesYet for one month Qatar has been the center of the world, pulling off a feat none of its neighbors in the Arab world had managed to achieve, one that at times had seemed unthinkable in the years since Sepp Blatter, the former FIFA president, made the stunning announcement inside a Zurich conference hall on Dec. 2, 2010, that Qatar would host the 2022 World Cup.It is improbable the sport will see such an unlikely host again soon. Qatar was perhaps among the most ill-suited hosts for a tournament of the scale of the World Cup, a country so lacking in stadiums and infrastructure and history that its bid was labeled “high risk” by FIFA’s own evaluators. But it took advantage of the one commodity it had in plentiful supply: money.Backed by seemingly bottomless financial resources to fuel its ambitions, Qatar embarked on a project that required nothing less than the building, or rebuilding, of its entire country in service to a monthlong soccer tournament. Those billions were spent within its borders — seven new stadiums were constructed and other major infrastructure projects were completed at enormous financial and human cost. But when that was not enough, it spent lavishly outside its boundaries, too, acquiring sports teams and sports rights worth billions of dollars, and hiring sports stars and celebrities to support its cause.And all that was on display Sunday. By the time the final game was played in the $1 billion Lusail Stadium, Qatar could not lose. The game was being shown across the Middle East on beIN Sports, a sports broadcasting behemoth set up in the aftermath of Qatar’s winning the World Cup hosting rights. It also could lay claim to the two best players on the field, Argentina’s Messi and the French star Kylian Mbappé, both of whom are under contract to the Qatar-owned French club Paris St.-Germain.Mbappé, who had scored the first hat trick in a final in over a half-century, finished the game sitting on the grass, consoled by President Emmanuel Macron of France, an invited guest of the emir, as Argentina’s players danced in celebration all around him.Despite scoring a hat trick in the final game, Kylian Mbappé of France finished the tournament dejected on his team’s bench.Carl Recine/ReutersThe competition delivered compelling — and sometimes troubling — story lines from the outset, with the intensely political opening at Al Bayt Stadium, an enormous venue designed to look like a Bedouin tent. That night, Qatar’s emir had sat side by side with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, less than three years after the latter had led a punishing blockade of Qatar.For a month, deals were discussed and alliances were made. Qatar’s team was not a factor in its World Cup debut; it lost all three of its games, exiting the competition with the worst performance of any host in the competition’s history.There would also be other challenges, some of Qatar’s own making, like a sudden prohibition on the sale of alcohol within the stadium perimeters only two days before that first game — a last-minute decision that left Budweiser, a longtime sponsor of soccer’s world governing body, FIFA, to fume on the sideline.On the tournament’s second day, FIFA crushed a campaign by a group of European teams to wear an armband to promote inclusivity, part of efforts promised to campaign groups and critics in their home countries, and then Qatar quashed efforts by Iranian fans to highlight ongoing protests in their country.But on the field, the competition delivered. There were great goals and great games, stunning upsets and an abundance of surprising score lines that created new heroes, most notably in the Arab world.First came Saudi Arabia, which can now lay claim to having beaten the World Cup champion in the group stage. Morocco, which had only once reached the knockout stage, became the first African team to advance to the semifinals, pulling off a succession of barely believable victories over European soccer heavyweights: Belgium, Spain and then Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal.Those results sparked celebration across the Arab world and in a handful of major European capitals, while also providing a platform for fans in Qatar to promote the Palestinian cause, the one intrusion of politics that Qatari officials did nothing to discourage.Morocco became the first African team to reach the semifinals of the World Cup in the tournament’s history.Kirill Kudryavtsev/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesIn the stands, the backdrop was a curious one, with several games appearing short of supporters and then mysteriously filling up in the minutes after kickoff, when gates were opened to grant spectators — many of them the South Asian migrants — entry free of charge. The true number of paying spectators is unlikely to ever be known, their empty seats filled by thousands of the same laborers and