SPORTS-ARGENTINA: Football – Another Broken Dream

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Jun 12 2002 (IPS) - Argentines saw their hopes dashed for a chance at winning a third World Cup in football, which would have been “a boon for self-esteem, low due to the crisis,” a psychologist here said in reaction to the 1-1 draw in Wednesday’s match against Sweden.

The early disqualification of the Argentine team from the FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan wiped out hopes for at least one source of joy amidst the worst political, economic and social crisis in the country’s history.

“Now we have to prepare ourselves because all the conflicts are going to intensify,” said Martín Boggiano, an engineer who joined his family to watch the Argentina-Sweden game on television in the early hours Wednesday.

President Eduardo Duhalde “is going to have to step down before his term is up,” Boggiano told IPS, adding that he himself is trying to move beyond disappointment with the Argentine tie with Sweden that pushed the national team out of the World Cup.

Congress appointed Duhalde to the presidency on Dec 31 to complete the term of Fernando de la Rúa, who was elected in 1999 and resigned Dec 20 amidst massive protests and the eruption of the economic crisis.

But the worsening of the crisis prompted the government this week to suggest the possibility of early presidential elections if an agreement for financial assistance is reached with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Duhalde’s term officially ends in September 2003.

In this context, several officials have admitted that they desperately hoped for an Argentine victory in the World Cup to gain time for negotiations with the IMF, which begin Thursday with an advance team from the institution.

The players on Argentina’s national team, and coach Marcelo Bielsa, headed to Japan with the stated objective of providing at least one source of joy for their 37 million football-crazed compatriots.

But now the Duhalde government fears that the team’s elimination from the championship Wednesday could deepen frustrations throughout society and trigger an outbreak of social unrest, like that of December, when looting and massive protests left some 30 people dead.

However, the outcome of the match that began at 3:30 am local time did not lead to widespread protests, just some isolated incidents involving frustrated football fans, such as broken windows and vandalised bus stops.

“Come on Argentina! Tears only deepen the crisis!” was the front-page headline of Crónica newspaper in Buenos Aires, an edition that hit the streets just hours after the tie game that ended fantasies about an Argentine football championship.

The world football championship served as a curtain, temporarily hiding the crisis, agree experts. The World Cup served as a fleeting and shared happiness amidst rapid social deterioration.

But nobody believes that the tournament was ever capable of making up for the economic collapse, which is manifest in an unemployment rate of 24 percent and more than half the population in poverty, with several million falling below the poverty line only in recent months.

“This time is not like the 1978 World Cup, when the military dictatorship tried to capitalise on Argentina’s victory. If Argentina would have won this time, the people would have won, not the government,” said Horacio Katz, who watched Wednesday’s fateful match on TV in a bar alongside friends and strangers.

The Argentine national team won its first world football championship in 1978, when the World Cup was played here, and the military dictatorship had been in power since 1976. The Argentine footballers repeated the feat at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

But even if Argentina won another World Cup championship, it would not have resolved the social crisis, hunger, high prices, lack of jobs, frozen bank accounts, constant devaluation of the peso and shrinking wages.

“A World Cup victory would have been a short-lived relief, a break amidst so much distress, a way to be with others and share a moment of happiness instead of protest. It would have been a boon for self-esteem, low due to the crisis,” psychologist Marta Novas commented in a conversation with IPS.

But the thousands of football fans who sacrificed sleep to watch the Argentina-Sweden match in the middle of the night reacted with tears and frustration to the sudden elimination of their team in the World Cup’s first series of games.

The disappointment was especially intense because most of the sports media – here and abroad – had said before the tournament began that Argentina was among the favourites to win the Cup.

A survey conducted by IBOPE polling firm on the eve of the World Cup’s inauguration showed that just five percent of the respondents said Argentina had “little chance” of winning, while 86 percent were confident that the team had “some” or “good” possibilities of winning the Cup.

“We needed some happiness,” Marta Ferro, a hearing specialist, said in reference to the football championship. Nearby, Laura Fuksman, a doctor specialising in nutrition, responded with a note of bitterness: “What we Argentines need is not happiness, but food and jobs.”