From the podcast, “Lionel Messi Has Been Living in a Soccer God’s Shadow. Will He Finally Surpass Him?” It discusses how Messi had some initial struggles in fitting into the national team because of his living in Spain and playing the European brand of Football. This is something I already knew because I follow the sport and I understand the differences between European football and South American football. The concept of sticking to your roots and playing like your country for your country is something I also knew. I. knew this because when I watch Argentine professional matches, there is a flair and a personality to the players that you do not see when you watch European professional matches.
The aura of Maradona is something that is well-known throughout the world of football but the article “The Two Sides of Diego Maradona” exemplifies Maradona’s personality and why it was so intriguing to the Argentinian fans. I am new to the history of Maradona and his upbringing and how that was so captivating for the Argentine fans and that is a part of how he was viewed as god to the people of the country. I was also unfamiliar with his controversies and the article does a great job highlighting these moments and how the country still loved him after all of this. This differs from US sports and US media as it pertains to scandals because most of the time in the US we see how players can be completely pushed away from the sport after one bad scandal. Lastly, I would like to see how the world would view a Maradona today with all of the scandals and controversy, and is this why the world adores a player like Messi with how he is never involved in any kind of scandalous activities?
Knowing what I knew and learning what I learned from the podcast and the article, I would want to learn more about the Argentine culture and how it relates to the playstyles of the players. Now when I watch teams like River Plate and see players like Julian Alvarez and Enzo Fernandez I want to see how those cultural values are reflected on the field.
