December 8th – The World Cup is there, between a “bandeja” and a “por tres” and the Argentinian and Brazilian players are hoping that, if they keep going in the tournament, the calendar will help them, tomorrow. Yes, because on Friday there are the quarter-finals in Qatar: Croatia-Brazil at 4 pm and Holland-Argentina at 8 pm. Their hearts are beating fast as they are hoping not to meet as the Albiceleste and the Selecao will be playing, therefore even if (like in Fernando “Bela Belasteguin’s case) – “we must win tonight before thinking about tomorrow and about the World Cup…” says the legend of the padel. We will watch the match all together says Lucas Bergamini, the real Brazilian who has just defeated his great friend Pablo Lima, top seeded number 3 of the tournament together with the Argentinian Franco Stupaczuk: “In our hotel we have a room with a big screen and we watch the matches all together; well, now it becomes really important if Pablo will stay here, we will watch also Croatia-Brazil together, otherwise I feel that this time I will shut myself inside my hotel room and I will suffer all alone!” said Lucas, joking, and showing his strong attachment to his home country. And he goes on saying “it’s very pleasant indeed to watch the matches all together and if Argentina scores, I must turn the other way, as I cannot possibly cheer for them but I nevertheless hope that they will win against Holland as we have to beat Croatia in order to play against them in the semifinal.. that’s where we will wait for them as we want to beat them in the final says Bergamini laughing, after having beaten the cup number three of the tournament. Do you want to know if we play bets among our group? oh, yes we do: a dinner, a drink, a racket! reveals the strong Brazilian player who has played in Italy too, with the Canottieri Aniene team. Everything is very playful and entertaining but of course there is a certain rivalry between us. Bela confirms that he will watch the matches in the Argentina fans area in the tv room of their hotel: “yes, we will watch the matches all together, even though I have to think about tonight’s match I will be playing myself first, but in case we should carry on in the tournament, I will ask the organizers of the tournament to change the order of play accordingly. His request has almost been accepted: Bela will play the second afternoon game. The first one Galan-Lebron vs Gonzalez/Ruiz is at 5 pm and since Argentina will be playing at 8 pm, he will make it on time, if time will help him.
Then a prediction and a world champion thought for those who are trying obsessively to reach his same result: padel player with number 10 talks about football player with number 10: Leo Messi: “We have a chance of winning the World Cup says Belasteguin.. “I cheer for this and I believe that if Argentina carries on winning in this tournament it certainly will have more fans who belong to those teams who have already been eliminated but who love Messi for all he has done for sport and for football and because he would really deserve to win a World Cup. Also because being 35, it could be the last chance for him to win a World Cup. But will it really be his last participation in the World Cup? Asking this to a 43 year-old world champion who has just won in Dubai might sound inappropriate. And in fact Bela looks at us, lifts his eyebrow and smiles, meaning a lot more than if he had actually spoken.
Milan PP – The World Cup in Qatar, a derby between Argentina and Brazil. Bergamini: “I’m waiting for Argentina in the semifinal…” Bela: “We will watch the games all together”
