The best selection of all, an irrelevant debate

Some people say, not without reason, that “best of all time” there are as many as people decide to comment on. That’s not today’s business. By the way, what could currently be a Maradona vs. Messi, fifty years ago was the discussion between those who said that “with this belly today they would not touch the ball” and those who said that “those donkeys of today would not even play not a hash with those of the golden age”. Nothing serious. All of this is irrelevant… and allowed.

However, these times break everything said. And what starts as a football opinion can end as a WhatsApp block.

We, the media, have a lot to do with this case. Impossible not to transform a discussion into a duel of bereta between Montaigu and Capulet. It happens in the inexplicable overabundance of audiovisual debates, in the spaces open to comments on the publications of the portal and, without forgetting, in this battle of handsome men at a distance that social networks become too often (regardless of whether they are hateful). , trolls, bots or simple cyber assassins; we all know football like Sir Alex Ferguson, racing cars like Fangio and Milanese like Doña Tota).

By this logic, when you speak of Charly you are not sizing up an impossible to gauge musical genius, but you are bragging about a sailor who jumped from an advantage in a hotel in Mendoza. So Amy Winehouse wasn’t one of the most wonderful – unfinished and inadequate – voices of the 21st century, but rather a skinny girl who died of alcohol, drugs, fame and love. And Van Gogh is reduced to a crackpot who cut off his ear for not being returned.

We no longer worry about being right: we need the other opinion to cease to exist. And, the most curious thing, many times we claim it in the same space (once again the networks) that, in the face of any threat of limits, we save as this sacred redoubt of free and democratic opinion.

It is therefore not strange that an opinion like that of Rodrigo de Paul (“We were the best team of all”) is enough for many fans and not a few historical references of our football to jump on his neck.. Just to start, it’s hard for me to seriously doubt an opinion on the game from someone who plays it as a midfielder -always- for Atlético de Madrid. It’s not that I’m not encouraged to discuss it; Simply, I suspect that the cracks must have a little deeper insight into all aspects of this sport that an amateur gentleman who was closest to high performance had to save in Soccer 4 from Rhythm of the Night. Of course, with Diego as a partner (my son Fermín is rotten that I show him the video of the two goals I scored with the “assistance” of Maradona).

Either way, it looks like Rodrigo kicked an anthill. Because a lot of the reactions were closer to some kind of hysterical cancellation than deep arguments. And above all, when it comes to opinions, rather than disqualify, you have to accept that perhaps yours is worth as much as that of others. Especially during peer-to-peer debates.

Fortunately, there are still many Argentines who have lived through the three world titles. Everyone had the merit of overcoming. Far from what his detractors still suggest today, Menotti did not reach June 78 with unrestricted support, far from it. A few months prior, from Goals magazine, they formed the parallel team and polls emerged suggesting then-Boca manager Toto Lorenzo as a possible replacement. Not to mention Bilardo, who arrived at the America de Mexico concentration during the ’86 preview with a backpack full of reproaches and an express request to be replaced by various members of Raul Alfonsin’s government. Scaloni received an almost unanimous professional disqualification. How was someone with no experience going to take charge of the team, even at the head of a first-class team? I was one of many, with the relative virtue of having made a mea culpa some time before Argentina won the Copa América.

Going through every detail of these three wonderful stories would take more than just this space…and a few more.

We can talk about Rensenbrink’s stick, the 6-0 defeat against Peru, the defeat against Italy and having to change the Monumental for Rosario and the first Argentinian team which, without losing the ancestral technique of our football, has incorporated a dynamic and physical performance worthy of the most voracious football of the first world.

We can talk about the plasticity of starting a tournament with Clausen, Garré and Pasculli and ending it with Olarticoechea, Cucciufo and Héctor Enrique. Diego’s magic and having promoted cracks like Burruchaga, Valdano or Ruggeri. And to have filled the Plaza de Mayo two months after leaving on a trip with an image that even the most voting candidate would not envy.

Finally, we can speak of the previously mentioned skepticism of a large part of public opinion pushed into indecency by snipers on the microphone and of having survived this footballing abyss that would have been to exclude from a world, with Messi, on the second date of the group stage. Also, like in 1986, to make sure there are no unnecessary players in the squad. It was, among other things, the World Cup for Enzo, Julián and Alexis instead of Leandro, Lautaro and Lo Celso; that of Dybala’s penalty, the definition with the Netherlands as an Inter striker and the wave of Mascherano saved by Martínez from United.

Each, in its time and in its proper dimension, signified the story of an unforgettable epic.

And even if I agree with De Paul -my opinion doesn’t matter but I don’t want to take my ass out of the syringe-, what I’m most happy about is having been a privileged witness for each of them.

Without ignoring the distant past, the recent past puts me, once again, in front of a daring team, which played to play and found solutions to many errors. He was brilliant and human. He taught us that the perfect team does not exist and that the one who ultimately wins is the one who is best prepared to overcome those setbacks. And that the finals are not only won, but also played… and how,

Anyway, for some reason, almost four months after Montiel’s penalty – remember: he scored the last and came on as a substitute to play extra time – many Argentines, whenever we can , return to the World Cup in Qatar.

Logic. Let’s see if we still have any intention of soon erasing from the hard drive one of the rare collective joys that I have remembered for a long time: What else, among all the daily headlines, steals our smiles or makes us drool? emotion?

This should be up for debate.

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