The World champions’ party at the Monumental stadium only confirmed the romance of the Argentine fans with La Scaloneta. Almost six hours of waiting, between musical shows, a parade of characters, celebrity appearances, finally had their prize when thehe Argentinian players took to the playing field to play the international friendly against Panama.
It will be said that the rival did not seem to be up to the commitment involved in facing a team established as world champion. The fact that Panama presented an alternative team, beyond the justification based on the need to reserve its starters for a key Concacaf match, is proof that things can be done better, always.
But of course, the rival did not matter, because really the afternoon-night promised much more than a football game. What the champions wanted to show and the Argentine fans wanted to see was the World Cup for the third time in these lands –this time in the hands of Messi, as before in those of Kempes and in those of Maradona–.
The Selection had its partywhich will be completed next week at the Madre de Ciudades stadium in Santiago del Estero with the fans of the Interior, and everything was better organized than the failed attempt in December to celebrate the title at the Obelisk in the midst of a human tide that made it impossible for the bus that transported the soccer players to travel.
And after the music there was dancing, the National Team won 2-0 against an obviously inferior rival, who kept their goal clean for almost 80 minutes. The result is somewhat anecdotal, because What became clear at the Monumental was not the hierarchy of Lionel Scaloni’s team, but the beautiful relationship that La Scaloneta built with the Argentine fans: that romance that began when Messi lifted the Copa América in Brazil and that with the World Cup won in Qatar was marked forever, like a blood pact.