`Goal of Mario Götze made it Germany 1, Argentina 0. After 113 minutes of the two teams playing to a stalemate, the end the World Cup was at hand! “Yuk … the Germans will win.” Ten minutes later, the defeat was final. A whole generation of Argentina’s waiting for that elusive World Cup win, an entire generation that, to this point, had never seen their team get to a semi-final much less the final, only to be completely disappointed!

I decided to start walking around the main venues of the city to see in the faces of my countrymen if they reflected the same sensation that this loss had on me. Surprisingly, most of Argentine faces didn´t reflect sadness but joy, honor, pride. Faces painted in light blue and white, kids smiling, Albiceleste´s flags everywhere, young boisterous crowds and families in the streets, cheering for the team, waving at the cars, which were profusely honking as they drove downtown celebrating, singing our most famous hit, “Brazil decime qué se siente tener en casa a tu papá” (“Brazil, tell me how it feels to have your Daddy in your house?”, literally) or the national anthem. Unbelievable!

Infected with this energy, I decided to approach the central monument of Buenos Aires, the Obelisk, where locals (called “porteños”) traditionally gather to celebrate victory. Of those more than 900 million of viewers worldwide who were watching this final match, I bet that on Monday about 50,000 of them turned off their televisions as soon as the game ended, grabbed their vuvuzela horns, banging drums, cymbals, flags and Argentina shirts and began walking towards the 9 de Julio Avenue, a street of some endless 140 meters wide, which —at least— more than 8 blocks were full of supporters.

Música, cánticos de fútbol y fuegos artificiales adonde se mirase. A pesar de la cara baja de los jugadores y del posterior “No me interesa nada… Lo único que quería era levantar la Copa” de Messi en sus primeras declaraciones a la prensa nacional, el sentimiento local no era el mismo. La ciudad porteña se tiñó de un aire de victoria, de éxito, de triunfo.

Music, soccer chants, and fireworks everywhere you looked. Despite the sadness on the players faces and Messi´s first statement to the national press (“I don´t care about nothing, all I wanted was to lift the World Cup”), the local feeling wasn´t the same. The city was tinged with an air of victory, success and triumph.

After several hours of this climate, the violence and damages appeared and, then, the police sirens, tear gas, hydrants and rubber bullets were easy to hear. Minutes later, 70 detained and 15 injured policemen was the result. Street and shops vandalism ravaged many of the store fronts and rock-throwing people marred the World Cup finals.

Despite these episodes —which are common stuff outside the stadiums after a painful soccer defeat— this team will be remembered in every Argentine memory because, after 24 years, the team reached the final. Beyond the 1-0, the players crying and the fact that we have to wait until World Cup Russia 2018 to take revenge, Argentina can still celebrate a second place that will be never forgotten. And Germany can celebrate its fourth world title. Both teams, deserve congratulations for a wonderful World Cup Brazil.