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Did Argentina's army of witches win World Cup after 36 years in the cold?

Lionel Messi led Argentina to World Cup title in thrilling win over France that may go down as the Greatest of All Time (GOAT).
Argentina's third World Cup title, coming after a match set to go down as an all-time classic, generated a rare moment of euphoria and happiness for the South American country.
In hoisting the trophy into the Qatar night, Messi burnished his image as the greatest player in the world, and potentially of all time. It is easy to name-drop Messi and the other goal scorers of the tournament, but, for Argentina, it also had "brujas" or witches casting spells to protect him and the rest of its national squad, The New York Times reports.
According to the article, ahead of the World Cup, tonnes of, if not 1000s of Argentine girls who name themselves "brujas," or witches, took up arms - within the type of prayers, altars, candles, amulets and burning sage - to guard their team in its quest to safe a growing nations Cup title and its first in 36 years.


"We consider ourselves as brokers that, from love, can take care, shield and sow happiness," mentioned Rocio Cabral Menna, 27, a witch and highschool instructor in Messi's hometown, Rosario, who burns a bay leaf inscribed together with her predicted rating in a ceremony earlier than every match. The gamers are competing on the sector, she mentioned, and at house, "the witches are taking good care of them."
The development caught hearth after Argentina's surprising loss to Saudi Arabia within the opening match, inflicting Argentines to seek for any manner to assist the staff on which this nation of 47 million has pitted its hopes.

After that match, a number of witches began a WhatsApp group to instruct different witches on how you can assist the nationwide staff. They referred to as it the Argentine Affiliation of Witches, or La Brujineta, a play on "bruja" and "La Scaloneta," Argentina's nickname for its nationwide staff.
"I believed there have been going to be 10 folks at most," mentioned the group's founder, Antonella Spadafora, 23, a witch who runs a comfort retailer in a metropolis in northwest Argentina. Inside days, greater than 300 folks had joined the group. Final week, there was a lot demand that they began a Twitter account. It has gained 25,000 followers in seven days.

Evil eye

One of the witches, identified as Magali Martinez, stated that the seemingly invincible Messi was scuffling on the soccer pitch. To her, it seemed like he was troubled with a supernatural curse that has roots in numerous cultures throughout historical past, the "evil eye."
So Martinez, a self-proclaimed witch and part-time babysitter, started working. She centered intensely on Messi, started repeating a prayer and drizzled a little bit of oil right into a bowl of water. If the oil remained dispersed, he was secure. If it collected within the centre, he was cursed.
"It got here collectively like a magnet. I knew I wouldn't be capable to remedy him alone."

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