SPECIAL INTERVIEW: Argentina Football Follower Marcelo Landau

Talking about a wide array of themes, Declan Link interviews the remarkable Marcelo Landau ahead of the Argentina vs. England match.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Hello everyone, this is Declam Link with World Cup Football, etc., in Atlanta, Georgia. I am about 25 minutes' walk from the stadium in downtown Atlanta, saying exactly the same hotel I was at a couple of weeks ago when England just about squeaked past DR Congo. The reason we're doing this bonus podcast today, well, with four and a half hours to go prior to the uh England-Argentina game is we have Marcelo, and I do want to give him um justice because of that uh emotional, incredible, and compelling podcast he gave us uh in the build-up to the 2026 World Cup, um uh talking specifically about his experience back in Mexico in 1986. So here you go. Marcel was born Marcelo was born in Argentina, where he grew up a dual athlete in football and basketball. This developed his passion for sports, and so he pursued a degree in physical education as accumulated 45 years of experience working with youth athletes in football and basketball. Some highlights include running a youth football team in Miami for over a decade and starting his own foundation for blind and visually impaired individuals to learn football for free. Over the past six years, he has transitioned to working with children with special needs in sports after Marcelo himself suffered optic nerve strokes which left him legally blind. Marcelo's a diehard football fan, particularly and especially for the Argentina national team and for his club team Riverplate, uh, which he has followed closely throughout his whole life, including to go into now eight World Cups, then seven World Cups, and countless River Plate games, including the epic Lipa Dadores final against Boca Juniors in Madrid. So welcome again, Marcelo. Welcome, Michael. Um, how has the World Cup been so far for you, Marcelo? Have you been at every Argentina game?

SPEAKER_03 2:32

Yes, I've been every Argentina game. I suffer the last uh two or three games, but in the middle time we pass through, I don't care.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

And yeah, Argentina definitely a little bit like England have not been playing uh particularly well, but they both teams seem to be getting the results, which is why we're here today in Atlanta.

SPEAKER_03 2:58

Exactly, exactly. So what I hope it is a really nice game, both has great players in their teams, and I hope just stay in the game, and we don't mess it up with anything else.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

Yeah, no, I again it uh the most of the so-called experts think it could go either way. Uh so so uh it's it's gonna be a particularly intriguing game because of the history of this World Cup, but obviously there's a rich history uh going back to the uh the competition in 1966 and that famous quarterfinal with uh England and Argentina at Wembley. Now, have have your sons Michael and Kevin bit been with you for all of the games or some of the games, or is this the first time that Michael's joining you? Shall I respond or him?

SPEAKER_00 3:52

So um fortunately, my my dad has has always been really generous in um inviting us along in in Russian Qatar. My brother was there the whole time. But today we're both here actually. So we drove up from Miami um two days ago. Yeah, we stopped in Jacksonville the first night and then came up today. Um, so fortunately, for the first time, we're all three together at a game for this World Cup. But I was lucky enough to go with him to the one in Miami, just myself, to watch the um Argentina Cape Verde game. But this will be my second and my brother's first, and you're what sixth?

SPEAKER_03 4:28

Well, seventh no, the sixth one. Sixth game. We have as both teams, we have two more games. I hope uh one one of them go to the final and one of them go for the runner of third and fourth place.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

Yeah, I was gonna say, Marcelo, that's a true statement. Um, but both of us hope that the next game after this is in New York and not in Miami.

SPEAKER_03 4:53

Exactly. I I don't want to be home for the next game, I want to be close to my oldest son that live close to New York in Connecticut.

SPEAKER_01 5:03

So so let me ask um um you, Michael, um, you what's your what's your and Kevin's earliest memory of watching a World Cup match with your dad? Can you remember the first game you saw, either live on tele or on television with him? On television.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

