World Soccer - Collateral damages?

From the UK, John Heelan says: "Does a country's team being defeated in World Soccer have a deleterious effect on the morale of that country? In particular, will the surprisingly early demise of the team from Argentina (normally one of the best in the world) exacerbate that poor country's current problems and malaise?

From a UK perspective, I know that this country's public morale ebbs and flows with the international performance of the soccer team. TV pundits still boast about England's winning the World Cup even though it was 36 years has elapsed since that time.

Sporting combat is an acceptable replacement for armed conflict, helping defuse the inevitable irritations between nations, by releasing the tension of at least one side. (Thus there is, regrettably, a general malicious satisfaction in the UK about Argentina's defeat- more to do with Maradona than Las Malvinas; and about the early exit of the French, our nearest neighbours, with whom the Brits have had a love/hate relationship spanning centuries.)

If international soccer performance is so important to the well-being of a country, how will Argentinean politics and economy be affected by the early return of their soccer team?"

Ronald Hilton - 6/19/02