Argentina’s government has defended the mammoth parade held to welcome home the World Cup winners even though the event had to be abruptly cut short amid organisational chaos.
After days of high-profile activity, team captain Lionel Messi and most of the other members of the national squad were largely staying out of sight and spending time with family and friends.
There had been speculation that Rosario, Argentina’s third-largest city, would put on its own celebration for hometown hero Messi. But after Tuesday’s chaos in Buenos Aires, where millions swamped the streets eager to get a glimpse of the winning team, officials were emphasising that the players preferred to rest.
In talking about the early end to Tuesday’s parade, security minister Aníbal Fernández said on Wednesday: “The objective was to protect the players — not because they were going to be harmed, but rather because anything could happen when so many people were trying to get close to them.”
The World Cup and the success of the national team brought a brief respite from the political infighting that is common in Argentina, a country that has been plagued by economic malaise for years and is suffering one of the world’s highest inflation rates.
Football officials had said early on Tuesday that the team would travel in an open-top bus from the Argentine Football Association headquarters outside the capital to the Obelisk, the iconic downtown Buenos Aires landmark that is the traditional site of celebrations. Fernández said he warned early on that was a mistake.
“Look at the photos. Put a bus in the middle of there and you realise that they would have stayed there for six days,” Fernández said.
President Alberto Fernández sought to play up the celebration itself, saying that “if you see the happiness that there were on the streets, the objective was met.”
The initial plan was for the bus carrying the players to travel 74kms but after going 12kms in only four hours under a scorching summer sun, the players were boarded onto helicopters for a capital flyover that the government billed as an aerial parade.
After the flyover, the helicopters returned to the federation headquarters and from there players travelled home, including Messi, who flew to Rosario.
Messi boarded a helicopter at the Rosario airport and headed to the gated community outside the city, in Funes, where he has a home.
World No. 2
Winning the World Cup was not enough to lift Argentina atop the Fifa world rankings with Brazil keeping the No. 1 position on Thursday.
Brazil were eliminated in the quarter finals by Croatia but built enough rankings points from results over recent years that feed into Fifa’s calculation.
Argentina moved up one place to No. 2 and beaten finalist France also rose one to No. 3. Belgium is still at No. 4, a fall of two places, despite winning only one game in Qatar and failing to advance from the group stage.
England and the Netherlands, both beaten quarterfinalists, stay at Nos. 5 and 6 respectively.
Croatia climbed five places to No. 7.
Wonder goal from Rashford
Manchester: Christian Eriksen and Marcus Rashford scored to help Manchester United beat Burnley 2-0 and advance to the quarter finals of the English League Cup.
Back from their World Cup duties, Denmark’s Eriksen finished from close range in the 27th minute on Wednesday and England’s Rashford scored from a superb solo effort after the break in United’s first game since Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure last month to show he can be their top striker for years to come.
Fresh from scoring three times for England at the World Cup, Rashford put in a tireless display on the right of United’s attack.
Picking the ball up deep in United’s half, Rashford burst down the right wing and took on two defenders before firing into the far bottom corner in another demonstration that the 25-year-old is back to his best after a miserable previous campaign.
Reuters, AP/PTI
