The ’78 World Cup has been mentioned multiple times in the class for the connections the tournament had to Argentinian society. This article had details I hadn’t expected to read, but it allowed me to get a much bigger picture of the horrendous things that the oppressive government did to its citizens. It was incredibly disturbing to see these people recount their experiences in the concentration camp not 10 miles from where the World Cup games were being held with the dictators in attendance. Every single person interviewed for this article has attributed any World Cup to incredibly negative feelings like a ghost coming back to haunt them since the fever and faces remind them of their time in captivity. Guards had taken the prisoners out of their cells to force them to watch and cheer for the games, and if they didn’t they were threatened with things that many couldn’t even imagine. Even with all of these extreme details, the author does an absolutely amazing job comparing the two sides of what was occurring during the World Cup, and how oblivious some were to the happenings of the government and their treatment of innocent people, and how a highly recognized and respected tournament can provoke the survivors due to the smallest occurrences.
