Moments after Lionel Messi and Argentina’s 2014 World Cup dream was crushed by Germany in the final, the television camera zoomed in on a child at Maracana.
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The crestfallen Argentinian players dropped to their knees after the final whistle as euphoric Germans celebrated on the field.
Messi was staring blankly into the distance when the young boy appeared on the screen.
Draped in the blue-and-white jersey, the child was trying to console his weeping father.
There was unbridled joy in the German sections of the crowd at the iconic Brazilian stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
But for the Argentinians, it felt like a death in the family.
It’s quite incredible how the World Cup brings out such raw emotions in people.
Before the start of every knockout match, fans sing and dance with joy as though they are going into the biggest carnival in the history of mankind.
A couple of hours later, only one set of fans emerges from the same carnival filled with an incredible sense of joy and pride.
For the other set of fans, the same carnival turns into a funeral procession.
The scenes were no different on Monday night after Paraguay pulled off a shock win over four-time world champions Germany in the 2026 World Cup.
Thousands of people erupted with joy across the streets in Asuncion, the capital city of the landlocked South American country, after the nail-biting penalty shootout win over the Germans.
The purity of such happiness on the faces is hard to put into words, and it can only be felt through your eyes when images of ecstatic fans light up television screens and your social media feeds.
While the Paraguayans danced into the morning, the tearful Germans were unable to move from their seats as the television cameras lingered on them, catching them in their most vulnerable state.
A few hours earlier, after Brazil’s last-minute goal knocked Japan out of the World Cup, a Japanese fan screamed in pain amid euphoric Brazilian supporters.
Even in that moment of glory, some Brazilian supporters tried to comfort the Japanese man, but he was too devastated to appreciate the kindness of the rival fans.
The World Cup knockout games bring the whole gamut of emotions, from unbelievable joys to painful tears.
Sometimes there are also tears of joy. When I walked out of the Lusail Stadium in Qatar a couple of hours after Argentina’s dramatic win over France in the 2022 final, I saw a middle-aged man walking out of the venue with his young son.
The man, Dino, embraced a friend with tears rolling down his face as his son, Ulises, looked on with a contented smile on his face.
Dino was six when the Diego Maradona-inspired Argentina won the 1986 World Cup, sparking wild celebrations in the football-mad country.
He was too young to comprehend why people were dancing on the streets.
For the next 36 years, Dino had only endured heartbreaks as an Argentina fan.
Then on December 18, 2022, when the wait was finally over after Lionel Messi’s Argentina overcame a heroic fightback from France, Dino was right there at the stadium to witness the historic moment.
And he was happy to see his tears keep flowing with his son by his side long after the last kick in the penalty shootout.
Talking to the father-son duo was a surreal moment, just 12 years after seeing a child consoling his father after Argentina’s heartbreaking defeat in the 2014 final.
I was struggling to separate the two incidents — the first one had the whole world watching as the television camera zoomed in on a child trying to console his distraught father at Maracana, and the second one had just one witness — this reporter — as an adult man happily showing his tears in front of his son.
It’s moments like these that prove why World Cup knockout games have no parallel when it comes to bringing out the unfiltered human emotions.
Source: Khaleej Times