Oh man, I have to go pretty far back. Live, I can tell you straight away. Um, we all went to the 2014. Yeah, 2014 World Cup in Brazil. That was our first experience um at a World Cup, so that was really incredible. We were there for the 40 days, and the first game we got to watch together was Argentina's first game in the new Maracanas Stadium in Rio. So that was that was quite unbelievable against Bosnia. And Messi scored the winning goal, so you know, we got all the magic in one, and in that World Cup, me and and Kevin were lucky enough to go along with him to the semifinal, which was quite exciting against Netherlands, where we won in penalties, and then unfortunately we lost the final. But in person, that's the only World Cup I had bit to. Um, but earliest memory watching that's a tough one. A very distinct one I have is is watching like Copa America on the sofa, um, Brazil, Argentina, because that one for me personally was a very difficult for for those that don't know. My my mother is Brazilian as well, so quite a identity crisis, but um I should probably should keep that to myself in this podcast.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

So, so um Marcelo, just for the for the benefit of our listeners around the world, obviously I mentioned in the bio that uh you uh are legally blind. So can you maybe describe what it was like when your vision was one 100% imperfect and now the role that Michael and Kevin play for you within the stadiums?

SPEAKER_03 6:54

Well, uh the thing it is I'm not totally blind, so I have 15% vision in one eye and 20 in the other one.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

So I I see uh the I'm sorry, but my phone is ringing, just uh and the thing it is uh that's that my Marcelo, that's probably Scaloni wanting to see if Michael can sit on the bench today and be a substitute.

SPEAKER_03 7:19

Maybe, maybe, because we don't have a good bench. Uh but what I want to tell you, it is uh it's not hard for me because I see the players moving around what I don't see it is the ball and the pain of the place that I be in the stadium. For example, in the last one, when I'm in the middle of the field, it's a little bit better when I in the uh the back of the one of the goals, I just can see the goals that it is in that goal. But for me, it is a sensation of the crowd, both because people singing, jumping, uh hanging with other ones that you don't even know. I remember the the game of uh with Egypt, uh hanging out with uh Chinese people, with Colombian people, because you know, I I think not everybody goes with Argentina, everybody goes with Messi, everybody loves Messi. You have the haters and the lovers of Messi, and this is incredible. I see families, American families around with the Argentinian shirt because they love Messi. So when I have I re I remember uh the the game, the final game with Kevin in Qatar, and everybody gets hit their heads, and I don't know what is going on. And I say, Kevin, what is going on now? You don't have any idea what Dibu Martinez stopped. And when I saw it in the TV after the game, I realized, but at the moment I have the feeling of everybody else around me. But it is amazing for me to have both of my kids right now, and I hope, like you tell me, that we can be in New York together to see the final. But if not, I enjoy to have them and the passion that they have also with the soccer.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Yeah, I mean, I can completely relate to that. I've got three boys, Marcelo, and I've got two of them here with me throughout the World Cup. I've always had one of my sons at my my side during the game, so I can completely relate to um to to uh you know the how special it is win, lose, or draw. Um, you know, having your own sons there and seeing their passion for the game. That means we as dads have done a good job.

SPEAKER_03 9:44

Yes. What one of the things, because uh you're born in a in a country that football is everything, and myself also. That is incredible that both of my sons that are born in a country that right now is a little bit better in in 1994 when they have the World Cup, that doesn't even exist. So for me, see the passion that they have for this game, it is amazing. I love it how they feel it. Doesn't matter if they play Brazil for their mom or Argentina for me or USA for them. So it is incredible, and it's it's a feeling that I can explain with words.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Yes. Now, Mike, Michael, um, you know, and I don't want you to give away any trade secrets or anything here, but is there like a phrase or a reaction or a superstition that your dad has during the games that has become part of your own sort of game day ritual for you and Kevin and your dad, you know, when a goal goes in or it's uh um, you know, a penalty kick or it goes to penalty or what is there anything special that you boys bond together with?

SPEAKER_00 10:57

Yeah, that's actually a great question. And for you, Dek, I'll I'll give you the secrets. Um so my dad actually it's it's something particular for him. He has a jacket that he always has to have around his waist. Okay, and funny enough, in the in the Cape Verde game, he for one minute, you know, gave it to someone that was with us, and then straight away Cape Verde had like a an attack. I don't know if what they scored or it was like one of these plays, and he got it straight back. So um, you know, Argentinians as as you very well know are are very, very superstition, is is the best translation for it, but it's called Caballas, which we have, you know, which is for every Argentinian, you know, um, there's a lot of things that we do or don't do. Um, but for us particularly, myself, since I haven't been um fortunate enough to be to too many games with him in person, we don't have any like tradition of the sort, but but yeah, the jacket one I know is is one that's very very special for him.

