Argentina World Cup Final Energizes Two NYC Diasporas
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- Argentina will face Spain in the World Cup final on Sunday at East Rutherford, New Jersey, just a few miles from Manhattan, where diaspora neighborhoods are painting storefronts, fire hydrants and asphalt in national team colors.
- Elmhurst, Queens — once the epicenter of Argentine diaspora settled during the 1970s "dirty war" — has dwindled to a handful of restaurants and bakeries, but swells into a street party with closed roads and outdoor televisions each World Cup, per Christian Gimenez, 40, owner of Rio de la Plata Bakery.
- Brooklyn's Kensington neighborhood, home to a Bangladeshi diaspora that has tripled in two decades, has become an unexpected hub of Argentina support, with resident Sajid Bhuyan, 31, estimating fewer than 10% of locals don't back the team.
- Maradona's 1986 defeat of England carries political weight for Bangladesh and other post-colonial nations, according to the source, though for younger fans the fandom now centers on Messi — who may be playing his last national team match.
- Beatriz Jaime, 74, who watched Argentina's 1978 rout of the Netherlands at Madison Square Garden, told Al Jazeera the neighborhood roots persist: "The roots are here, and they're in Argentina. You never forget that."
- Gimenez addressed racist incidents involving Argentine fans during this and the prior World Cup, saying the behavior is "not representative of the fan base" and that "if you're supporting us, we love you."
Why it matters: The final's proximity to New York — just miles from two diaspora strongholds — makes this the rare World Cup where Argentine identity is visibly performed on American streets, with 90% of Kensington's Bangladeshi community reportedly backing La Albiceleste in a fandom rooted partly in shared post-colonial memory of the 1986 England match. For Queens' shrinking Argentine community, the monthlong tournament is the one time every four years the block returns to its 1970s character.