migrants who had built the stadium and the country, and who kept it running during the World Cup.That group, largely drawn from countries like India, Bangladesh and Nepal, was the most visible face of Qatar to the estimated one million visitors who traveled to the tournament. They worked as volunteers at stadiums, served the food and manned the metro stations, buffed the marble floors and shined the hand rails and door knobs at the scores of newly built hotels and apartment complexes.By the end of the tournament, most of those fans had gone, leaving the Argentines — an estimated temporary population of 40,000 — to provide the sonic backdrop to the final game. Dressed in sky blue and white stripes, they converged on the Lusail Stadium, creating the type of authentic World Cup atmosphere — bouncing and singing throughout 120 minutes of play, and then long afterward — that no amount of Qatari wealth could buy.They had gotten exactly what they wanted from the World Cup. And so did Qatar.Lionel Messi was hoisted on his teammates’ shoulders after Argentina’s victory.Matthias Hangst/Getty Images More

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    Todos los goles de la final de la Copa del Mundo

    Argentina y Francia anotaron, respectivamente, dos goles en el tiempo regular, después ambos anotaron un gol en la prórroga, y al final Argentina ganó en la tanda de penales, 4-2.En el final más emocionante de la final más emocionante en la historia de la Copa del Mundo, Argentina venció a Francia, y Lionel Messi y Kylian Mbappé cumplieron una y otra y otra y otra y otra y otra vez, y otra vez.Ya sea que te hayas perdido la conclusión absurda de un torneo absurdamente deleitante o solo quieras revivirla, aquí están los momentos más importantes. (Y asegúrate de leer nuestro resumen del juego).Primer tiempo21’: Penal para Argentina. Ousmane Dembélé embatió a Ángel Di María🚨 ¡PENAAAAAAAL PARA ARGENTINAAAAAA! 😱 Falta sobre Dembélé dentro del área sobre Ángel Di María… Para ti, ¿Es o no es?#ARG 0-0 #FRA#MundialTelemundo #ElMundialLoEsTodo #Qatar2022 #ARGvsFRA pic.twitter.com/vztsBjVOCz— Telemundo Deportes (@TelemundoSports) December 18, 2022
    ¿Puede ser?23’: ¡Gol! Lionel Messi anota. Argentina 1, Francia 0Sí es. ¡Sí es!36’: ¡Gol! Di María anota. Argentina 2, Francia 0Santo cielo.Pero…Segundo tiempo79’: Penal para Francia. Randal Kolo Muani consigue que Nicolás Otamendi le haga penalLa cosa se pone interesante.Y entonces …80’: Gol! Kylian Mbappé anota. Argentina 2, Francia 1Y luego…81’: Gol! Mbappé vuelve a anotar menos de dos minutos después. Argentina 2, Francia 2Queremos más.Tiempos extras108’: ¡Gol! Messi anota su segundo gol. Argentina 3, Francia 2¡Perros y gatos viven en paz!¡A menos que…!116’: Penal para Francia. El balón le da en el codo a Gonzalo Montiel en el área118’: ¡Gol! Mbappé hace un triplete. Argentina 3, Francia 3¡In-cre-í-ble!Tanda de penales¡Mbappé anota para Francia!¡¿Quién más?!¡Messi anota para Argentina!¡Obvio!¡Emiliano Martínez detiene el tiro de Kingsley Coman!Qué. Está. Pasando.¡Paulo Dybala anota para Argentina!¡Pum!¡Aurélien Tchouámeni falla por Francia!¡Ay ay ay ay!¡Leandro Paredes mete un gol para Argentina!Ya casi, ¡ya casi!¡Kolo Muani mantiene viva a Francia!Respira, respira, respira.¡Montiel anota y Argentina gana la Copa del Mundo!Andrés Cantor, el presentador de Telemundo, es originario de Buenos Aires.Y aquí hay algo para comprenderlo todo: More

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    For Mbappé, Three Goals Are a Bitter Consolation Prize

    LUSAIL, Qatar — The president of France waited patiently on the grass, but Kylian Mbappé was not ready to be consoled. Not yet.He had done all he could on Sunday to avoid this moment. There was the first penalty kick, the one that shook France out of its torpor, that gave it a lifeline in a World Cup final it was losing. There was the stunning goal that followed just over a minute later, the one that had let Mbappé, had let France, think that the golden trophy sitting on a plinth near the tunnel, the one he had lifted four years ago, was still there to be won.The rest seemed to play out in fast motion. Lionel Messi of Argentina scored another goal in extra time to give his team the lead. Mbappé scored in response. When the tie could not be broken, Mbappé scored to open the penalty shootout. Messi followed and did the same. Then came two France misses, three Argentina makes and it was over.That was how Mbappé found himself sitting on the grass near the midfield stripe wondering how it could have all gone so wrong, then so right, and then so painfully, so permanently wrong. It would take a moment to process that. The president would have to wait.