Daniel McDonnell

What struck me was since I'd actually been there for quite a few of them, but almost like, ah, he was younger.

You take it for granted a little bit in some respects.

And now, again, I'll go back to this thing of like chatting to people who've been spending money on tickets the last couple of days and stuff like that.

There is that sense of...

this is a moment to appreciate, but the extent to which he's delivering, like in America, I've sort of met this point.

It's like some of what's happened in this world cup with all the stars scoring goals, like, you know, Messi and Holland and Mbappe and the scoring charts, almost reflecting like the list of MVPs.

It's, it's very American.

It's like the NBA or something being built around and, and,

like the star players you know they are the leading point scorers it's almost like it's very sort of the storylines are delivering every time but this one is preposterous because with the exception of the Austrians who were there I mean everyone who was there was there for one show you know was there for one storyline and they were happily leaning into it into the stadium in a way that you probably maybe shouldn't do for a World Cup match you know like it's FIFA or Dallas hosting a

and meeting between two nations and you're showing all Messi's goals on the screen.

It's like, this is the day, this is the moment.

And then, then it happens.

And it was kind of really joyous, sort of a joyous occasion, you know, and the Argentina games are, and you've obviously experienced a bit of it in 2014, but like the, the Argentina road show, like they are the one nation that's been consistent, even in Russia, even in Qatar, you know,

where they brought color somehow when other nations didn't.

But obviously here, the games I've been at so far, it's been the event as well where it's the most distinctive to one nation.

They show these celebrities on the screen and Tony Romo comes up, the Dallas Cowboys quarterback who's now the NFL pundit.

And it was a sort of a, you know, a nice response, but no one was going mad.

But then this basketball NBA player come up and the place went crazy.

So it was a real Argentina day, but it was Messi's day.

It was sensational.