In one village, dozens of homes were painted white and blue. In any other, huge 10-metre statues of soccer superstar Lionel Messi were erected in rivers and alongside roadsides. But this isn’t Argentina proudly supporting their nationwide workforce forward of Sunday’s World Cup last, the place Argentina will face France, however as a substitute is India’s southernmost state of Kerala.
India, and the south Asia area, is understood extra for its love of cricket and the international locations have by no means participated in primary global soccer tournaments. But each and every 4 years, in corners of India and throughout Bangladesh, soccer fever comes alive with the coming of the World Cup. Without their very own nationwide squads to enhance, fanatics have as a substitute evolved decades-long allegiances to different groups; none extra so than a long-lasting love for Argentina, the workforce of soccer icons Messi and Maradona.
MB Rajesh, a Kerala MP and minister, advised the Guardian his middle “carries the blue and white stripes”.
“That country and its football team symbolize the irresistible urge of humanity to liberate themselves from oppression,” mentioned Rajesh. “I relate to their battles with justice and survival.”
The soccer obsession in Indian states comparable to Kerala and West Bengal dates loads of years, to the days of British colonial rule when it was once performed amongst infantrymen. Although it hasn’t ever certified for a World Cup, India is house to one of the vital oldest soccer golf equipment on the earth.
In Kerala, India’s maximum leftwing state which has been dominated via a socialist govt for many years, the well-liked love of Argentina’s nationwide workforce was once partially credited to the modern legacy of the Latin American nation, which has fierce enhance within the Indian state.
“Argentina is the land of Messi and Che Guevara. Whether it wins or not in the final, I will continue to be a diehard fan,” said TM Thomas Issac, an economist and member of Kerala’s ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Ahead of Sunday’s final, the state has descended into a blue-and-white frenzy, and public screenings, where thousands will attend, are being arranged by fans and local authorities. After a clash erupted between Argentina and Brazil fans during the beginning of the World Cup, police said they had beefed up security for Sunday.
In Mallappuzhassery village, local Argentina fan S Abhijith collected donations so they could buy 3,000 Argentina football shirts to distribute for free ahead of the final, and decorate the area with blue and white streamers. “For us, this is the biggest celebration,” he said. “Our team will definitely win the cup.”
In football-obsessed Pullavoor village in Kerala’s Kozhikode district, competing fans of Portugal, Brazil and Argentina had all installed cutouts of their favorite players in the middle of the local river at the beginning of the tournament. But as the others were knocked out, cutouts of Brazil’s Neymar and Portugal’s Ronaldo were removed; Now only Messi remains.
Such was the dedication to the tournament for a group of 17 Argentina-supporting friends in Kerala’s city of Kochi, they spent 2.3m rupees (£22,807) to purchase a house specifically just to watch the World Cup together. Ahead of the final, the house has been decorated with Argentina flags and huge screens will be arranged so everyone can squeeze in.
“Now we can sit together and can watch the World Cup together,” said PA Shefeer, who is one of the group who bought the house. “All our family members and friends will gather here to watch the final.”
A similar Argentina fever has gripped Kolkata, the capital city of India’s state of West Bengal. The city has had a football club since 1872, the first in the country, and the World Cup is still widely followed. After Argentina qualified for the World Cup, the streets erupted in cheering and celebration. Vendors said they were now running out of Argentina football shirts to sell before the final and tea-sellers were giving out free chai to Argentina supporters.
Pragnan Saha, 17, is a member of Kolkata’s Argentina football fanclub, which was established by his father Uttam Saha in 2002, who is such a huge fan he has traveled to Qatar in the hope of seeing Messi finally lift the World Cup. “For us diehard fans, watching every match of the Argentina national team fills us with great joy and excitement,” said Saha.
Saha said it was because of Messi and Maradona that his family was so dedicated to the Argentina team. When Maradona visited Kolkata in 2008, they built an almost 10-metre statue of the footballer and on Maradona’s 50th birthday in 2010, they made a 1.67-metre (5.5ft) long cake, matching Maradona’s height, and distributed it among the local community.
For the World Cup this year, the Saha family and their Argentina fan club said they had “taken issues up a notch” and covered their entire neighborhood in Argentina with flags, colors and huge photos and cutouts of Messi and other members of the team as well. as customizing their car in blue and white. They have also set up a “fan park” where they and other football devotees have been watching all the matches.
“I am extremely excited about this match as I am sure that Lionel Messi-led Argentina is set to win the World Cup this time and prove to the world once and for all that he is the greatest of all time” said Saha.
Just across the border in Bangladesh, where Argentina has a deep-rooted fan base, their qualification for the final was met with celebration across the country. Fans – many painted in Argentina’s colors – poured onto the streets of Dhaka and other big cities, waving Argentina flags, loudly singing and dancing and hugging each other as they cheered Messi’s name.
The Argentina World Cup fever was so palpable that it even caught the attention of Argentina’s national football team’s official Twitter account, who recently tweeted at Bangladesh fans: “Thank you for supporting our team!! They are crazy like us!”
Tamjidul Hoque, 26, a law student in the Bangladeshi city of Chittagong and a fierce Argentina fan, said that Bangladesh’s long-running love of Argentina dated back to the 1986 World Cup. It was the first World Cup that people in a newly developing Bangladesh could watch on color televisions, and people were enraptured by the performance of Maradona, who led the triumph over teams such as England to lift the World Cup. “That received folks over and Maradona was a vastly iconic determine right here within the Nineteen Eighties,” mentioned Hoque.
The World Cup has recently enabled a bond to develop between Bangladesh and Argentina fans. After some in Argentina got wind of their fanbase in Bangladesh, they repaid the support by setting up a Facebook fan group for the Bangladesh national cricket team, which now has hundreds of Argentine members even though cricket is barely followed there.
“It was incredible, it shows how football can unite people even though we are separated by thousands of miles,” said Hoque.
Hoque has been a lifelong fan of Argentina and recalls crying himself to sleep as a child in 2006 when they were knocked out of the World Cup. “It can be my dream to peer Messi carry the World Cup eventually,” he said.
Sheikh Azizur Rahman contributed reporting
