What was so celebrated? The America’s Cup? The validity of Lionel Messi as a sacred monster? The return of the people to the field? The idea that the end of the pandemic is near? The return of the dribble, the wall and that football that we carry in our blood? The illusion that you can fight at the highest level? The feeling that there is a team and that there is a coach as part of that team? The victory against Bolivia that brings the National Team one step closer to Qatar? A little of each thing and in the sum of all those things in the Monumental, and from the TV we had a unique, different, phenomenal Thursday.
It is true that he played the ideal rival in these circumstances, a very weak Bolivian National Team that knew they would not be able to escape from their sparring condition. The Bolivians, players with little international filming who suffer a lot when they go down to the level, did what they could, did not hit, held on and prayed that the win was not wide.
If those who paid admission were satisfied with a goal from Messi to think that the investment was justified, they felt triple rewarded. Goal with previous pipe and ball to the angle. Right goal after double wall. Rebounding goal as the icing on the cake on the hour is an extraordinary and unforgettable combo. Messi in Argentina, on the field with an audience to clean up the frustration of the game against Brazil at the Maracana that could not be, Messi to break another record and surpass Pelé among the scorers of South American teams.
And in addition to Messi, Paredes who broke it in the first half and Di María who perhaps like never made people sing “Fideo… Fideo”, and with his devilish dribbling he remembered his origins in Rosario Central and with his always lucid game so that It is understood why he won the title in this team.
On this night of emotions Scaloni will not forget that the more than 20 thousand who were in the stadium sang more than once that of “La Scaloneta the whore who gave birth to them”, in an explicit recognition of him and his coaching staff for all that that have grown in these times.
Messi broke in the end, without being able to speak in front of the microphones, added value to the great night, and ordered those who once accused him of cold chest and blamed him for championships that did not arrive to silence definitively.
It is not really known how far we are from the elite of football and time will tell. But today, here and now and returning to the questions from the beginning, let us celebrate who we are, who we are, who we were again.
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