Don’t cry for me, Argentina
It is a hauntingly sad song, though some critics wondered why a song about a megalomaniac woman living the epitome of luxury became such a hit. The real Eva Peron (First Lady of Argentina 1946 1952) might have not been much of a Robin Hood, but she was immensely popular among poor Argentines, and there was mass mourning when she died.
Argentine footballer Messi. (File)
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WHAT’S UP!
It’s a cliché, this headline, I know. And there probably have been dozens of articles with the same headline this week, all about the just-ended football World Cup. But bear with me.
If you asked Ugandans about Argentina, most would mention Lionel Messi, understandably so. But if you mentioned Argentina to many other people around the world, the first thing that would come to their mind is the song Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina, from the 1978 musical Evita by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice (it was later turned into a movie with Madonna in the leading role, and the soundtrack to the film went on to sell seven million records worldwide, and also won a Grammy Award).
It is a hauntingly sad song, though some critics wondered why a song about a megalomaniac woman living the epitome of luxury became such a hit. The real Eva Peron (First Lady of Argentina 1946 1952) might have not been much of a Robin Hood, but she was immensely popular among poor Argentines, and there was mass mourning when she died.
It was also a favourite of a very good friend of mine, who loved to hear me sing it at karaoke. When she died, I sang it every chance I got for a whole year, as a way of mourning her.
But no one is going to mourn the Argentina football team, or the fiasco that was the 2026 football World Cup.
In a world that is alarmingly and increasingly turning to fascism, the image of the Fifa president sucking up to and kowtowing to the American president was especially sickening, and saddening. If not a little bit frightening, too.
One could understand officials of the 1936 Olympics doing what Adolf Hitler told them to do, after all the Nazi reign of terror was in full swing, and the Gestapo’s dark reputation was gathering steam. But since no one held Infantino’s family jewels to the chopping block, it must have been a stadium sized amount of greed that made him do so.
He even created a special “Fifa Peace Prize” for the man who campaigned hard for the Nobel Peace Prize, but was rebuffed. It was sickening to see the lengths the Fifa president went to smooch the behind of the son of German immigrants, but who hates other immigrants.
And football purists the world over will probably try their darnest to make him pay for taking the “beautiful game” to lows not seen since the Nazis tried to fix games in their efforts to prove their racial superiority.
It was very telling that the UEFA president, Aleksander Ceferin, did not attend the fi nal game, in protest against the several decisions that Infantino had made. What really got his goat was the decision by Fifa to suspend the red card against the US player, Folarin Balogun, after an intervention by Trump. That was almost unprecedented, and Infantino burnt up a lot of the little credibility he had left. The next Fifa assembly should be an interesting one.
So, the Argentinian players played as dirty as they could, and the referees let them get away with a lot of things. Their play was described as “extremely negative”, ‘disgusting’, and “the worst of the worst”. And the fans were accused of racism.
There were penalties they should not have got, doubtfully cancelled goals against them, and cards to opponents that shouldn’t have been given. To cap off their petulant behaviour, they turned their backs when Spain received the trophy at the end.
The fallout from the commercialisation of football will be felt far and wide, and probably take a few scalps with it. The hydration breaks were probably needed, given the high temperatures. But some folks saw them as a chance to sell airtime to advertisers, and to turn football into a game of quarters, à la American sports style.
These were the games where some players and officials could not take part, because Trump’s America did not want them there. That referee from Somalia who was denied a visa could become the face of all that went wrong with the World Cup of 2026. That, and the sight of the Iranian team having to leave the US after every game they played.
At the end, you really have to feel for Messi, one of the most loved football players in the world. He is largely seen as a good guy, a gentleman who works magic on the pitch. At 39, this was obviously his last World Cup. And to have to play with thugs like that for teammates, no wonder he cried at the end of it all.
The world might cry for Messi, and all the magic that he has brought to football. But, no, we won’t cry for Argentina.
Follow Kalungi Kabuye on X @KalungiKabuye