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Dog walker Nahuel Meneghini walks dogs dressed in jerseys of the Argentine national soccer team in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, July 2, 2026.<\/p>\n
Rodrigo Abd\/AP Photo\/Rodrigo Abd<\/p>\n
Dog walker Nahuel Meneghini walks dogs dressed in jerseys of the Argentine national soccer team in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, July 2, 2026.<\/p>\n
Rodrigo Abd\/AP Photo\/Rodrigo Abd<\/p>\n
Dog walker Nahuel Meneghini walks dogs dressed in jerseys of the Argentine national soccer team in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, July 2, 2026.<\/p>\n
Rodrigo Abd\/AP Photo\/Rodrigo Abd<\/p>\n
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) \u2014 Thirteen Argentina followers are roaming the streets of Buenos Aires proudly sporting their team’s jersey \u2014 but they’re not on two legs, they’re on all fours, letting out the occasional bark.<\/p>\n
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As Argentina rides World Cup fever and dreams of beating Cape Verde in the round of 32 on Friday, a dog walker has added his pack to the local fanbase.<\/p>\n
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Nahuel Meneghini, 33, walks the streets of the capital\u2019s city center with the dogs wearing the team\u2019s jerseys, leashes and collars in support of Lionel Messi \u2019s squad.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did it out of love for them and for Argentina. And for the World Cup,\u201d said Meneghini\u2014 known as \u201cNano\u201d \u2014 while speaking to The Associated Press on Thursday during a walk with the canine group.<\/p>\n
The dog walker, also dressed head-to-toe like a fan, skilfully managed all the leashes, guiding the dogs along the narrow sidewalks of the capital\u2019s San Crist\u00f3bal neighborhood.<\/p>\n
As they passed, smiles lit up the faces of onlookers who pulled out their phones to snap pictures. \u201cLet\u2019s go, Argentina!\u201d a woman shouted.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThese are the only joys we have because nothing ever goes our way, not for workers or retirees. Everything is against us,\u201d said 80-year-old Edgardo P\u00e9rez, who was taking photos of the group known on social media as \u201cLa Perroneta.\u201d<\/p>\n
The name alludes to \u201cLa Scaloneta,\u201d the nickname of the national team aiming to retain its title at the World Cup under coach Lionel Scaloni.<\/p>\n
Scaloni is admired in Argentina following the team\u2019s triumphs at the World Cup and the Finalissima in 2022, as well as the 2021 Copa Am\u00e9rica.<\/p>\n
Meneghini developed the idea of \u200b\u200bdressing the dogs in Argentina colors last week as it advanced from the group stage.<\/p>\n
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Two of the dogs he regularly walks, Sirio and Roberta, were wearing jerseys featuring Messi\u2019s No. 10. Their owners bought them after catching World Cup fever.<\/p>\n
Meneghini loved the idea and decided to dress the rest of the dogs the same way. He stopped by a pet store and picked up jerseys in various sizes. The owners readily accepted the outfits.<\/p>\n
The same went for the collars and leashes he crafted in light blue and white. He added three rivets to the leashes \u2014 one for each of Argentina\u2019s World Cup titles in 1978, 1986 and 2022 \u2014 while hanging tags reading \u201cLos perros de Nano\u201d (Nano\u2019s Dogs) from the collars.<\/p>\n
Meneghini offers the pet owners a good price for all the items. Other people in the neighborhood have started placing orders for their own pets.<\/p>\n
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The dogs and their walker cover around 60 blocks almost every day and have become local celebrities and social media stars.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that is patriotism,” the 73-year-old Dora Maisano said as she watched the group pass by. “Not just peeing and pooping. Everyone wearing the No. 10. Well done, congratulations \u2014 they look so cute!\u201d<\/p>\n
The pack will continue to wear the national colors \u201cforever,\u201d even if Argentina is eliminated from the competition, Meneghini said. \u201cBut I have faith that we\u2019ll win a fourth cup. After the fourth one, I\u2019ll add another rivet to the leashes.\u201d<\/p>\n
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See more of AP\u2019s World Cup coverage here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dog walker Nahuel Meneghini walks dogs dressed in jerseys of the Argentine national soccer team in Buenos Aires,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[40502,127947,127949,127948,73993,124867,116755,127950,23681,59373,202,59371,196,89602,73296,42094,88711,82,84,83],"class_list":["post-360284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-argentina","tag-argentina-fans-world-cup-messi","tag-dora-maisano","tag-edgardo-perez","tag-lionel-messi","tag-lionel-scaloni","tag-mysaworldcup","tag-nano","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100373-mc-complete-state-national","tag-package-100502-member-choice-sports-option","tag-product-30598-ap-national-news-report-a-wire","tag-product-30599-ap-sports-news-s-wire-only","tag-product-32506-ap-online-feature-stories","tag-product-32553-ap-online-soccer-news","tag-product-32562-ap-online-other-sports-news","tag-product-42059-world-cup-text","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}