...an old Argentine Fan!

FIFA 2026: A Second Chance for Argentina?

There is an old saying among football lovers that Diego Maradona's unfinished blessing upon Argentina included a second World Cup triumph.

In the 1994 World Cup in the United States, Maradona was sent home after testing positive for a banned substance. Until that moment, Argentina looked like one of the strongest teams in the tournament. Without their captain and inspiration, the team faltered and was eventually eliminated.

Many supporters have long wondered: What if Maradona had remained with the squad? Could Argentina have lifted the trophy once again?

Today, history offers a different opportunity.

Lionel Messi is not Maradona. Their personalities, journeys, and careers are very different. Yet Messi has guarded and developed his extraordinary gift over two decades and has become the heart of a generation of Argentine football.

When Messi is on the field, Argentina believes. His presence lifts the entire team, and that influence cannot be measured by statistics alone.

As FIFA 2026 approaches, millions hope to see both Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo on the world's biggest stage one more time. Beyond their achievements, they inspire crowds wherever they go. Even Argentina's warm-up matches attract enormous attention and packed stadiums.

Whether Argentina wins or not remains to be seen. Football offers no guarantees. But with Messi leading the way, the dream is alive, and for many fans, it feels as though history has opened one more door.

The road to 2026 begins.

An year without Maradona

 Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984 and her nationally televised cremation ceremony was an event which was watched by our whole nation, it was more or less an introduction of the visual media and TV to our nation.  Many of us did not have TV then, we walked miles and went to those houses where they had. Everybody co-operated.

I was in my school final in 1986 when the world cup came. By then we had a black and white Keltron TV that came in a case with shutter. It was on that TV our generation watched and experienced the first global event – The FIFA world cup of 1986.

That was undoubtedly Maradona’s world cup. With his game, talent and spirit he won us over and made us a fan of him and his country, Argentina, a country we had not heard about. Maradona became our hero. Excessive fouling and harsh man marking did not let him be as successful in 1990 world cup as he was in 1986 and in the one that followed in 1994 he was disgraced and banned for use of unacceptable drugs.

For the way he made us feel and experience the peaks of joy and excitement in 1986 he stayed in our heart as our hero and we went through all the bad news about him with a sad heart and kept only the memories of the game he once played.

It's going to be an year since he is gone, but the memories will not go away from our hearts till we die.

Thank you Diego, for your life and making that fleeting part of our lives in 1986 when the way you played football ruled our hearts and made it the best times of our lives.