SPEAKER_03 11:53

I and I can tell you one secret, uh, what's happening in the 2022 because I have Kevin around us also. In the first game with uh Saudi Arabia, when we lose, we get in the in the Qatar games, they give you uh the uh flags for the national teams, right? So in the first one, we get the Argentinian ones, in the second one. I don't know why we get the gate, the team that we are playing uh to uh against against. So that day, Kevin and myself we put the um that flag in the seat and we sit down and that flag and we win, and the next game we get again the flag of that team and we sit down again. So every single game we get the flag for the other team and we put it under uh to sit out over the flag. So every world cup is different. But let me tell you one thing that is funny because I have Michael in my sarah, and uh for sure he remembered I don't remember if it's a World Cup or he's in a Cop America game. Like he said, we are in the couch in the TV, and of course his mom is from Brazil, so Brazil scored and he screamed the goal, and I will all almost want to kill him after that game. I say, hey, when we are not in the stadium, please don't lock the game with me, go in the other TV because I don't want anybody my side to see the game. Do you remember that?

SPEAKER_00 13:30

Yeah, I tell that story all the time. It was quite traumatizing, to be honest. Um yeah, he leaves out the detail that he he didn't speak to me for a couple days after, bro. So that was a good story. But but in terms of the the superstitions deck, um definitely as a player myself, I you know, I had those things that I think a lot of us um that played had, you know, and I think it just comes from the culture. You know, you live it so intensely that you know when something goes well, you think that you know you have it feels like you have more control player, that you're more connected to the game, is the best way I can explain it. You know, you you hope that you have a a sliver of influence over what's happening. I I try not to get too caught up in the superstitions because it just stresses me out more, but but yeah, the jacket one is it's quite quite entertaining.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Brilliant. So it sounds as though, you know, over the years, just like with my boys, the the football it has been the sort of glue or the adhesive in many respects that's the relationship between dad and son, and son and sons and dad uh has just must it must have just helped every your relationship, Kevin's relationship with your dad, and vice versa, beyond football. Because at the end of the day, uh football is the is is is the stuff that gets us out of bed every day. But the reality is it must have massively helped contribute to such an incredible relationship with your father.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

Yeah, I mean, you hit the nail on the head. I think all of us that you know have played the game, have lived the game at whatever level, um we try to explain at the best we can to other people what it means, and and it's really quite hard. But there's a reason it's the most played sport, the most watched sport in the world. It just the world stops for it, you know, and and the relationship. And I think that's some beautiful thing why people get so enamored by Argentinian culture when it comes to football, is because you see, you know, the young people and the passion. And there's like there's a saying in Argentina, I'm gonna butcher it so you tell me that if I say wrong, but it's like you can change um your partner, you know, you can change your job, but you never change your your club team, and your club team is always your father's team, you know. So um things of that sort is just having the sense of community, you know, um, the places the game takes you, the people you meet. Um, I always think back again to another quote by Ronaldinho. I learned everything about life with the ball on my feet, you know. And you know, I met you, Dek. You know, I had the opportunity to travel to so many places. My dad was always really good about um being involved in in the youth experiences we had, and we traveled to South Africa, to Argentina, uh to Spain, you know, and countless other places. And yeah, that for me, yeah, Italy. So that for me, you know, sticks. And and like you said, almost always when we get together, it's talking about football. It's um, are we gonna go watch a game? You know, what can we do? And even myself now, you know, I'm I'm done playing, but I'm still involved in the game, you know, work-wise, and and so is my dad. And my brother still plays like three times a week, you know. So it's just it's just something that it never leaves you. And and yeah, I think the minute you hang up the boots, you really realize, you know, even more so what it means. Like you said, it's it's not just the game, it's everything that happens.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

One last question before we get to the reason we're here in Atlanta today. You you you had a recent experience um with one of the Argentina youth level teams. Is that right, Michael?

