Argentines Ángel Di María and Lionel Messi after the match between Saudi Arabia and Argentina in Doha, Qatar. ANTONIN THUILLIER (AFP)
Dear Martin:
It’s a bit scary: I thought of consoling you for the crisis in Argentina, but after reading you, you must console me. Your letter plunged me into a convincing depression. Compared to you, Pessoa is euphoric.
The worst thing is that you are right. The Saudi-orchestrated assassination of Khashoggi could not have been more heinous. And you add a piece of information that makes stories unforgettable: the journalist risked his life looking for papers in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to get married for the fourth time. according to dr For Johnson, remarriage reveals the triumph of hope over experience. Threatened with death, Khashoggi was a career hope. His body divided into two suitcases was an unbearable affront to freedom of expression and the optimism in love.
The Saudi Arabian players are not responsible for the executions in their country (nor was Menotti’s Argentina responsible for the torture committed at ESMA not far from the stadium in 1978), but it is unworthy of the oil and blood to capitalize on it Triumph and now hire someone born to be considered the best kid in Rosario.
It’s not the first time Leo has slipped off the field. He was the most famous tax dodger in Barcelona and he only escaped jail by coming out on bail with a 21-month sentence (with two others he would have played his little section in a cell).
La Pulga’s excuse is that he doesn’t know: Other people determine his destiny. However, this version of the genius as a puppet contrasts with what his friends say about him and what can be seen in documentaries. Ahead of Argentina’s final against Brazil at the last Copa America, Scaloni made a very personal decision: he left the dressing room and let the number 10 do the speech. Messi hasn’t achieved the rhetoric we ascribe to your namesake San Martín, but he spoke intensely about the 45 days without the families, the dashed hopes (his were the worst: four finals lost before that), the illusion of reversing the destiny. Di María is a light tear, but even Papu Gómez was moved by the speech. One who talks like this cannot ignore that there are taxes; nor that there is a throat cut in Saudi Arabia with no available remedy other than a prince’s forebodings.
Until yesterday, the ever-contradictory Mexicans wanted to beat Argentina and keep Messi at the World Cup. Deep down, we were ready to offer our best strategy in battles: the heroic sacrifice in order not to eliminate Messi. The burn might be worth it; the corpses of the selection would be food not only for the vultures but also for the Latin American unit. Long live Simón Bolívar, sons of bitches!
But everything has changed: we are playing against the figure that promotes Saudi Arabia for the 2030 World Cup.
And you already said the worst: Cristiano turned down the same offer. Madeira’s Adonis, playing to see himself in the mirror, causes surprises. We knew about his troubled childhood, his father’s mental breakdown during the war in Angola and his subsequent alcoholism, but that didn’t really set him apart; after all, tragedy is the hero’s diet. Shooting at angles requires suffering.
The strange thing happened recently. If Gandhi shook the foundations of the British Empire with a handful of salt, Cristiano did it with a Coca-Cola bottle. On 7 Portugal, he withdrew from the soft drink at a press conference and recommended drinking water. With this gesture, the company lost $4,000 million on the stock exchange. Later, CR7 adopted a behavior unique to the football planet: he confessed to being depressed. It corresponded to the country of Pessoa (which imagined “a Sunday backwards”, “a holiday spent in the abyss”) to inaugurate melancholy on the pitch.
Cristiano shaves with such perfection that one can hardly attribute an inner workings to him; However, at the age of 37 he broke the most original record of his career: he accepted being vulnerable. The death of a son about to be born devastated him and removed previous turbulence. Manchester United wanted him on the pitch right away but he exercised the rights of a sad man. He came to Qatar without playing enough, but against Ghana he became the first player to score in five World Cups. This sporting achievement was also a moral triumph.
Our passions have done a somersault. While beloved Messi signs contracts like he thinks with his left foot, Cristiano sets an example.
The Saudi Arabia 2030 boycott begins on Saturday and the power of sanity is Mexico. Am I exaggerating? Yes, of course! Don’t blame me for objectivity when watching this game.
The complete correspondence of Caparrós and Villoro during the World Cup in Qatar
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