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TIME
ezine at l'atelier bonita
established since december 2002
| Wales vs. Argentina
by Joanna Browning |
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It is a little known fact that other than Wales itself, Argentina is the only country in the world where Welsh is spoken as a first language. The reason for this is that in the nineteenth century a band of very brave and very foolish Welsh folk travelled from their homeland to establish a colony in Patagonia, in the south of Argentina. They went expecting to find paradise; instead they were greeted by the harshest of conditions in which many of them perished. Yet the colony survived. Over the many decades since, this little colony has been largely absorbed into the wider population of the country, yet there still survive bilingual groups within the community, speaking both Spanish and Welsh. In the autumn of 1999 Wales played Argentina at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, in the opening game of the Rugby World Cup. On the day before the match I was walking through an arcade in the city centre when I saw a group of people ahead wearing Wales football shirts and scarves, but who seemed to be speaking to one another in Spanish. As I grew closer I realised that they weren't speaking Spanish at all. They were speaking Welsh, with Spanish accents. These were Patagonians, Argentine nationals, who had travelled half way around the world to see the land of their birth taking on the land of their ancestors in the World Cup. And they were supporting Wales. More recently, in February 2002, the Football Association of Wales announced that arrangements had been made for the Welsh football team to play a friendly match against Argentina at the Millennium Stadium on 16th February. This was the day before my 25th birthday, and for a long-time fan of Argentine football it was a dream come true. At the time, Argentina were widely regarded as the best team in the world (ranked number 2 behind reigning World Champions France) and were seen by many as hot favourites for the World Cup, having walked through their qualifying group as if it were a Sunday stroll. Wales, on the other hand, had once again promised much in qualifying but ultimately failed to deliver and as a result had slid ever further down the world rankings to a lowly 103. David and Goliath, indeed. Wales's fans such as myself know only too well the shortcomings of our team. Many of our players are drawn from the lower leagues, which places a heavy burden on our few genuine 'star' players to raise the standard and carry the team. They are not, however, as bad as many people and the ranking would have you believe. They will always give one hundred percent and keep fighting right up until the final whistle, and we the fans will always support them. That said we have been unlucky too many times in the past for optimism. We go along to watch them play not for the result, but to see the game itself. Having failed to qualify for the finals of any major championship since 1958, we expect very little in the way of actual results from the team. As a result, we are never disappointed - and, as we attend home games in our tens of thousands in a spirit of hope rather than of anticipation, we are occasionally are surprised beyond our wildest dreams. On the night of 16th February 2002, we were not disappointed. The game was a virtual sell-out, and the atmosphere was electric. No tension, no hostility, just 70,000 people out to see the game and have a good time. In the north west corner of the stadium opposite my own seat, the away fans were seated: a small but extremely vocal bunch of hardy travellers. Elsewhere in the crowd, smaller groups of ex-pat Argentines mingled with the Wales fans, made visible by the pale blue shirts and scarves they wore with such pride and which stood out clearly against the sea of red around them. The home fans made them welcome despite the differing allegiances, and sat side-by-side exchanging views on the game as it progressed in a spirit of friendship and mutual enjoyment rather than opposition. I have heard many less than impressed opinions about the result of the game from Argentine fans disappointed with their team's performance. I can only judge from what I saw and experienced that night. It was not a competitive match and made no pretence of so being. This was a friendly game in every sense of the word, for Argentina a warm-up for the approaching World Cup and for their coach Bielsa an opportunity to give fringe players a run-out and see what they were made of. They also wanted the experience of playing beneath a roof prior to the World Cup. The result was secondary to that. For me, as a fan of both Wales and Argentina, the game brought to the forefront of my mind a familiar problem. When two teams that you love play one another, what do you do? How can you decide which to cheer for? How should the final score make you feel? For me, football is all about watching a game unfold, full of potential, which may or may not be fulfilled. It is about watching players interact, the skilled and the less skilled. I have long been able to watch a game and cheer for both teams. On these occasions it is often painful to see one defeat the other, especially in competitive games, but I am more than capable of being delighted for the winning team in a given game at the same time as being devastated for the losers. And so I attended the game on 16th February willing to cheer for both teams. For Wales as my home nation, with their gutsy determination and drive, I will always cheer them on no matter the score-line. For Argentina I was prepared to applaud and cheer their talent and skill, which I had long admired from afar and never before had the opportunity to witness up close. Wales fielded an almost full strength team, including the talismanic Giggs - it was almost the first time in a ten-year career that he had taken part in a non-competitive game. Argentina fielded a mainly second-string team, leaving many of their star players at home. There was no Batistuta, no Crespo, no Simeone, no Ayala. And yet at least as many of the Argentine players fielded were familiar to me as the Welsh team: Verón, Saviola, Zanetti, Kily Gonzalez. Players I had admired from a distance for so long, standing on the pitch just yards from where I was sitting. No matter the result, just to see them play live was enough for me. The game started brightly. Argentina started out playing their characteristic passing game, while the Welsh team defended stoutly and played a strong counter-attacking game. In the 33rd minute an Argentine move broke down which enabled Wales to hit them on the break, a move that was rewarded with a corner. I had an excellent seat up in the middle tier, directly in line with the goal at the Castle end, which gave me a fantastic view of the action as the corner came in, Argentine keeper Saja came out, missed the ball, and Cardiff-born Newcastle striker Craig Bellamy headed the ball into the net. Wales 1 - Argentina 0. Naturally enough, the crowd went wild - and that vocal group of travelling Argentines were temporarily silenced. Even after the goal, there was no sense of urgency among the Argentine players. They looked comfortable, knocking the ball around to one another, concentrating on their build up play. To my mind, certain individuals stood out from the crowd: Sorin. Placente, Zanetti - each playing for a place in the team that would compete for the World Cup in just a few short months, and out to impress. And impress they did, as did the veteran Caniggia, playing in the absence of more established stars such as Batistuta or Crespo. Without ever moving up a gear, Argentina continued to play in exactly the same vein after the goal as they had before, while the Welsh continued to defend stoutly. The 60th minute saw the Argentina pressure finally pay off as the little used Julio Cruz scored an absolute beauty of a goal. Wales 1 - Argentina 1 It is worth mentioning that Wales had the ball in the net a second time on 71 minutes, only to have John Hartson's effort ruled out for offside. The bulk of the pressure continued to come from the Argentines, who however never looked like stepping above first gear, while the Welsh fought bravely and in the end were thoroughly deserving of their hard-earned draw; take nothing away from them. Wales vs. Argentina was a friendly match in every sense of the word, and was played as such with a fantastic atmosphere. I thoroughly enjoyed the game in many ways: it was great to see my home team put up such a strong fight and earn themselves a draw; it was great to see Argentina play live, to see in the flesh some of those wonderful players I had admired from a distance - although admittedly some of the biggest names were absent. But most of all it was a great game to be at just for the atmosphere. ©2003 Joanna Browning ____________ Joanna Browning was born in Wales in 1977, and still lives there. After graduating from Cardiff University with a joint degree in History and Welsh History, she drifted through a variety of different jobs before landing at her present position in the voluntary sector. She has a wide range of hobbies and interests, among them being the beautiful game of football, which she discovered at the impressionable age of 13 via the World Cup Italia '90, and has been hooked ever since. |
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ezine at l'atelier bonita
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