It was a hot and humid Saturday evening in Gurgaon, but what really set the temperature soaring and left Gurugrammers sweating was the World Cup match between
Argentina and France. Organised by the Embassy of Argentina, the event, which was held at
Cyber Hub’s amphitheatre, saw fans of both the teams cheer for their favourite players. Although the number of Argentina fans was higher, those supporting France eventually celebrated their Saturday night after France beat Argentina by 4-3 to enter the semi-finals. Although the game came to an equal 1-1 when Angel Di Maria took a surprise shot by half-time and made Argentina fans hopeful of a win, the two goals made by France minutes after the second half started led Argentina supporters to shout “Messi goal kar yaar” and “Aaj toh Argentina bahar hai.”
COME ON
MESSI! Argentinian fans at the live screening of the match in Cyber Hub
When we asked Daniel Chuburu, Ambassador of Argentina to India, if he thinks Messi will again make a surprise goal just like he did while playing against Nigeria, he said, “You never know with Messi. One moment, he’ll be playing just ok, and the next he’ll create some magic! That’s what happened during the game with Nigeria. Messi plays like that, and this time too, I’m hoping for some magic!” While there were many ardent supporters of the teams, there were some who didn’t support any, but came just to enjoy the screening. Bibhupada Mishra, a corporate employee, told us, “I am a
Brazil supporter, but I’m supporting Argentina today because now that I am here, I had to support one team! We were contemplating going to a pub or a restaurant nearby just to escape this searing humidity, but we decided against it just for the sake of this ambience and the exciting buzz around it. I mean it’s absolutely different here. We’re really enjoying it.” The match had made its fate known to both the countries’ fans when France was leading by 4-2, but proved to be a nail-biter when Argentina scored their third goal in the extra-time after the second half got over with fans saying “Bas ek goal aur kar do koi.” Although Argentina lost, fans said they enjoyed the match and it was a different way to spend their Saturday night. “I’m a bit disappointed in Messi. I had really thought Argentina would win. Anyway, it was a nice way to spend the evening here rather than sitting at home cheering for your team alone,” said Sachin Gupta from the audience. For Argentinian ambassador, this match was important because he’d landed from Russia on Friday just to attend the screening in Cyber Hub. “I was in Russia for the World Cup matches and I landed on Friday just because we were organising this event here and I wanted to attend it with everyone. We screened the previous match in the embassy, but that area could accommodate only 80-100 people. That’s no fun! So we thought why not screen it for more people. So we chose Gurgaon primarily because I love this space and this area – Cyber Hub. Gurgaon has a lot of sports enthusiasts and the people here also enjoy everything,” said Daniel Chuburu.
Daniel Chuburu, Ambassador of Argentina, cheers for the team
Fans of Team France at Cyber hub
HEARTBROKEN: The event organised by the Argentinian embassy at Cyber Hub saw Argentina supporters cheer for the team and shout, ‘Messi goal kar yaar’ and ‘Aaj toh Argentina bahar hai’
Argentinia supporter at the screening
— Shambhavi.Modgill@timesgroup.com