“Kylian has really left his mark on this final,” Mbappé’s coach, Didier Deschamps, said. “Unfortunately, he didn’t leave it in the way he would have liked. That’s why he was so disappointed at the end of the night.”The story of Sunday’s World Cup final, arguably the best in the tournament’s history, was always going to be about Messi’s quest for the one title that had eluded him in his career. But Mbappé had come to Lusail with history and victory in his sights, too. He had his own story to write.Mbappé had already experienced the feeling of winning the World Cup. In 2018, he and France lifted the trophy in Moscow, where Mbappé had become the first teenager since Pelé to score in the final. On Sunday, he was hoping to match Pelé again and make France the first country to retain the trophy since Pelé’s Brazil in 1962.He had already done Pelé one better before the game went to penalty kicks: Not even the Brazilian great had ever scored a hat trick in a World Cup final. Mbappé’s was the first since 1966.Mbappé scored his third goal on a penalty in extra time. His hat trick was the first in a men’s World Cup final since 1966.Odd Andersen/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesMbappé, 23, will have known that. He is not just one of the world’s best players. He is also a student of the game and its history and its stars. For months he had been targeting Qatar as the moment, and the place, where he closed the gap with Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the debate over the best player in the game.In an interview with The New York Times this summer, he was quick to recall the number of times each of his rivals had been named world player of the year. He knew he already had something on his résumé that they did not — a World Cup title — and he knew that a second in a row would be a feat even they could never match.“I always say I dream about everything,” Mbappé said at the time. “I have no limits. So of course, like you say, it’s a new generation. And Ronaldo, Messi — you’re gonna stop. We have to find someone else, someone new.”Mbappé thought that he was that someone else. His performance on Sunday made it seem more like a prediction than a boast: a penalty kick coolly dispatched in the 80th minute, after his teammate Randal Kolo Muani was knocked down from behind in the box; a second goal just over a minute later, a sliding right-footed finish after a give-and-go with Marcus Thuram at the top of the area; and a second penalty three minutes before the end of extra time, after Messi, for the second time, had given Argentina the lead and the momentum.“They managed to get us back in the match, to keep the dream alive,” Deschamps said. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t achieve the dream.”The penalties finished the game and the story. Mbappé eventually rose from the grass, lifted by a hand from Argentina’s goalkeeper, Emiliano Martínez, and eventually took a moment to share an embrace, and a few words, with the French president, Emmanuel Macron. But even his moment of personal triumph seemed cruel.His three goals gave him eight for the tournament, edging Messi by one for the Golden Boot as the World Cup’s top scorer. But it also meant he had to walk onstage three times: first to collect the award, then to return to pose for photos and then a third time to receive his silver medal.Each time, he made the long walk across the curling white stage. Each time, he passed the golden World Cup trophy. Each time, it was close enough to touch.On Sunday, it was there for the taking. He will have to wait four years to get that close again.Mbappé received the Golden Boot as the top scorer in the tournament after France’s loss in the final.Paul Childs/Reuters More

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    Watch All the Goals From the Incredible World Cup Final

    Argentina and France each scored two goals in regulation, both scored once in extra time, and Argentina won in a penalty shootout, 4-2. See all the highlights from Telemundo and Fox.In the most thrilling finish to the most thrilling final in World Cup history, Argentina edged France, as Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé delivered again and again and again and again and again and again — and again.Whether you missed this absurd conclusion to an absurdly delightful tournament or just want to relive it, here are all the highlights. (And be sure to read our recap of the game.)First Half21’: Penalty for Argentina. Ousmane Dembélé trips Ángel Di María.🚨 ¡PENAAAAAAAL PARA ARGENTINAAAAAA! 😱 Falta sobre Dembélé dentro del área sobre Ángel Di María… Para ti, ¿Es o no es?#ARG 0-0 #FRA#MundialTelemundo #ElMundialLoEsTodo #Qatar2022 #ARGvsFRA pic.twitter.com/vztsBjVOCz— Telemundo Deportes (@TelemundoSports) December 18, 2022
