to cheer on his team Argentina, one of the tournament favourites, and star striker Lionel Messi.
“It’s four years of savings, saving some money every month for this dream come what may. You stop doing things like buying a car or buying a house,” Matrangolo told Reuters at a huge barbecue of some 300 Argentinian fans ahead of travelling to Qatar. “It’s a dream, it’s an infatuation. Many people say look, he spends the money to go to Qatar instead of having 5 per cent of a house. Well I’m sure is nice, but I’m going to the World Cup.”, starts in less than a fortnight on Nov 20 and fans from England to Japan are gearing up to make the trip to the Middle Eastern nation in hopes of glory.
Argentina, on a run of 35 games unbeaten and reigning champions in the Copa America in 2021, hopes to add to two World Cup victories in 1978 and 1986, the latter driven by the genius of late football idol Diego Maradona, who died in 2020. “We have Lionel on the pitch and Diego playing in heaven,” fans sang in unison at the barbecue in Sarmiento Park on Sunday, many wearing the blue-white national jersey, holding banners or inked with tattoos of star players.