Each year, the US has 11 federal holidays. In Argentina, that number is 19, the 11th-most in the world. Celebration and commemoration are mandatory for Argentinians, but for almost three decades they were denied the kind of festivities the capital city of Buenos Aires craves.
The country’s football team is making up for it now though. On Sunday night, a third successive party arrived as the city celebrated the team’s 2024 Copa América triumph, its second in a row after the 2021 title, sandwiched around the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Walking the streets of Buenos Aires in the days leading up to this year’s Copa, the city appeared split between two points of view.
The first was confidence to the point of certainty. The clerk in a small grocery store in the city centre told me that he had already booked off the day after the final, such was his conviction that he would be celebrating long into the night. A River Plate fan in the hip area of Palermo guaranteed Argentina’s impending success before he finished his first glass of vermouth (later predicting a 3-0 victory in the final after his second).
Confidence is logical. Argentina are world champions and Messi acts as their weighted blanket. But there’s also a natural hubris to Argentinians, in relation to their country, their steak and, of course, their football.
The other point of view is illustrated by Demetrio, an Uber driver and lifelong Boca Juniors supporter, who at 53 years old, recounts his memories of 2022 as well as Argentina’s World Cup titles in 1986 and 1978. After witnessing his country’s third World Cup win – ending a 36-year drought – as well as Messi’s first Copa América in 2021, Demetrio explained that he’s “full”. For Demetrio – and many others across the city – there was no need to be greedy.
“This Copa América is not as emotional as the last one,” Matias, a 23-year-old Velez Sarsfield fan, said. “In 2021, football owed Messi a title with Argentina, there was a lot more tension. Now, this generation has won everything, Messi has won everything so I feel like I cannot demand more from this team.”
Buenos Aires is a boisterous place. But it took less than 90 minutes of the opening game against Canada for the city to grind into silence. At least that was the case in the neighbourhood of Recoleta, where the bars were full and TVs lined the streets to provide options for those who couldn’t get in, when Messi went down with an apparent injury. A victim of a late slicing challenge, Messi got back to his feet and the sigh of relief that greeted his return eclipsed the reaction to Argentina’s second goal to kill off an uncomfortably tight game.
Messi started against Chile five days later but mentioned he had a tight hamstring after the 1-0 victory. With his country as good as through, the 37-year-old sat out the third group game, a routine win over Peru. But after his World Cup Golden Ball in 2022, this Copa América has broadcast perhaps the closest thing we have seen to a decline so far for Messi.
In fairness, he led the tournament in chances created going into the final but notched only one goal and an assist in five appearances, suggesting the end may be on the horizon.
Messi rallied to start the quarter-final against Ecuador but struggled to escape from the periphery of an ugly match. In their previous three games, a lead had been enough to secure a win, with Argentina keeping three clean sheets on the bounce. Four seemed likely heading into second-half stoppage time when Kevin Rodríguez finally beat Emi Martínez with a fine glancing header to make the score 1-1. The match moved straight to penalties with extra time removed (the final notwithstanding), Messi watched his attempt at a panenka hit the crossbar, although Argentina still went through.
No one wants to consider this team, and really this country, without Messi, but time remains unbeaten, even for the best athletes. Daira, a Spanish teacher in Buenos Aires, puts the feelings into words: “Messi is an artist, a player who in every match gave everything, with the love and effort it takes to go out and represent the Albiceleste.
“While there is a feeling of mourning because we know that it will be a matter of time – the time he decides – for him to stop playing professionally, I also feel tranquillity and happiness knowing that he will retire having won the World Cup for which he fought so hard.”
There had been speculation during this tournament that it would be Messi’s last in an Argentina shirt. But he said before the final that he will not rush into a decision.
“As I’ve said before, I intend to continue,” Messi said after Argentina’s semi-final win. “I intend to keep living day by day without thinking about what will come in the future or whether I’ll continue or not. It’s something I just live each day. I’m 37 years [old'] and only God knows when the end will be.”
But Messi is finally slowing. Throughout this summer’s Copa América, his teammates had to step up. In the final, it was Golden Boot winner Lautaro Martínez but they may not have reached that point without Martínez in goal.
“About [Martínez], what can I say?” Matias says. “He is the best. He made a lot of kids want to be goalkeepers again. It is not only that he is really good at penalty shootouts, having a goalie with such a strong personality is definitely an advantage for Argentina. If only Argentina loves him, and the rest of the world hates him, then he is representing us well, I think!”
Messi finally got his first goal of the tournament to lift Argentina past Canada in the semis and to reach a sixth consecutive final. On the eve of the final, a barber responded to my question about his confidence levels with one word: “Demasiado”. Meaning: too much.
They were forced to wait a long while until the first trophy of the Messi era. But if faith ever wavered in Argentina, then it has long since returned. Sunday’s celebration ran well into Monday with drums, songs, fireworks and tears.
Success on the field is a brief respite from turbulent conditions across the country. Annual inflation tops 270% in Argentina and around 58% of the country’s 46 million people live in poverty. It’s a running joke among the nation’s football fans that the latest economic crisis began to bite after the victory in Qatar.
“Honestly,” Daira continues. “The feeling regarding the future of the national team is more than hopeful and positive. We have been going through political and economic crises for many years and this can be strongly reflected in the social and cultural class differences. Football is the sport of the people, and this team has given us enormous joy and helped us to see light in places where there seemed to be only shadows.”