    Could it be?23’: Goal! Lionel Messi converts. Argentina 1, France 0.It is!36’: Goal! Di María scores. Argentina 2, France 0.Holy moly!But!Second Half79’: Penalty for France. Randal Kolo Muani draws the penalty on Nicolás Otamendi.Interesting!And then …80’: Goal! Kylian Mbappé converts. Argentina 2, France 1.And then …81’: Goal! Mbappé scores again less than two minutes later. Argentina 2, France 2.Give us more!Extra Time108’: Goal! Messi scores his second. Argentina 3, France 2.Dogs and cats living in harmony!Unless!116’: Penalty for France. The ball hits Gonzalo Montiel in the elbow in the penalty area.118’: Goal! Mbappé converts for a hat trick. Argentina 3, France 3.Unbelievable!Penalty ShootoutMbappé scores for France!Who else?!Messi scores for Argentina!Obviously!Kingsley Coman’s shot is saved by Emiliano Martínez!What. Is. Even. Happening?Paulo Dybala scores for Argentina!Boom!Aurélien Tchouámeni misses for France!Ahhh!Leandro Paredes scores for Argentina!Almost there!Kolo Muani keeps France alive!Breathe in, breathe out.Montiel scores and Argentina wins the World Cup!The Telemundo announcer, Andrés Cantor, is from Buenos Aires.Now, to make sense of it all: More

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    For Messi, and Argentina, the (Extra) Wait Is Worth It

    LUSAIL, Qatar — Lionel Messi had to wait, and wait, and wait. He had to wait until he was 35. He had to wait until he had already lost a World Cup final. He had to wait after he had seemed to have won it for Argentina in normal time, and he had to wait after he believed he had beaten France again in extra time.He had to wait until the end of the most extraordinary final in the tournament’s history, in which Messi offered a career-defining performance and was still, somehow, outdone by Kylian Mbappé, scorer of the first hat-trick in the biggest game there is for more than half a century.Only then, at the last, was his wait, his agony, over. Only then did he deliver the World Cup, that precious third star, to Argentina, cementing his claim to be the greatest player to have ever played the game.The emotion that has accompanied Argentina on its journey to the final has been so raw, so volatile that it seemed inevitable that the final step on the road would have to be taut and frenetic and angst-ridden. There was, after all, some 36 years of history, as well as the defining legacy of Messi’s career, at stake. That carries an enormous weight.When the time came, though, Argentina seemed to shoulder the burden lightly. Where France seemed slack, uncertain, Lionel Scaloni’s team was crisp, purposeful. Ángel Di María, restored to the team, tormented Jules Koundé on Argentina’s left; Messi prowled around, drawn by a radar he has honed over the last two decades to be wherever he could cause most trouble.By halftime, Argentina’s supremacy had been first established and then reinforced. Di María, the game’s outstanding attacking threat, had drawn a distinctly soft penalty for a foul by Ousmane Dembélé; Messi had duly converted, his teammates swamping him as Argentina’s fans melted in delight.What came next, though, was this team’s masterpiece: five passes, played in the blink of an eye, sweeping Argentina from one end of the field to the next, culminating in a goal that is the equal, at least, of any scored in a World Cup final in the last half a century.Di María finished it, and there were starring supporting roles for Alexis Mac Allister and Julián Álvarez, but it hinged on a single, silken touch from Messi, standing on the halfway line, a moment of alchemy that took the most ordinary of materials and turned them into something golden.And that, at the time, seemed to be that. This has been a curiously passive French team for much of the tournament, outplayed in the quarterfinal by England and for substantial parts of the semifinal by Morocco. The control that was the hallmark of its triumph in Russia four years ago was notably absent; this seemed to be a team living uncomfortably close to the edge.Deschamps did what he could to claw his team back into the game, removing both Dembélé and Olivier Giroud before halftime, equal parts bold, decisive action and sheer, blind panic. It made little difference. France barely landed a blow on Argentina. Time seemed to be ticking away on its reign as world champion.It took precisely two minutes for everything to change, for all of Argentina’s painstaking work in this game, in this tournament, to fall apart. Nicólas Otamendi, the grizzled central defender, misjudged a fairly straightforward pass, allowing Randal Kolo Muani, one of France’s roll-of-the-dice substitutes, to slip clear; as he recovered, he bundled the forward over. The French had a penalty, converted by Mbappé, and a glimmer of hope.Argentina was still regaining its composure when the hammer blow arrived: Messi himself caught dawdling on the ball, a clever touch from Marcus Thuram, and a fierce, first-time volley from Mbappé, fizzing past Emiliano Martínez’s despairing grasp. Argentina’s players slumped, the breath drawn out of their lungs. They had been so close, and in an instant they were as far as ever.For a while, it seemed as though