Argentina fans rejoice: Their team is in World Cup final
SAO PAULO - It's Argentina's greatest delight and Brazil's worst nightmare.
Argentina's soccer team has beaten the Netherlands to win a berth into the World Cup championship match - on archrival Brazil's soil, and just a day after Brazil was humiliated in a 7-1 loss to Germany.
Argentina fan Rodrigo Aisen wept with joy as his team knocked in a fourth goal to secure the 4-2 penalty shootout win. He celebrated with 20,000 others in the FIFA Fan Fest watch party in Sao Paulo, and sealed the victory by giving his girlfriend a long kiss.
He says that "God knows we suffered" with the tight match that had to be decided by penalties. "But everything is good now, everything is joy!"
Argentina and Germany will meet in the final on Sunday.
"I had faith that they would win today," said Maribel Ovieda, 21, who two years ago had a lung transplant because of cystic fibrosis. Her twin sister died from the disease last year.
Her family traveled from Cordoba, Argentina, to see the World Cup, and Ovieda said making the final means more to her than any other sporting achievement.
"Seeing the team in these moments gives me goose bumps. It is something beautiful," she said.