Franco Catalano

First thing he tells me, oh, then that's why we lost.

Because you didn't watch the match.

Don't you ever think about not watching another Argentinian match during the World Cup.

He's one of five different persons that gave me the same speech, which makes me think, hold on, what is this crazy moon talk?

Are you implying that Messi plays like crap because somehow he knows I'm not watching him play?

But I still love the sport, so during the next two matches against Mexico and Poland, as they occur in a normal hour, I watch them.

And even though a loss means that Argentina gets kicked out of the World Cup, the fact that nobody is reminding me that between matches in a nervous manner or shouting at the TV while the match is on,

makes me enjoy them and Argentina actually wins both matches and they go to the knockout stages where we play against Australia and the Netherlands in the round of 16 and quarter finals.

I plan to watch the matches with my wife.

Nothing can break the calmness, but something feels different.

An example of that and something that proves it is the fact that Argentina scores an own goal against Australia, putting the match 2-1 in Argentina's favor.

And I watch, I look at my wife and I tell her, without thinking too much, honey, you were in the kitchen when Argentina scored twice, right?

Is it too much to ask if you go back to the kitchen and you watch the rest of the match from there?

And as she answers me with a dirty look, I tell her, oh, sorry, I don't know where that came from.

Argentina win both matches in nail biting moments.

And during those moments, I am a mess.

Strong emotions overwhelm me.

I am sitting in the edge of the sofa, about to cry, shouting at the TV, why can't we have nice things without having to suffer for them?

My wife cries with me, not because of the match, but because she thinks I'm about to have a stroke at any moment during those matches.

So when my colleagues from work, my American colleagues from work, invite me to have a watch-along party in my honor for the semifinal against Croatia, I accept because the pressure of being in a social environment with my coworkers make me think that I will not fall to my emotions, which is correct,