The Argentine who cycled 17,000 kilometers and crossed a desert to see the national team at the World Cup in Qatar

The dream of Diego Maradona He was supposed to play a World Cup. He played four and won one. How to forget it. The dream of Miguel Silio, on the other hand, was a little more modest, although also very ambitious. I was looking forward to a World Cup. And his dream came true in Russia 2018. However, this 52-year-old notary from Gualeguaychú was not satisfied with it. And these days he is already waiting in Doha waiting to attend his second World Cup.

A privileged. But not everything ends here. Because Silio’s dream has a bonus track. Because he’s not just a football fan. He is also a hopeless lover of the bicycle. What happens if. Both in Moscow, four and a half years ago, and at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula, he has arrived on two wheels. And this is for the chosen ones.

“It was quite a tough journey, physically and mentally, but very interesting”says Silius clarioncompanion in hand, sitting in the gallery of the Kingsgate hotel, strategically located a few meters from the Corniche and Souq Waqif, two of the most emblematic places in Doha.

And he continues: “This is my second cycling World Championship. In 2018 I went from Madrid to Moscow and arrived two days before the start of the tournament. This time the distance was tripled, about 17,000 km. We left in May and managed to get to Doha almost a week before the start of the World Cup.“.

Silio is only in Qatar, but he uses the first person plural because the adventure was a collective effort. Is that the trip, which began in Spain and which included a stop in Bilbao and another in London to see Messi’s Argentina up close, it was a dream of four. Together with Silio, they started pedaling this dream Yamandu Martínez45-year-old employee; Louis Ledri, 59-year-old retired teacher; Y Frank Baggio, 29-year-old company director. “They accompanied me on the European scene from Madrid to Istanbul. It was 90 days and then they returned to Buenos Aires for the work commitments that everyone had”.

But he wasn’t left alone. Because in Turkey I expected that Martina Sacco, his wife, to do the second. “We went through Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine together until we reached Tel Aviv, when he had to return to Buenos Aires.” The final stretch remained. Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia up to Qatar. What takes no more than thirty letters and less than ten seconds to count meant the most extreme part of the adventure.

“It took us 17 days through almost 2,000 kilometers through the desert. The experience was beautiful and interesting. Especially because I had to live with a very different culture and, moreover, it was a geography unknown to me until now. The big challenge it went through the choice of supply points for the release of water and food and where to stop to sleep.Having passed that stage alone was a huge challenge,” he sums up as the mate resists to the last barley.

How was the routine that followed? “Simple. During the day you ride and at night you have to sleep”. And this is where the options begin: «In a tent, in a hostel, in a family home. Already in Saudi Arabia I slept in mosques that are in gas stations. I used to lay down on the ground, but I had to leave at 4:30 in the morning, the morning they make the first call to prayer and you can’t just lay there.”

Obviously there was no improvisation. “I haven’t traveled by bicycle for more than 20 years. My current bicycle -he turns and points at it affectionately- is as if it were my second wife. She is the fourth who has traveled and has already traveled 35,000 kilometers “, he is proud while acknowledging that along the way there is always some breakdown or puncture that has forced him to hitch a ride to a workshop.

-How did you feel when you crossed the gates of Doha?

– A great emotion. On the one hand, arriving gives you great satisfaction. But even every time you arrive at a destination you’ve planned, there’s a little feeling of emptiness because the journey is over. The great thing is that now the party starts with the World Cup, from now on it’s all football. The bike trip is over.

Do you have tickets to see the national team?

-No. I barely have a conditional ticket to a quarter final match which was the only thing I got in the FIFA draw. I hope, yes, I will be able to get something in the resale for the first stage and the round of 16. Because I know we passed, obviously.

-And after the World Cup, what do you do? Again the bicycle to return?

-No, I’m going back by plane. I have to go to work, to fulfill my obligations, and most importantly, to give back the time my wife and everyone who helped me be here gave me. They also deserve the holidays, given that there are too many months of walking.

Are you planning your summer holidays?

-Nooooo. The holidays are due to my partner who has covered me in all these months of work in the office. He now he’s my turn to work.

-The next World Cup, in 2026, will be played in three countries: Mexico, the United States and Canada. Have you already planned it?

-I’m leaving from the door of my house and we’ll also try to get to the World Cup as long as health accompanies it and we have the time to do it. I will try to arrive at least a week early and, as always, accompany the national team.

-Is it expensive to do this type of trip?

-Bike travel is always an austere journey. You spend nothing except to sleep, when you can’t sleep in a tent. But, as I said, we spend the night in family homes, on the beach and also in mosques. We easily hit our estimated budget until the end of the trip.

Piazza Rossa, the Italian “friend” and the best of the trip

“When I made my first trip to the World Cup, which was in 2018, I felt very comfortable when I arrived. It was a celebration to be able to combine my passion for cycling and, like all Argentines, for football, with to be able to attend a World Cup. That same day. When I arrived at Red Square, I decided to repeat the experience four years later, even if it was longer and more difficult,” says Silio.

And he continues with a unique, almost magical anecdote. “In the same Red Square I meet an Italian. We start talking and I politely tell him that it was a pity that his team was not at the World Cup because he is always one of the great protagonists. And I tell him that he is not doing He was not staying no one to support Argentina, but the man looked at me and said, “I can’t do that. Argentina ruined my life.’ a sad story because life changed after that moment”.

-And what were the moments you will remember most from this last trip?

-There were two. On the border with Poland I wanted to enter Ukraine and couldn’t, but I could spend three days working in a Ukrainian refugee center on the border. The other moment that I will not forget happened in Damascus, Syria. There a group of kids goes out every day at 7 in the morning to do activities. It was very gratifying.

Doha. Qatar. Special envoys.

GL​