FOOTBALL fanatic and Argentina ambassador to TT Marcelo Suarez Salvia is still celebrating his country's 2022 FIFA World Cup title. Argentina defeated France in a thrilling final, on penalty kicks, four months ago in Qatar.
After attending a few TT Premier Football League games and watching the Soca Warriors, Suarez is convinced that TT has the individual talent to be a force on the international stage.
Suarez is a native of Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina where football is lived with a passion that is different from the rest of the world.
“Soccer in Argentina is a sport that is experienced from a very early age. Children from an early age use any round object to kick. Soccer is a social tool that serves to bring the family together when their team plays.
"A club awakens passions. The adherence of an Argentine to his team is incomparable. We can change countries, partners, jobs but not support (of) our team,” Suarez told Newsday, as he stressed the connection Argentinians have with football.
“Every four years, we Argentines forget about social and economic problems and turn to the colours of the country to support our national team,” said Suarez.
He believes his country was blessed because since 1978 when they won their first World Cup, they have had some of the best players in the world, although with moments of glory and disappointment.
“We had (Diego) Maradona who took us to the 1986 title, then always with very good players who took us to the World Cup finals and the Copa América with the expectation of being champion, and the final frustration of not achieving it.
"For the Argentine people, a second place does not fill us. Being champions again in a World Cup as special as the one in Qatar brought a lot of joy, but the most important thing is that our children were able to experience the emotion that winning a World Cup arouses. It took more than 30 years and many young people had not experienced it.”
[caption id="attachment_1009928" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Argentina Ambassador Marcelo Suarez Salvia. - AYANNA KINSALE[/caption]
Suarez said he enjoyed the support the TT public had for Argentina in Qatar.
"In fact, Argentina had two Trinidadian fans from the zero minute of the World Cup, the chancellor (Foreign Affairs Minister) Amery Browne and the mayor of Port of Spain Joel Martínez who always believed that Argentina could win the cup, and that's how it was. It's very nice to see how people from other countries add to the same sports and social cause of our nation."
A fan of Club Ferro from his native Argentina, whose green colours he keeps in his office, Suarez has attended the revamped TT Premier Football League and has already become a fan of one team in particular: W Connection FC, who wear the green colours that filled him with memories and joys of back home.
Suarez was invited to a game by the TT Premier Football League and gleefully accepted.
"I went with the joy of knowing that soccer was returning to TT after three years, and as a soccer lover to be present
