• Argentina will play the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar against France on Sunday (4 p.m. in France, noon in Argentina).

  • With this World Cup in November and December, the Argentines have the chance to finally experience a World Cup in the summer.

  • Enough to get together with the family around a barbecue, to drink more beers than usual, and to watch the match on a giant screen in parks.

Great sun, 27 degrees with a light easterly wind.

Or a few clouds and degrees, the same time as July 15, 2018 in Paris, the day of the last title of world champion of the French team gleaned in Russia.

Except that this year, these are the forecasts for Buenos Aires, when in Paris the thermometer will hardly cross the positive values, under a heavy sky.

By the time we snuggle up in our sofas with a hot chocolate to digest the big raclette put on a few hours before, and live this final of the 2022 World Cup, Sunday at 4 p.m., our Argentine rivals will be sending barbecues and cold beers, from the other side of the Atlantic, and from the equator.

This is one of the particularities of this World Cup, in winter for us, and in the middle of summer for the Argentines.



The same passion, but not the same way of living it

Ramiro, a resident of the capital Buenos Aires, will gather on Sunday "with about twenty friends", "to have a barbecue and celebrate".

“The fervor is still pretty crazy in Argentina, and a lot of people who aren't too interested in football in general, are passionate about the national team.

The fact of being in summer does not influence this passion, but more on the way of living it.

People are even more outside, ”he says.

Soledad, another resident of Buenos Aires, has already experienced World Cups in the summer, when she lived in France.

But this is the first time that she has had the opportunity to experience it under the Argentinian sun.

“In general, we prefer to stay at home with the family to watch the match, and if we win we go out to celebrate the victory in the street.

Most games in this World Cup happened at 4 p.m., so it was not time to eat.

But for the final, as it is at noon on Sunday, and the tradition is to have barbecues, everyone is organizing that.

We ourselves will meet with more friends and family, around a barbecue, ”she explains.

But without his mother, “that we fire from the room because every time she is there, Argentina loses!

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Under the almost scorching heat that hits Buenos Aires in December, the Argentines have taken on a new habit.

That of being in the park, in front of giant screens to follow the match.

“Ah yes, that's something new, the government also installs giant screens in the winter, but this year more people are gathering in the parks around the giant screens.

It's also because it's too hot, and it's a lot of working people who come to see the match like that, ”explains Soledad.

Messi?

"He's not going to stop"

But beyond the summer and the ambient heat, isn't the fervor of the Argentinians also increased tenfold by Lionel Messi's last dance in the World Cup?

Daniel is doubtful: “there is always this same ''mania'' for the selection, it is not linked to Messi.

It was already the same at the time of Maradona of course, but also of Batistuta”.

“We obviously want to see Messi win a World Cup, but Messi or not Messi, there is always this same fervor around the national team”, supports Soledad.

No difference for Messi, therefore, perhaps quite simply because the Argentines do not believe in retiring, even if the prodigious number 10 of Albiceleste announced himself that he did not see himself handing over the covered in 2026. "He's only 35, chances are it won't be his last," Ramiro cuts us off.

When Daniel laughs out loud at the idea of ​​an international retirement from La Pulga.

"He's not going to stop," he says, sure of himself.

However, he had not yet sent himself "Fernet Cola", the drink widely used by Albiceleste supporters, and which will flow freely on Sunday, around an asado, the traditional Argentinian barbecue.

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  • World Cup 2022

  • Sport

  • Soccer

  • Argentina

  • Lionel Messi

  • France football team

  • Final