SPEAKER_00 16:55

Yes, sir. Yeah, we we held um the company that I work with, Vertex, we held the Vertex Cup in Miami, where we had uh four U16 national teams, and we actually had this matchup we're gonna watch today happening there. So we had Argentina, England, uh, Mexico, and USA youth national teams, which was a really beautiful experience hosted in Miami. And I was the team liaison for Argentina, and yeah, that was uh an incredible experience seeing and what age group was that? U16, so 2010. Okay, yeah, 2010s, correct.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

That's fantastic. Hopefully, they recognize your talent and they'll bring you further into the fold within the uh within the uh Argentine Football Association. Now let's move on because I need to be sensitive to your time and we all need to get our game faces on. Um okay, today's game. This this is potentially Messi at his final World Cup uh against England of all teams, uh, who he has never played against before. What is what just just um describe your emotions, your thoughts um about Messi playing England for the first time, about potentially, potentially, uh from Argentina's perspective, hopefully not, the Messi's potential last World Cup game, because there's a question about whether or not he'd play in a third and fourth place playoff. Um, and with England not having beaten Argentina uh in this competition uh for a long, long time, since Sapporo in 2002, does the history and extra weight uh uh what does it mean to you both? I would love to get an Argentina Argentinian perspective.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, I I I do think all of that weighs, and and of course the the external factors as well for for Argentinian perspective as well, you know, with with the political history between Argentina and and England. Me and my dad were actually just speaking about how for us we hope those sort of factors don't come into play, but you know how it is, you know, emotions are carried. So I I do think there is a lot of weight. But to be honest with you, I I've always thought, like, yeah, there that's a factor, but you know, the game is today and every all none of that matters, you know. So it's it's the 11 players, you know, plus everyone else that step on the field today. Um, we've seen this World Cup has has given us a lot of surprises. So what I do know is that it's gonna be a spectacle, you know. Uh both teams are gonna come in, you know, with everything uh for their own reasons, you know, for the stage, for for all the factors that that you mentioned, but I think all of that leads to it being even more special. Like you said, you know, it almost seems like it's a script you can't write, you know, Messi's last World Cup playing against a country he's never played against um on this stage, you know, with all the cultural significance and everything. So we're just really, really excited for it. Um, of course, we all have our hopes on on how the result goes, but just it was something that we could have missed, I guess, from from our perspective is like no matter what, it's to say that we were at an Argentina England semifinal in a World Cup for potentially Messi's, you know, last tournament.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

It's I guess uh it's one it's one of those pinch yourself, it's one of those pinch yourself moments. Um in every way. What about you, Marcelo? Please try and convey, relay your thoughts, communicate what everything means to you today in the build-up to the game.

SPEAKER_03 20:20

Uh the truth is after many, many years, many, many world ups. Uh I can I cannot say that it's a uh another game, just another game, but what I try to do is enjoy the for me one of the best players in the world. He keeps it for 20 years, and doesn't matter how was the result, the final resort. Um I love to be part of his history looking at all the games. I hope, of course, that we win, but doesn't matter if we don't win, uh I want the best for him because he deserves it. He never complained about anything. And coming in my mind, this game, for example, is the question that you made to us before, because it's not casuality that Argentina today play with the blue shirt that for the England also, it is a bad remind when Maradona made with his hand one goal and the best goal in the history of the World Cup at the same game. Uh and now they try to play with the blue. I know FIFA tried to, because it's the B team, we are visiting this game uh to say, but Argentina before FIFA say they say we want to play with the blue. So it is a mix of that '86 game bringing right now. Because for us, it is a reminder of that game. And for you guys, it is a reminder that it is not fair. The first goal of Maradona made that game, but in otherwise, he made the best goal in the history of the World Cup. So the only thing that I can say is doesn't matter what is the result. I'm a fan of soccer. I love soccer, and I hope it is a great game for everybody who stays in the stadium and all the other people that watch it in the TV or wherever they follow the game.

SPEAKER_01 22:23

Great. And I'm I'm not going to put anyone on the spot here and ask for predictions. I'd just like to wrap up today's uh bonus podcast by saying, May the best team win. And hopefully, we might be able to meet up afterwards for a drink and a handshake and a hug so that uh we can uh either celebrate or commiserate with each other. So, Michael, Marcelo, thank you so much for your time today. Safe travel to the stadium and uh hopefully see you guys later, okay?

SPEAKER_00 22:51

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_03 22:52

Thank you. Of course, I love to meet with you all also.