Argentina’s hopes could extend no further than making it to extra time, and then hanging on for penalties. Messi, though, intervened once more, unwilling to accept an ending he had not written. When Hugo Lloris blocked a shot from Lautaro Martínez, there was Messi to drive the ball home.He celebrated, then, as though he knew just how close he was, his team was; he had not reckoned with Mbappé’s own determination to be the master of his own destiny. His shot was handled by Gonzalo Montiel; with 117 minutes played, he stepped up to take the penalty, to complete his hat-trick in a World Cup final, to ensure the game went the distance, to the sweetest, cruellest conclusion imaginable.Mbappé scored. Messi scored. But Kingsley Coman and Aurelién Tchouámeni did not, and that left Montiel, the right back, to take the shot that would echo through the ages. The roar that Argentina’s fans emitted when the ball struck the back of the net seemed to pierce the sky. Messi sunk to his knees, clasping his teammates close, his wait over, at last. More

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    How Argentina’s Favorite Song Became the World Cup’s Soundtrack

    Lionel Messi apart, arguably nobody has played a more prominent role in Argentina’s run to the World Cup final than a 62-year-old musician and a 30-year-old teacher, neither of whom is anywhere near Qatar. Between them, though, they created the song that has become the soundtrack to Argentina’s games and an earworm contracted by anyone who has been in Doha over the last month, or watched any of the tournament on television.The song, Muchachos, Ahora Nos Volvimos A Ilusionar, has been adopted as an unofficial anthem not only by Argentina’s vast army of traveling fans — around 40,000 are expected to attend the final at Lusail today — but by the players themselves: Instagram videos of their dressing room celebrations after every victory have invariably featured a joyous rendition of the song.Its popularity, doubtless, has something to do with the fact that its two verses hit all the major notes of Argentina’s campaign: it is a homage not only to Messi but to Diego Maradona; it pays tribute to the Argentine soldiers who died during the Falklands War of 1982; it draws in the country’s various disappointments in international tournaments in recent years; and it goes into its key change with a taunt directed at Argentina’s major soccer rival, Brazil.But it is also a familiar tune to most Argentine fans. Various Argentine club teams have their own bespoke versions of Muchachos, Esta Noche Me Emborracho, a 2003 hit for the rock band La Mosca Tsé tsé, led by the 62-year-old singer Guillermo Novellis. A (relatively) cursory attempt to trace its genealogy would suggest that fans of Boca Juniors were the first to adapt the melody for their own purposes, in this case mocking its fierce rival, River Plate. Within a couple of years, Racing Club, a team in Avellaneda, had an interpretation, quickly followed by its rival, Independiente. In the endless round of call and response that marks Argentine fan culture, both were dedicated to denigrating the other. The most famous iteration, though, probably belonged to River Plate.That it became something approaching a national anthem is down, largely, to a 30-year-old teacher named Fernando Romero. Together with a friend, he changed the lyrics once more in the days after Maradona’s death last year, turning it into a tribute to the player widely regarded as either Argentina’s first or second greatest. When the two friends were filmed singing it outside River’s Monumental stadium, during a game against Bolivia, the footage quickly went viral. Messi became aware of it: he named it, soon after, his favorite soccer chant. So, too, did Novellis, who got in touch with Romero and volunteered to record and release a version with his lyrics in the buildup to the World Cup.Even Novellis, though, is a little surprised by its success. La Mosca has a curiously fitting relationship with soccer. Maradona was such a fan that he invited the band to play his 40th birthday party in 2000. And seven years later, another devotee asked if they would do a turn at his 20th birthday party. Messi and Novellis have been in occasional contact ever since.Now, the song has not only reverberated around Lusail, again and again, on Argentina’s way to the final, it is currently number one on Spotify in Argentina. It has been streamed 4.4 million times in just a few weeks. (The original is currently at almost 14 million.) Novellis has been interviewed by media outlets across the world; a campaign was launched to fly Romero to Qatar, though he turned it down, suggesting the country had “more important things to address.” The story, as Novellis told La Nacion, is “easy to explain, but difficult to understand.” More

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    Behind Argentina’s World Cup Magic, an Army of Witches

