There lies no doubt to the fact that overwhelming majority of Indians traditionally support Argentina or Brazil. And with Argentina in final with the opposition being European France, it indeed seemed that almost whole India was rooting for the Messi-brigade.
However, it is questionable whether this passion for Argentina is solely out of appreciation of their “poetry” on field or just to remain in the “mainstream” without exercise of any thought or logic! Perhaps the latter proposition is true, given the deluge of rampant blindness as exemplified by the Argentina “admirers”!
Sporting sanity demands proper appreciation of play even if literally own home team/country is competing. Of course, victory of home team or favourite team can be celebrated, but the skills of the opposing team/players should also be awarded due respect if the latter comes out victorious.
Similarly failure should not denote the “end of the world” with vulgar chants towards “own” players or landing into depression (even taking own lives)!
However, be it in win or loss of Argentina, Indians have specialised in rampant antics and lunacy. While we had heard of suicides following the Argentine loss in 2014 World Cup final; this Sunday we had witnessed thunderous boisterous celebration with crackers and drums in the name of “joy” shattering the ear drums of vulnerable senior citizens, babies, sick, animals and birds around midnight!
Social media is flooded with vulgarities targeting the real hero of the final – – Kylian Mbappe! So there lies nothing to go gaga about Indian obsession with Argentina! Far from being “sports lovers”, they deserve the tag of “sports fanatics”!
However it should also be noted that just like all Indians have not accepted the superiority of Hindi, all Hindus do not treat the Ayodhya movement as any sort of “cultural renaissance,” all Indians do not perceive Sachin Tendulkar as “God of cricket” ; similarly the whole of India definitely do not root for Argentina or even Latin America!
So we were fortunate enough to witness that heart-rending scene following Morocco’s semi-final loss to France — Mbappe not only consoling the devastated Moroccan players, but embracing Achraf Hakimi with warmth from the innermost core of the heart and later twitting “Don’t be sad bro, everybody is proud of what you did, you made history”! In contrast, the Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez had taken the lead in rendering vulgar chants of “A minute’s silence for Mbappe who is dead” in the dressing room while celebrating the World Cup win! What a brute expression of haughtiness following victory, how crudely can the Golden Boot winner of the tournament be specifically targeted! The Argentine goalkeeper carried on his mock-Mbappe gestures during felicitation ceremony back home also with none other than Lionel Messi either watching as mere spectator or joining the “fun”!
And this very contrasting behaviour of Argentinians and Mbappe following respective victories make the latter’s moral excellence more prominent thereby endearing more to the hearts of many Indians. To a genuinely civilised Indian, a sober humble Kylian Mbappe is much more closer to heart than the “street-smart” Argentines!
