Another hectic day for Argentinian fans who don’t have tickets for the World Cup final: tickets don’t appear and resale flies

Hours go by and the desperation of Argentinian fans in Doha gets bigger and bigger. Is that the level of difficulty is increasing to get a place to observe, enjoy and/or sufferat the end of the World Cup between Argentina and France with a body present. At least that’s what happens in these hours without falling into the wear and tear of retailers. Thus, less than 48 hours before the start of the match at the Lusail stadium, there are about 8 thousand Argentinesbetween those who are already here and those who are following different paths, who still don’t know if they will be able to enter the field and watch the match from the stands.

Friday was a day of processions in the Qatari capital. It is that an important group of Argentines met at the door of the Jassim hotela type of branch from the National University of Qatar, where the bulk of the delegation of AFA leaders resides. That is the meeting point to make the complaint visible and try to get tickets at official prices or close to the official ones.

The fans, however, again left empty handed.. Unlike Thursday, when there were some moments of tension, as the demonstration took the form of a picket line, the local authorities were far-sighted and took steps to ensure that the scenes did not repeat themselves. For this reason, when fans of the national team began to gather, the police and private security personnel did not hesitate to disperse peacefully.

There were no incidents, even if there was an inmate: a Canadian citizen was found red-handed when I was trying to resell a ticket. Without much explanation they loaded him into a police car and took him away from the place.

There is talk of a day of marches because other Argentines have made a base near the center that FIFA has to sell and print tickets near West Bay. The slogan was to show the discontent and pressure on the parent company of the ball to release as soon as possible the remains that always appear, both for the return that comes from those fans whose selected teams were out of the race and from the packages that managed agencies tourist. However, even getting close to the point where tickets are literally cut didn’t help much. because there were no tickets to cut.

Some Argentinian fans who have already experienced this situation don’t lose their temper because They know that at some point that leftover will appear in the FIFA virtual store. There are those who won’t leave their computer or mobile phone and won’t stop updating the site by force of F5 waiting, at any moment, for the possibility of applying and joining the virtual queue.

Indeed Thursday evening it had emerged that FIFA would therefore release around ten thousand tickets this Friday. None of that happened. Although tickets for the third-place match, to be played this Saturday at the Khalifa Stadium, have gone on sale. It may or may not serve as an indicator. It is, clearly, the party no one wants to attend. Not even Croatians and Moroccans after losing in the semifinals.

It is possible that the tap for Lusail will open this Saturday. However, no one dares to officially confirm this right now. What happened this Friday is that the tickets were handed over to those who had purchased them in advance. How much are the tickets? They are divided into three categories and the values ​​range from 1,607 to 604 dollars with an intermediate price of 1,002 of the US currency. Faces, yes… But it’s the final of a World Cup that will see Mbappé on one side and Messi on the other.

Contrary to what one imagines out of pure logic, the cheapest tickets, category 3, are the most sought after. How come? Not only because they are more accessible, but because they are the best locations according to the football culture of the Argentine fan: most of those seats are behind the arches and it is here that the matches of the national team are experienced with more warmth and colour.

What about resale? Beyond the lack of luck suffered by that Canadian citizen stopped by the police, WhatsApp groups are still hot and prices remain at stratospheric levels. Official values ​​triple and even quadruple. The game of supply and demand is in wild mode. A colorful fact: when a group member succumbs to the temptation to pay an undue price, other members come to his rescue and advise him to wait. They know that the passage of time plays against both them and the retailers and, as always, the tickets end up appearing at much cheaper prices than the initial ones.

Doha, Qatar. Special delivery.