    Magalí Martínez knew something was off: The seemingly invincible soccer star Lionel Messi was scuffling on the soccer pitch. To her, it looked like he was afflicted with a supernatural curse that has roots in different cultures across history, the “evil eye.”So Martínez, a self-proclaimed witch and part-time babysitter, got to work. She focused intensely on Messi, began repeating a prayer and drizzled a bit of oil into a bowl of water. If the oil remained dispersed, he was safe. If it collected in the middle, he was cursed.“It came together like a magnet,” she said. “I knew I wouldn’t be able to cure him alone.”She went to Twitter and called on her fellow witches across Argentina. “Evil-eye healing sisters, Messi is very affected,” she said. “I need your help.”A thousand people shared her tweet, with many saying they, too, were witches and would work to protect Argentina’s golden boy.Argentina has not lost since.The bookkeepers have set their odds, gamblers have placed their bets and the experts have made their picks for Sunday’s World Cup final between Argentina and France, but their analysis of the matchup — focused on just the 22 players on the field — might not be considering a wild card: Argentina’s army of witches.Witches in Argentina have formed groups to give their soccer team a magic boost ever since the team’s first loss in the World Cup.Anita Pouchard Serra for The New York TimesIn recent weeks, hundreds, if not thousands of Argentine women who call themselves “brujas,” or witches, have taken up arms — in the form of prayers, altars, candles, amulets and burning sage — to protect their nation’s beloved soccer team in its quest to secure a third World Cup title and its first in 36 years.“We think of ourselves as agents that, from love, can take care, protect and sow happiness,” said Rocío Cabral Menna, 27, a witch and high-school teacher in Messi’s hometown, Rosario, who burns a bay leaf inscribed with her predicted score in a ceremony before each match. The players are competing on the field, she said, and at home, “the witches are taking care of them.”The trend caught fire after Argentina’s shocking loss to Saudi Arabia in the opening match, causing Argentines to search for any way to help the team on which this nation of 47 million has pitted its hopes.After that match, several witches started a WhatsApp group to instruct other witches on how to help the national team. They called it the Argentine Association of Witches, or La Brujineta, a play on “bruja” and “La Scaloneta,” Argentina’s nickname for its national team.“I thought there were going to be 10 people at most,” said the group’s founder, Antonella Spadafora, 23, a witch who runs a convenience store in a city in northwest Argentina. Within days, more than 300 people had joined the group. Last week, there was so much demand that they started a Twitter account. It has gained 25,000 followers in seven days.“We got tired of being closet witches,” said Andrea Maciel, 28, a witch and graphic designer in Buenos Aires who now helps manage the group.The witches said their main focus is to use rituals to absorb negative energy from Argentina’s players and exchange it with good energy. That, however, leaves them exhausted.Rocío Cabral Menna is a witch, poet and literature professor in Rosario, Argentina, the hometown of Lionel Messi.Sebastián López Brach for The New York TimesCabral Menna works with tarot cards and candles to help Argentina’s team.Sebastián López Brach for The New York Times“Headaches, dizziness, vomiting, muscle pain,” Spadafora said. “We are absorbing all the bad vibes,” she added. “It wears you down a lot, because these are very public figures who have so much negative energy from other people.”So, to divide the burden, the group leaders now split the witches into groups before every match, each focused on protecting a certain player.While many of the witches said they are working to look after Messi and his teammates, others are attempting to cast spells on opposing players, particularly the goalkeepers. One ritual involves freezing a slip of paper with the name of a player on it, saying a curse and then burning the frozen paper just before the match.But the Brujineta group warned that trying to curse France could backfire, particularly because of the team’s star forward, Kylian Mbappé.“We do not recommend freezing France, as their players are protected by dark entities and the energy can bounce back!!” the group announced on Twitter on Wednesday. “We saw very dark things in the French team and especially in Mbappé. Please share!!!”The witches focused on the World Cup represent a wide variety of occult disciplines, more New Age than ancient and Indigenous. Practices include black magic, white magic, Wicca, Reiki, Tarot, astrology, and healers of the evil eye and other ailments.Some women said they were born with special abilities, while others said they developed their skills through study. Several said they began practicing witchcraft as part of a growing feminist movement in Argentina that began in 2018 with the fight for legal abortion.