Empty lot on the road from Souq Waqif to the Corniche. There are a few people in blue and white shirts sitting together. It is a group of fans who came from Argentina to watch the World Cup. Soon the area was full of chants of ‘Messi…Messi…Messi…’.
If you look closely, they are Malayalis. Die-hard Argentina fans. They came to the Souq to celebrate wearing their team shirts and couldn’t contain their joy when they saw the ‘real Argentines’. Surprise and joy for the crew from Buenos Aires.
Apart from Malayalees, Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans joined them with the desire to take pictures and talk. Channel cameras from many countries also turned towards them.
Daniela Doha
In Souq Waqif
In the group of ten people, Philip and Daniel know English. When shown a photo of Lionel Messi’s cut placed by Argentina fans in the Pullavur river, Philip said, ‘I’ve seen it in Bangladesh, right? with Neymar’s cut too.’ Philip was convinced that this is not Bangladesh, but our own country.
He came to Qatar from Argentina via Madrid-Dubai with his friend. The two-day long flight cost 1800 dollars (about 1.47 lakh rupees). After coming here, he got together with his local friends. Philip was in the gallery for the last two World Cups held in Brazil and Russia.
Felipe is confident that Argentina will win the cup this time. “The majority of Argentine people think so. There is a lot of hope. We have a strong team despite injuries to Lo Celso, Gonzalez and Correa.
Above all, we have Messi’. After Messi, the team’s favorite player is striker Lautaro Martinez. Philip wanted to know why so many people in India love Argentina. When he said that he started during Maradona’s time and became stronger through Messi, Filip said that Maradona was like God to him.
Tickets are in hand for the Argentina-Poland and Argentina-Saudi Arabia matches in the qualifying round, as well as the quarter-finals where Argentina are expected to advance. Philip’s question is if he can get tickets for the Argentina-Mexico game.
Daniela, who is with the group, is Uruguayan. He came to Doha to watch the World Cup with his Argentinian friends from Australia where he works. Their response was ‘Qatar is beautiful’.
Although she is only 29 years old, Daniela has already visited more than 20 countries. It has not come to India yet. Daniela will arrive soon. This fan’s hope is that Uruguay with Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani can sometimes win the cup. The answer came immediately to the question of who would want to win if Uruguay did not win; ‘Argentina. Because I’m a big fan of Messi.’
