Vamos!

IT TOOK me so long to process the whole shebang. My knees felt wobbly, and my heart started palpitating. Vamos Argentina! What a pleasant, pleasant surprise!

I was not able to watch the full match, unfortunately. I had to run some errands after work, so I left at 4pm when the extra time was just about to start.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to know who wins until I get home so my mind was definitely zoning out while on the road. I even got honked at while switching lanes (sorry!).

The whole time, I was reminding myself to expect the worst. Robben may have sneaked in a screamer during extra time, or RVP may have repeated his Flying Dutchman stunt against Spain. I imagined myself looking at gifs of Messi and Higuain hugging and crying, or of a devastated Di Maria consoling a sobbing Mascherano.

I thought I would have to write a blog post filled with despair—but boy how happy I was to be proven wrong!

Right when I got home, I opened my laptop and googled the results: still a 0-0 just like when I left, but Argentina won 4-2 during the penalty shootout. Tim Krul was not subbed in, and Sergio Romero became a hero overnight. I sat on the floor, closed my eyes and smiled—so this is what it feels like to be slapped with good news, I thought. Nice.

I searched for game analyses, for updates on what happened during the extra time. I kept replaying the last minutes of the game, just to get even a minute sense of ecstasy the actual Argentinians must be having right now.

It was a good game. It was a good day.