Poland-Argentina between Zbigniew Herbert, Wisława Szymborska and Jorge Luis Borges

To some – / that is, not to all. / And not even to the majority, but to the minority. / Without counting the schools, where it is compulsory, / and the poets themselves, / there may be two out of a thousand. So he wrote Wislawa Szymborska in his composition Some Like Poetry. And he was right: there are few true poets, just like true champions.

Let’s say that such a low percentage applies to everyone. But in the case of Poland and Argentina, someone more powerful than us must have distributed the talent with a decidedly wide sleeve.

Tonight’s isn’t just an inside/out match – who knew after theexploit of Saudi Arabia – but a match between two nations that know a lot about football and verses. In different proportions of course, at least in the popular imagination: the Argentines win it on the pitch – Maradona and Messi would be enough – but the Poles have champions of words: from Zbigniew Herbert to Czesław Milostz to Szymborska (two Nobel Prize winners) – up to Adam Zagajewski that perhaps the Nobel would have even deserved it, but a bit like Robert Lewandowski, who found himself screwed over by the pandemic which denied him a golden ball that he would have conquered in a carriage, he had to “settle” for being “simply ” loved by all for the wonder it is.

It is said that Jorge Luis Borges thought that every time a child kicks something in the street, the history of football begins again. A bit like when a child begins to marvel at the world and to name it: there the history of poetry begins again. And there is a lot of poetry in today’s match: Put aside, Borges’ sentence cannot fail to make one think of Diego Armando Maradona who, despite his physical absence – between commercials, avatars and the artist’s plane Maximiliano Bagnas in which you can not only visit a mini museum of memorabilia, but also listen to the voice of the pibe de oro – he is very present in Qatar and in the imagination of every football fan who loves football at least a little. Who knows how the D10S would have taken it…

The fact is that it would be a shame if one of the two teams left the most artificial competition ever prematurely. Because, without taking anything away from everyone else, someone like Messi deserves to lift the World Cup. As well as Lewandowski. And, given the trend, even the spectators deserve a little show. On the field.

Even if Eugenio Montale didn’t really think so: “I dream that one day no one will score goals in the whole world”. Without being so extreme, tonight’s game will be a good one regardless of the number of goals (don’t ask Cassano and Vieri for a prediction) because both national teams, for what they represent, will experience a unique tension towards victory. And that’s enough for us. Their most representative players with victory certainly have a privileged dialogue. The lonely young man in Herbert’s poem Nike Hesitating might just be one of two champions: Nike is beautiful in the moment / when he hesitates / his right hand as beautiful as an order / leans on the air / but his wings tremble / he sees / a lonely young man […] Nike has an enormous desire / to approach / and kiss him on the forehead / but fears / that he unaware / of the sweet taste of the caresses / taste it / could flee like the others / during this battle.

But we are confident that both will meet the challenge courageous to the end / faithful to the end / similar to the end / like two drops / suspended on the edge of a face like the tears of the Polish centre-forward after his first unforgettable world goal with his national team. And if this isn’t poetry… Let’s hope they pass, we both said. But if it doesn’t happen, the Polish poet still has to give Practical recommendations in the event of a disaster: The onset is usually innocent, an acceleration, at first imperceptible, of the earth’s rotation. […] Take a few essential items. […] Hold tight to the outer circumference. Keep your head down. Leave both hands free at all times. Take care of the leg muscles.