Sport
Thousands welcome Messi, Argentina team after World Cup victory
Thousands of fans lined up in the middle of the night to try to get a glimpse of the Argentina soccer team that won one of the greatest World Cup finals of all time ahead of what was a day of celebrations in Buenos Aires.
Members of the team, led by captain Lionel Messi, were all smiles as they descended from the plane in Ezeiza, right outside Argentina’s capital, shortly before 3 a.m. Tuesday onto a red carpet that had been rolled out for the squad.
Messi was the first player from the plane carrying the World Cup, flanked by coach Lionel Scaloni, who put his arm around the captain as they walked past a sign that read, “Thank you, champions.”
The players were welcomed by rock band La Mosca singing “Muchachos,” a song that was written by a fan to the tune of an old song by the band and became a popular unofficial anthem for Argentine fans at the World Cup in Qatar, Associated Press reported.
The newly crowned champions of the world boarded an open top bus and several, including Messi, could be seen singing the words to “Muchachos” while they waited for everyone to get on to travel to the headquarters of the Argentine Football Association.
The bus moved at a snail’s pace as fans, many of whom were waving Argentine flags, swarmed the bus on a highway, eager for a glimpse of the players as law enforcement officers tried to keep them at bay.
Throughout the trip, Messi held the World Cup as players waved to fans and often sang along with them.
It took the bus around one hour to travel approximately 11 kilometers from the airport to AFA headquarters, where the players were welcomed with fireworks.
They were expected to sleep at AFA headquarters for a few hours before boarding the bus later Tuesday to the Obelisk, the iconic Buenos Aires landmark that was a sea of people Sunday afternoon after the team won the country’s third World Cup, and its first since 1986.
President Alberto Fernández declared a national holiday Tuesday so the country could celebrate the victory.
Majid Mortezaei, head coach of the country’s national futsal team, says Asia must believe that there is still a power called “Afghanistan” in futsal.
In a press conference on Saturday ahead of Afghanistan match against Kyrgyzstan, Mortezaei said the national team will do its best to go to the World Cup.
“Tomorrow, we will do our best to go to the World Cup. If it doesn’t happen, nothing will decrease from our values, because we have done many great things so far,” he said.
“Kyrgyzstan is a good team. They won against Japan. We have the experience of facing them in CAFA, but this Kyrgyzstan team is a different team,” he added.
According to Mortezaei, Afghan players have done intensive training and know how to play in difficult and sensitive conditions.
It should be noted that Afghan futsal team won 5-3 against Iraq on Friday.
The Kyrgyz team has also reached this stage of the competition by winning against Vietnam.
Afghanistan has a chance to advance to the Futsal World Cup 2024 by winning against Kyrgyzstan tomorrow (Sunday, April 28th).
Khurasan Faryab FC was thrashed 5-0 by Attack Energy FC in the 13th match of Afghanistan Champions League (ACL) in Kabul on Friday. In this match, a Nigerian football player for Attack Energy was named man of the match.
In the 14th match of today’s ACL, Abu Muslim Farah FC beat Aino Mina FC 2-1. Nematullah Karimi and Sohrab Afghan scored two goals in this game.
Tomorrow’s matches will see Sarsabz Yashlar FC take on Mawj Sahil FC at 1:00 PM, while Sorkh Poshan Khafi face Maiwand FC at 3:30 PM.
The matches are broadcast live on Ariana Television every day.
Afghanistan defeated Iraq 5-3 on Friday and moved closer to the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup qualification.
Afghanistan’s goals were scored by Akbar Kazemi (1), Farzad Mahmoodi (1), Mehran Ghulami (1), and Jawad Safari (2).
In the other match of playoff in Thailand on Friday, Kyrgyzstan beat Vietnam 3-2.
Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan will face off for a spot at the Futsal World Cup on Sunday at the Playoff final.
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