“I think we all have magic inside,” said Cabral Menna.But the witches are far from the only Argentines trying to help their team in the supernatural realm. On game days, many more Argentines have been practicing some sort of cábala, or superstition designed to avoid causing any bad luck to their team. The cábalas often involve people sticking to the exact same routine if the team is winning, including where they watch the game, with whom, in what clothes, at what volume and on which channel.Jesica Fernandez Bruera, an astrologer in Rosario.Sebastián López Brach for The New York TimesDuring Argentina’s matches, Fernandez performs several rituals, such as burning laurel leaves.Sebastián López Brach for The New York TimesThe practice is so mainstream that millions of Argentines likely practice some sort of cábala, a word that derives from kabbalah, a Jewish mystical tradition. Cábalas have been especially pronounced this year after Argentina’s loss in its opening match.Adrián Coria, Messi’s childhood coach in Rosario and later on the national team, said that he watched the first loss with his family in his living room. Then his wife and daughter sent him to a small cabin in the backyard for the second match. “Alone,” he said. He has since watched the rest of the World Cup there.Cabral Menna, the witch from Rosario, said she and her mother watched Argentina’s first victory in her mother’s bedroom. “It’s the only part of the house without air conditioning,” she said. “It’s very hot. But we’re not going to move.”And Sergio Duri, the owner of a restaurant in Rosario with Messi’s signature on the wall, said he now watches the matches in his kitchen with one dachshund, Omar, while his wife watches them in their bedroom with the other dachshund, Dulce. “If this comes out, everybody will know that we’re all completely crazy,” he said. “But these are cábalas, you know?”The players are also practicing cábalas. Alejandro Gómez, Leandro Paredes and Rodrigo de Paul, three midfielders, have taken to walking around the pitch an hour before kickoff while chewing candy, a tradition they started last year when Argentina won the Copa América, South America’s premier soccer tournament.During Argentina’s matches, Maia Morosano performs rituals to lead to a win, such as burning certain herbs.Sebastián López Brach for The New York TimesMorosano, who is from Rosario, is also a poet.Sebastián López Brach for The New York TimesMorosano casting spells for the national team.Sebastián López Brach for The New York TimesSo now the question for the witches is: What will happen on Sunday?“We don’t want to give information as if we have the absolute last word,” Spadafora said. “But obviously we have started working, and obviously we have checked with most of the means at our disposal — esoteric means, for example, pendulums, Tarot, all the divination methods — and it indicates that Argentina is going to win.”Azucena Agüero Blanch, a 72-year old professional fortune-teller once consulted by former President Carlos Menem, has also explained that she is working with magical stones to ensure an Argentina victory. “Many people who are pushing for Argentina to win have called on me to work on this,” she told an Argentine newspaper.On Friday night, Martínez was in her candlelit home in Buenos Aires wearing a robe covered in tigers and lighting candles at an altar that included burned sandalwood; Ganesha, the elephant-headed Hindu god; and a photo of Diego Maradona, the late Argentine soccer star who is something like a deity to many in this country.Martínez said she has a series of methods to protect the national team, including a practice that involves swinging a pendulum, or a wooden cylinder on a string, above a player’s jersey number and then burning cotton doused with a mistletoe tincture. She said she follows the news for updates about players’ ailments and then uses the pendulum to help alleviate them. “The pendulum is the most powerful tool I have,” she explained.She said she has also had psychic moments during matches. During Argentina’s match against Australia on Dec. 3, she said she had a vision of the Argentine forward Julián Álvarez celebrating a goal.At 5:13 p.m., she tweeted: “Julian Alvarez I want your goal 🕯👁🕯👁🕯.”Four minutes later, Álvarez scored.Tarot sets used by Violeta Parisi, a witch in Buenos Aires.Anita Pouchard Serra for The New York TimesParisi, 24, is one of the hundreds of witches across the country practicing magic to help their national team.Anita Pouchard Serra for The New York TimesAn altar in Parisi’s bedroom.Anita Pouchard Serra for The New York TimesNatalie Alcoba contributed reporting. More