Henry Winter’s World Cup Diary, Day 31
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It was at the end of “Mr Brightside” that the fan in the Argentina shirt and fan in a Shearer 9 shirt from Euro 96 embraced. It was in a bar in mid-town Atlanta just after midnight last night and the karaoke area was shared by Argentina and England fans. I walked in with two friends, England fans, met up with three others and eventually got a table overlooking the dance-floor. It was in settings like this, whistles wetted and guards loosened, that the mood of the city would be tested. England v Argentina, old enemies, playing for high stakes – a place in the World Cup final.
A recipe for trouble with already some Argentina supporters wandering around in T-shirts declaring “Malvinas belongs to Argentina” with a huge picture of Diego Maradona. As we walked into the bar, an Englishman outside was shouting at an Argentinian leaning out of a car window and waving a Lionel Messi shirt. He dropped the “F” bomb. Falklands.
Both head coaches, Thomas Tuchel and Lionel Scaloni, have commendably been at pains to stress “it’s only a football match”. Both men are very aware of the sensitivities between the nations over the Falklands and were determined not to put any more fuel on the fire. Fans on the streets were not expected to be so diplomatic so a substantial police operation was stealthily in place last night.
It wasn’t needed in the bar we were in, although an officer was heading in when we left at just after 1am. The two sets of fans seemed quite happy in sharing the karaoke machine. The English dominated it for a period and first put on “Vindaloo” which included a brief rendition of “f*ck the Argies”. Two fans stood head to head and had a badge-off, seeing who could clutch the crest and kiss it the most, before tiring. “World In Motion” was followed by “Bittersweet Symphony” with a lot of “England” stirred in. Inevitably “Wonderwall” was given a raucous hearing not altogether in many familiar keys.
A near-riotous “Three Lions” was bizarrely the Yuletide version, including “Christmas tree formation” and “three lions on a sleigh” etc). The Argentinians put on some songs which had many of those at tables in the restaurant upstairs standing up and joining in.
Queen united all. “We will rock you” had roughly 25 English men and 15 Argentinians on the floor. One England fan gave a young Argentinian the finger, and there was some brief squaring up, but the mood was far calmer than anticipated. The Courteneers’ “Not nineteen forever” morphed into “football’s coming home again – with Thomas Tuchel”. We will see later but last night showed that some were prepared to give peace a chance.
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The stars have certainly twinkled this tournament: Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane for England and Lionel Messi for Argentina. Even though vanquished, Kylian Mbappe, Michael Olise, Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard enhanced their reputations and statistics. Much to the delight of England’s head coach, Thomas Tuchel, most delivered. “The whole World Cup showed all superstars committed to the team idea, committed to the team’s spirits, committed to the idea to play for their country,” said Tuchel. England’s certainly now are.
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I fell into conversation with a remarkable 50-year-old lady cab driver who loved Atlanta but wanted to hit the road and explore the world now her daughters were out of college. She briefly thought of going to Italy but struggled to understand the ancient nature of the place or the water element of Venice. I was encouraged that she was in the 47% of adult Georgians who possessed a passport. She wanted to travel but where she really wanted to go was Vegas, armed with $300, and do the slots.
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Leaving KC for Atlanta for good was sad. If you’re into ribs, cheesecake the size of bricks (but softer), sports, Civil War history and people wishing you a good day and meaning it, then Kansas City, Missouri is the place for you. I was doing three to four radio or TV interviews a day, most in vision, so the hotel set up a studio in a spare business suite with a backdrop of assorted colours of the main World Cup sides. Nice touch. An early broadcast for the BBC required the computer to be raised by a book or two. I looked around but soon realised I was in one of the few Mid-West hotels without a bible within reach. The hotel got me a box of Trivial Pursuits to prop up my computer. And they always had a pot of coffee on the go day or night.
Catch up on the rest of Henry Winter’s World Cup Diary here
