Argentines have been praying to the folk saints of the country for their soccer team’s success in the World Cup, that is currently taking place in Qatar. Before the beginning of the tournament, the head of the national soccer federation of Argentina, Claudio Tapia, went to visit the folk saint Difunta Correa, in San Juan province’s Vallecito. He thanked the saint for Argentina’s victory against Italy in the Finalissima and prayed for the team’s success in the World Cup. Soccer fans from Argentina, who have gone to Qatar to watch the matches, have incorporated the names of folk saints in the country’s flags that they brought with them. Before a match on November 25, Andrés Calamaro, the Argentinian rock music legend, has expressed on social media that the team required protection from the folk saint Gauchito Gil.
Religion News Service reports:
SÃO PAULO, Brazil (RNS) — In the weeks before the World Cup tournament got underway in Qatar, Claudio Tapia, who heads Argentina’s national soccer federation, visited the sanctuary of Difunta Correa, in Vallecito, a district in Argentina’s western San Juan province.
He was there for two reasons. First, he had to thank la Difunta Correa, a folk saint in Argentina and parts of Chile, for Argentina’s success in the 2022 Finalissima, when South America’s champion defeated the European champion, Italy.
He also planned to ask la Difunta for Argentina’s victory in the World Cup.
“The important thing is not what is promised, but what is fulfilled. Finalissima 2022. Now, more than ever, go Argentina,” he said on social media, when he posted pictures of his visit to the shrine
Like Tapia, many Argentines have been rooting vocally for their national team, but taking care to pray to the country’s many folk saints.
Argentine soccer fans attending the matches in Qatar have brought Argentine flags to their stadium seats customized with the names of Difunta Correa or Gauchito Gil, another famous folk saint from the northern part of Argentina.
On Nov. 25, 24 hours before a crucial contest between Argentina and Mexico, the country’s rock music giant Andrés Calamaro posted on social media that the country’s squad needed protection from Gauchito Gil. Calamaro added Osvaldo Pugliese, a 20th-century tango musician who has become a sort of talisman for Argentine artists.
“A family that prays together stays together,” he added.
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Photo by Oleg Bkhambri (Voltmetro)
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