Spain are now World Cup champions, but somebody has to tell Argentina president Javier Milei.
It was a fairly decisive victory for the Spanish, who restricted the reigning world champions to just two attempts on goal in 120 minutes of play on Sunday.
The manner of the defeat is something most fans did not see coming. Sure, Spain did similar damage to France in the semi-final, but there was a belief that Argentina’s big-game experience and mentality would at least make them competitive.
Milei certainly thought so. In fact, he went as far as to schedule a celebratory post before the game even got underway. If only he had remembered to take it down.
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Javier Milei’s ‘celebrations’ tweet after Argentina’s World Cup final loss
The logic behind scheduling a post like this is clear. If Argentina had come out on top, the controversial president would not have had to step away from proceedings to issue a statement to the nation.
But the tweet was not cancelled after the 1-0 defeat.
Milei posted to X after full-time: “WORLD CELEBRATION. Given the concern about the celebrations for the achievement reached by the Argentine National Team, I inform the population that, depending on what the Players and the Technical Staff decide regarding the day to celebrate, it will be declared a national holiday.”
This tweet, posted hours after the full-time whistle, was clearly planned for the event of an Argentina win.
In the end, they gave the people nothing to celebrate, putting on one of the worst World Cup final performances we have seen.
It’s a rather embarrassing blunder from Milei. The president’s popularity domestically is at its lowest level in over two years, so he probably thought a tournament win and a holiday might help his case.
But any Argentinian who saw that tweet — which has yet to be taken down — probably likes him even less now.
Argentina heading into the unknown after World Cup loss
These next few years are going to be interesting for the Argentina national team.
The elephant in the room, of course, is that Lionel Messi has likely played his last World Cup.
So where do they go from here?
Looking at Sunday’s performance, it was never more evident that this team lives and dies by its talisman. Sure, there is young talent coming through, but this team’s identity has been shaped around one player for the last 20 years.
Messi will turn 43 during the next World Cup. Even if he’s around the squad, you can’t expect anywhere near the output he produced this summer.
Julian Alvarez, Nico Paz and more young talents will have to take up that mantle — if such a thing is even possible.
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