Today's blog post is dedicated to the Round of 16 match up between France and Argentina. France, the predictable winner of group C, was set to face Messi and Company, who have struggled throughout the qualifiers and the group stage, in Kazan. Given that I have bought my tickets back in October when the groups were not even known, to get to see a match up of this caliber that early in the tournament was nothing but pure luck! Much to our surprise, vast majority of the fans attending the game were Argentinians and those who were rooting for them. It was not until later that we realized that there were not many fans from Europe because they were led to believe by the politically charged media that they would be harmed and mistreated in Russia. As a result, a lot of fans missed out on the opportunity to watch their teams play. And by the way, there were no acts of violence towards any of the fans. Being in the middle of the World Cup myself I saw nothing but amazing relationships between fans of different nations, the residents of cities and others.
As I mentioned before, the support for Argentina was incredible. Vast majority of the fans in attendance were sporting teal and white jerseys clearly indicating who they are supporting. It was pretty hard to find fans from France and even if I did see someone wearing the French jersey or flag, they were not as hardcore as Argentinians. The South Americans were yelling chants before the entrance to the stadium, jumped around like crazy and were getting themselves pumped for the game. But as evident as it was that the Argentinian fans would overwhelm the French, the true magnitude of the mismatch in fan base became clear inside of the stadium.
Once the fans got settled in their seats, I could only spot two sections with the French fans. The entire stadium outside of these two sections were dominated by the Argentinians. And they made themselves heard! Starting with the national anthem and then the game, the crowd was loud in support of their nation. I got goosebumps from the volume of the cheers and boos echoing around the stadium. I can only imagine what the players feel. Unfortunately, the crowd support was not enough for Argentina to overcome the French vigor.
I might have witnessed possibly one of the best games of the tournaments as it featured everything you would want in a football match. High speed, fantastic strikes, passion, raw emotions. All of that was present in the game that ended with France triumphing over Argentina. The scoreboard read 4:3 and it was pretty consistent with what I have witnessed on the field. The result was not the one that the thousands of fans would have hoped for, but France was the better team and it advanced. Argentina fans were left breathless and had nothing else to do besides cheer for their team one last time as Argentina exited the tournament. Much to their credit, fans once again were very calm and while emotions ran high, there were no acts of aggression. Disappointed Argentinians made their way towards the exit as the French continued their celebrations.