2023-11-25 07:13:20
We have the novel of the summer, the Scaloni affair! Why is he about to resign? What will have happened? Did he get angry with Chiqui Tapia because he was supposedly pressured to support Massa? Will he be coming out of the ideological closet to make public that he plays for Macri? Is it for money? Do you want more power within the AFA? Has he run out of energy, as Bielsa once said? Will he be looking for a bigger goal than the National Team, like directing Boca? Impossible to know, at least for now. Until a few years ago, in the summers you had a hit, a song that played non-stop all day (my favorite was the one that said “Move tu cucu/move tu cucu”). I don’t know why (in the end this column doesn’t know anything about any topic!) there haven’t been any summer hits for a while now, but there are “novels,” public events that function as media narratives. Of course this summer looks to be busy, with Milei in power, but that does not mean we should downplay the anguish of being left without the Pujato star.
Meanwhile, Messi’s attitude was notable, but also that of Dibu and the other players, defending the Argentine fans who were being repressed by the police at the Maracaná. It was a gesture of undoubted political firmness, which we can only highlight with admiration. This column has often been critical of the National Team for non-football reasons (in fact, I expect the same firmness in its statements when Milei and Jorge Macri’s police begin to repress popular protests), but I can only say that the style of Messi’s leadership the other day was incomparable. Meanwhile, Argentina played badly again, they won because they scored a header against a Brazil that without its main figures (all injured) does not play anything, lost three games in a row and is in a major institutional and football crisis.
Changing the subject, against Estudiantes, Boca played like Boca: badly. A century ago, the surrealists said that life was organized by chance. Obviously Boca thinks the same. The chance of three series on penalties took him to the final of the Libertadores. But, as Celeste Carballo sang, “it’s life that’s enough for me,” and one day chance stops and the truth appears: Boca never played well this year and that’s why they ended up losing again and again. Not counting the issue of expulsions: Rojo getting thrown out after 15 minutes against River and then in the Cup semifinal; Fabra getting himself sent off against Fluminense, when they had one less; Saracchi getting himself sent off against Estudiantes 13 minutes into the first half, when Boca was already losing 1 to 0. And all those expulsions were unnecessary, meaningless, childish, incomprehensible.
Bianchi said that to win you need to have intelligent players. What would he say about these players? The December elections seemed to have already been won by Riquelme. And now? Everything seems to be open. There is no reason to rule out that those who celebrated Fluminense’s victory end up winning, or at least that their chances have increased. We will know soon.
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