Qatar 2022 World Cup: Anger over ‘Grandma la-la-la-la-la’ has reached the Washington Post

A few hours from Argentina national team contest a new World Cup final, the madness in the country is total. It’s just that World Cup fever has already monopolized everything and everyone. And so much so that it even reached one of the most important international media, where they echoed one of the viral hits of the last few days.

Regard Washington Postfrom the United States, which dedicated an article this Saturday to recounting the phenomenon of what they have defined as the “lucky charm” of the Argentines.

She is nothing more and nothing less than María Cristina Mariscotti. Or, as she is popularly known, the “Nonna la-la-la-la-la”: the lady of Villa Luro who, after each game of the Albiceleste, is surrounded by hundreds of fans to sing her to the rhythm of Go West, the Village People classic.

“‘Grandma la-la-la-la-la!’, Argentina’s viral amulet at the World Cup”headlined the North American media in its note.

Just over 20 paragraphs and at least three videos dedicated in their web version to tell the story of María Cristina, in which they detailed her relationship with football and, specifically, her rise as a protagonist of the Cup of the World. . In addition, they have dedicated several to Argentina’s incredible fanaticism with sports.

“But as this football-crazed country prays for a victory in Sunday’s final against France, it has turned Mariscotti into something of a national good luck charm: the bespectacled, masked face of millions of fans who dream of glory.” a part of the text.

And they add: “Mariscotti honors the national obsession by listening from inside his home, the same one where he has lived almost all his life, to the screams and applause that explode after each victory. Then he re-emerges, with the Argentine flag on his back, to join a group of shirtless youths jumping and singing in the streets.”

Closer to the end, the Washington Post draws a parallel between the political and economic situation of the country and the air of joy and illusion that was breathed among Argentines during the final phase of the World Cup, beyond the problems they are experiencing . day to day.

For Argentina, grappling with 100% annual inflation and bitter political division, the World Cup offered a temporary reprieve from the relentless bad news. A third World Cup would strengthen the national spirit. .

And they conclude with a quote from ‘Nonna la la la’: “‘It would be more than a football result’, said Mariscotti. ‘We need a moment of joy in Argentina'”, concluded María Cristina trying to explain what only Argentines understand.

Who is the woman to whom they sing “Grandma, la-la-la-la-la”

María Cristina is from Villa Luro, a Boca fan like her father Pedro and feels football in a particular way. She celebrated her first World Cup star in 1978 with her friends and cheered every game of Carlos Salvador Bilardo’s team in 1986.

Argentina’s triumphs in Qatar 2022 went viral, when a group of young people from his neighborhood who gathered in a house on the corner of Andalgalá and Caaguazú to attend the Argentina national team matches, started approaching his house to sing to him . .

“Grandma, la-la-la-la”, recites the song they invented in the midst of the euphoria for the victory against Mexico, adapting the text to the melody of Go west, the classic by the Village People, later reprized by the boys of the pet Shop.

“But I’m not a grandmother! They tell me because of my hair and my age and it doesn’t bother me, but I’m not,” said the singing muse in Clarín. María Cristina (76) became popular after her neighbors from Liniers l’ they surrounded during a party while the national flag was waving and filmed themselves humming that phrase.

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