1. I am indebted to Tomislav Longinovic whose dedication to the World Soccer Cup inspired me to write this article. I am also thankful to Cindy Stretch and Jill Kuhnheim who helped me edit it in English.

2. Mario Benedetti, "Maradona sí. Havelange no", El País (6 July 1994), np.

3. Rubén Giordano, "La mano de Dios", Noticias de la semana (3 July 1994): 45.

4. Nathaniel Nash, "The World: Argentina is Booming But There is no Rest for its Tortured Soul", The New York Times, Sec. 4, No. 6 (17 July 1994): 4.

5. Jorge Luis Borges, "Nuestro pobre individualismo", in Obras completas 1923-1972 (Buenos Aires: Emecé, 1974), 658.

6. Another comparable moment is the chanting "a la soccer" that went on and on after General Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri announced one of the first victories in the Falklands/Malvinas war in 1982.

7. An excellent source of articles about this topic is the issue of Boundary 2, 20:3 (Fall 1993), dedicated to the debate on postmodernism in Latin America.

8. Nelly Richard, "Reply to Vidal (From Chile)", The Postmodernism Debate in Latin America: A Special Issue of Boundary 2, eds. John Beverly and José Oviedo, 20:3 (Fall 1993): 229.

9. Beatriz Sarlo, Escenas de la vida postmoderna: Intelectuales, arte y videocultura en la Argentina (Buenos Aires: Ariel, 1994), 7.

10. No habrá más pena ni olvido, Cuarteles de invierno, A sus plantas rendido un léon, and Una sombra ya pronto serás which was premiered in Buenos Aires in June 1994.

11. During the World Cup, Soriano also published articles in a leftist Italian journal, Il Manifesto, from Rome.

12. Osvaldo Soriano, "El Mundial postmoderno", Página 12 (19 June 1994): 28.

13. Soriano, "Un Mundial vacío", Página 12 (3 July 1994): 32.

14. Soriano, "Es un Mundial posmoderno", Noticias de la semana (3 July 1994): 122-123.

15. Jean Baudrillard, America, tr., Chris Turner (London, New York: Verso, 1989), 23.

16. According to Soriano, Argentina lost the Italian World Cup because the referee was in favor of Germany and the penalty against Argentina was unjustifiable. He also sees the game between Spain and Korea as the one in which the referee abruptly finished the game after Korea tied so that Spain would not receive any additional goals.

17. Soriano, July 3, 1994, 123.

18. Ibid.

19. Mempo Giardinelli has published more than a dozen novels, theoretical studies, and anthologies, La revolución en bicicleta (1980), Por qué prohibieron el circo (1983), Luna caliente (1983), Que solos se quedaron los muertos (1985). He founded and directed the short story journal Puro cuento. Giardinelli is also a contributor for Página 12. Recently he won a prestigious Rómulo Gallegos literary prize for his powerful novel Santo ofico de la memoria.

20. Giardinelli, "El video del adiós", Noticias de la semana (3 July 1994): 77-79.