No one who was at the World Cup in Brazil eight years ago can forget the soundtrack to the tournament. It was provided by the massed hordes of visiting fans from Argentina who, wherever they gathered, belted out a song to the tune of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Bad Moon Rising.”
The adapted lyrics had nothing to do with the Mexico 1986 tournament, when Diego Maradona hit heights of genius seldom seen before or since. They were not even about Argentina ’78, the site of their first World Cup win. No, the lyrics to the song focused on a goal scored in Italia ’90.
Then, as now, Argentina suffered a surprise defeat in the opening game of the tournament. From the perspective of the time, losing to Cameroon was at least as much a surprise as Tuesday’s shocker against Saudi Arabia. But that team picked itself up, dusted itself down and went all the way to the final. Thirty-two years on, Argentina fans are hoping for a similar revival.
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It is fascinating that Italia ’90 holds such a place in the footballing folklore. But then again, Argentina is the country of tango, with its tales of dark romance, dramatic twists and romantic tragedy.
Perhaps things were simply going too well when the team swaggered into Qatar on the back of a 36-game unbeaten run. There was a fear in the camp that something might go wrong when it mattered most. Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni talked about it after his side thrashed European champions Italy in June. The Italians, of course, had been on a long unbeaten run — and even so had missed out on the World Cup. Something similar happened to Algeria. Better, one might imagine, for something to go wrong in the first match of the World Cup — when there is still time to put things right — than in the knockout stages, where defeat means elimination.
And the situation of Argentina is more comfortable than that of Germany, the other surprise first-round losers to Asian opposition. Argentina do not have to face Spain in the next game. Instead, it is Mexico followed by Poland, both of whom looked unimpressive in their drab goalless draw. The Mexican wingers do not seem to pose the same threat as they did four years ago. Argentina have knocked over Mexico three times in the Scaloni years, without conceding a goal, and Poland have the air of a side too slow to give support to centre-forward Robert Lewandowski — and too slow to put the Argentina midfield under the kind of pressure that Saudi Arabia managed on Tuesday.
