{"id":332479,"date":"2026-07-07T23:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T23:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/332479\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T23:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T23:43:09","slug":"argentina-and-messi-fans-in-miami-beach-celebrate-thrilling-world-cup-comeback-for-argentinians-its-life-or-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/332479\/","title":{"rendered":"Argentina and Messi fans in Miami Beach celebrate thrilling World Cup comeback: “For Argentinians, it’s life or death”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Argentina and Lionel Messi <\/a>fans celebrated more than a World Cup victory <\/a>on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

At George’s Restaurant, fans draped in sky blue and white stripes filled the establishment, chanting and cheering throughout the match.<\/p>\n

“For Argentinians, it’s life or death,” said Azul Iglesias, co-owner of George’s and an avid football fan. “There’s nothing after soccer. That’s it.”<\/p>\n

\"Argentina<\/p>\n

ATLANTA, GEORGIA – JULY 07: Lionel Messi #10 of Argentina competes for the ball against Ramy Rabia #5 of Egypt during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 16 match between Argentina and Egypt at Atlanta Stadium on July 07, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia.<\/p>\n

Buda Mendes \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

The mood earlier in the day was somber, with diners and patrons at the bar watching televisions in disbelief as defending World Cup<\/a> champion Argentina fell behind Egypt<\/a> 2-0.<\/p>\n

“Argentinians always suffer to the very end,” said Ivan Leon, an Argentina fan visiting from Seattle.<\/p>\n

Egypt appeared to be on the verge of eliminating Argentina from the tournament, potentially marking the end of Lionel Messi’s World Cup career.<\/p>\n

“I hope it’s not the last, but we cheer for Messi anyway, whether he wins or not,” Iglesias added.<\/p>\n

Leon, who brought his son, Lemuel, to watch Argentina<\/a> play in Miami Gardens last Friday, remained at George’s for the quarterfinal match. As Egypt held the lead, Lemuel predicted an eventual game-winning goal from Enzo Fernandez.<\/p>\n

“He’s an iconic legend,” Leon said of Messi. “No matter what happens now, he’s going to go down in history as one of the best.”<\/p>\n

The tide turned in the second half as Argentina scored back-to-back goals. Messi kicked the equalizer, and 10 minutes later, Fernandez scored the game-winner, fulfilling Lemuel’s prediction. Fans subsequently rushed to the intersection of 73rd Street and Collins Avenue, where they celebrated for several hours.<\/p>\n

In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Argentina and Lionel Messi fans celebrated more than a World Cup victory on Tuesday. At George’s Restaurant, fans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4101,61045,1660,8003,123,1642,125,124,2062,807,110,9611],"class_list":["post-332479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-argentina","tag-egypt","tag-lionel-messi","tag-major-league-soccer","tag-miami","tag-miami-beach","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-soccer","tag-south-florida","tag-sports","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}