‘I feel empty’: Argentina mourns as Messi’s World Cup dream ends
BUENOS AIRES, July 20 — Nervous excitement and rowdy cheers turned into anguished groans, nailbiting tension and tears as Argentines’ hope of yet another epic comeback led by Lionel Messi in the World Cup fizzled out against Spain.
At the Cafe Relax bar in the historic centre of Buenos Aires, fans with tears in their eyes after the final whistle blew on the 1-0 defeat said what saddened them most was that it was almost certainly 39-year-old Messi’s last shot at a World Cup.
“I feel empty. Empty because of Messi, because I won’t see him in a World Cup again. This is the last one,” said Camilo Cichero, a 22-year-old architecture student who was comforting his crying friend.
“It’s not how we expected it to go. At least it gives me peace of mind knowing he’s already won everything there was to win.”
Composing himself, his friend Juan Saenz, 22, a law student, said: “This was the last of Messi … it was the very end, and it finished this way.
“I was born while Messi was playing, and this was the end of that era.”
After a scrappy World Cup run built on a series of narrow victories, Argentines were confident they could pull off a second victory in a row in the final in New Jersey.
Draped in their blue-and-white flag and donning the national football jersey, they braved an icy cold day to pack bars and public squares, fizzing with excitement at the start of the game.
In Cafe Relax, which displays a flag saying it is “forbidden to forget” the Falkland Islands, which Argentina invaded in 1982 only to be ejected by a British task force, nervous energy and excited chants gave way to tension by half-time.
In the second half, angry shouts at the screen were interspersed with excited chants and increasingly foul language, while some sat with arms folded, feet tapping and chewed their nails or buried their heads in the flag.
“Oh no, it can’t be, please, please!” wailed one woman when Enzo Fernandez was sent off after receiving two yellow cards.
Before extra time began, Teresa Dolores del Rio Varela, 87, watching with a friend of the same age, complained that “it drags on and on, and you start to get nervous. I’m happy, but I just want it to end because it’s getting long.”
Joaquin Romero, 22, who works in sales, said the game was “incredibly complicated. I don’t know how it’ll happen, but it’s going to happen for us. We’re Argentine. We’re champions and we’re going to win.”
A dramatic extra-time goal by Ferran Torres cast a pall of silence over the bar for the last agonising minutes.
Cichero said he was sad for Messi but dismayed at the game.
“I didn’t like how Argentina played. I didn’t like the game plan, the substitutions, the players. I didn’t like the referee.”
Abel Torres, a 62-year-old retiree wearing a blue-and-white jester hat and blowing a vuvuzela throughout the game, teared up as he described the “incredibly emotional” game.
“Argentina gave it their all. Today was a true example of what Argentina is all about: that despite the hard times and the obstacles we face, we always rise again.
“It wasn’t our World Cup this time, but this team taught us a great deal about never giving up.”
Around the city, fireworks went off, car horns honked and thousands of fans still made their way to the iconic Obelisk, the traditional place for football celebrations.
Many fans said that despite the defeat, they intended to take to the streets to welcome the team home.
“Thank you so much, players!!! You fought until the very end. Argentina will always stand tall,” President Javier Milei wrote on X. — AFP