Argentina's World Cup run a welcome distraction from Messi economic news

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/05/argentina-world-cup-welcome-distraction-economic-news

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Inflation is at 40% and rising; the president is entangled in a losing battle with the international "vulture funds" that have put her country on the verge of default; the vice-president is in and out of court on corruption charges and the economy is dicing with recession.

So the country's World Cup run has come at a good time. Argentinians are grateful that their team have made it to the quarterfinals so they can continue to unplug a while longer from the bad news at home.

"Football is maybe just a sport but in Argentina it is a war," says 31-year-old artist Pool Paolini, who hails from the central city of Rosario, birthplace of top scorer and national treasure Lionel Messi. "We may be the country with the fourth highest inflation rate in the world, but we were also fifth in the Fifa pre-World Cup ranking – and we're rising!"

As Argentinians prepare to watch their side square off against Belgium in Brasilia on Saturday, each player's performance will be meticulously pored over at the workplace and across family dinner tables around the country. Some wish their compatriots would pay as much attention to the corruption and mismanagement in government that will continue once the World Cup is over, regardless of whether Messi brings the coveted trophy home. "If only we would pay the same amount of attention to what our politicians have been doing as we do to what happens on the football field, then maybe the country wouldn't be in this mess," says taxi driver Manuel Gomez.

Argentinians are nonetheless proud of their obsessive passion for football and like to mock what they consider the colder attitude of northern European rivals whom they imagine do not share it. The entire country held its breath until the last minute of Argentina's match against Switzerland, only to explode a second later with a loud roar of "Goal!" as Angel Di Maria scored.

"What do you mean, it's just football? When did you ever see a country at complete standstill like this? Where were you born? Amsterdam? Oslo?" quipped popular television host Beto Casella during a recent programme in which Argentina's passion for football was discussed.

If Argentina makes it to the semifinals, the country will be able to put off dealing with its harsh economic outlook a little while longer. Paolini, the Rosario artist who paints giant triptychs in which Messi is portrayed as the central figure, elevated to the heavens on the wings of Diego Maradona, puts it this way: "Messi is the B-side of our reality, he's a breath of fresh air, a glass of cold water after choking so hard on so much political and social gloom."