They sing, they stomp, they dance. World Cup fans from Argentina, Spain spent cash at the final

Audio By Carbonatix

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Tom Cruise gamely tried to deliver a speech at the World Cup about how soccer was some sort of global unifier and great players had crossed oceans and borders, and, well, what was the rest?

It was about mission impossible to hear the actor over the cacophony of bells and whistles and drums that served as the house band for all the joyous singing and clapping among the Argentine and Spanish fans who traveled thousands of miles — and spent thousands and thousands more in tickets, beers and, yes, wigs — to watch the World Cup final.

No exorbitant ticket price was too high to possibly say goodbye to Lionel Messi, playing in likely his last World Cup game.

“Money comes back,” Argentina fan Manuel Lopez Maccotta said. “This is once in a lifetime. You’re seeing the best player in the world in his last World Cup. Money is worthless compared to this.”

Maccotta and one of his friends traveled from Buenos Aires to New Jersey to watch Spain's 1-0 win over Argentina on Ferran Torres’ goal in extra time on Sunday.

The ticket price?

“Almost 10K in American money,” Maccotta said.

The $18 beer he was in line to buy suddenly seemed like chump change compared to the hot game ticket.

His friend Santiago Burcaco got off easy at $5,000 for his ticket.

“I bought the ticket before the World Cup final,” he said.

In the 200 section of the stadium Sunday, Guadalupe Villar said she and her husband were at the finals almost by chance.

The Buenos Aires couple, who brought along their nearly 2-year-old daughter, won a contest for tickets to Argentina’s semifinal match against England in Atlanta. After their home country won, they decided they weren’t ready to go home and splurged for finals tickets that cost $7,000 each (their daughter was free).

“We both work and we have some savings and we were like, ‘OK, maybe this vacation will go a little longer.’ We’re here now, you know?” Villar said.

The only hiccup? Their flight from Atlanta to New York was canceled by bad weather.

Villar, who is an architect, said the family piled into a car with fellow countrymen they met on their travels and drove the 15 hours north, arriving at 5 a.m. on gameday.

“We’re tired, and hot,” she said as she took a break in a shaded area between the seating bowl and the concession area with her sleepy daughter.

After the match, the family headed for the exits before the championship trophy was handed to Spain.

“Spain was better this game, it hurts me to say,” Rodrigo Fernandez said as Villar carried their sleeping daughter. “It was a great game, and it was a shame to lose, but was an unforgettable experience.”

World Cup fans were given a “Join The Celebration” sign that encouraged fans on how to best participate in the game.

“When the music kicks in, clap along using your clapper!”

It was about as useful as signing up Messi for soccer instructions

Just as they have throughout the tournament, fans from both countries were jacked up from the moment they navigated long times to enter the stadium and sang and chanted in their native languages; certainly, giving halftime performers such as Madonna and Shakira a lofty bar to reach. There were no indication security lines for fans were slowed by President Donald Trump's presence.

Spain fans dotted rows in their vibrant red-and-yellow afro wigs that featured their nation’s flag. They removed them only to dump water on their heads and down their necks, trying to keep cool on a sunny day.

Ticket prices for the final soared like a Messi free kick before finally come down just a smidge — by well-heeled fans standards. “Modern Family” actor Sofía Vergara stopped traffic in one concourse about 45 minutes before kickoff.

Tickets to the World Cup final, which were selling for tens of thousands of dollars, dropped to as low as $2,334.50 in the hours before the game on FIFA’s resale site. FIFA still had list price tickets on sale the morning of the game for $10,990.

Yes, perhaps, some fans scrimped and saved to buy tickets.

Messi and the once-in-a-lifetime game instilled a unique kind of obsession to the passionate, loyal Argentina fan base.

They included three friends who cycled more than 10,000 miles from their home in Argentina to Kansas City, Missouri, to watch their national team compete in the tournament; a nanny who lived out of a Honda Civic to scrounge, save and travel to games; and another fan who said she got a tattoo of an Argentine celebrity in exchange for a game ticket.

The cyclists appeared to have made their way to New Jersey.

The soccer-crazed diehards found inside the stadium mostly had saved and had the means to make the trip.

The 28-year-old Maccotta runs a software company, and his friend Burcaco works in real estate.

Maccotta figured he spent around $35,000 total to follow Argentina around for the World Cup. The highlight before Sunday, a win against England. He landed in New York at 4:50 a.m. on Sunday after a nearly 14-hour delay out of Miami because of thunderstorms.

“It’s the last Messi World Cup,’ he said. “My country. Hopefully we go back-to-back. We have to share the feeling. It’s once in a lifetime.”

For Argentina, it was a chance to become the first back-to-back men’s World Cup champion since Pele and Brazil did it in 1958 and 1962. And for Messi, it would have been the perfect ending to what he has indicated will be his final run with his national team.

Thousands of Argentina and Spain fans flooded Times Square over the weekend and burst into song and chants and the kind of revelry that has been a festive staple in World Cup host cities throughout North America.

Spain was ready to call the fandom a draw.

Curro Sanchez, from Madrid, spent $8,000 on a ticket. He landed a day earlier and is staying in Manhattan through Thursday.

“Had a big, big, big fight with my wife,” Sanchez said. “At the end of the day, she understood."

___

Associated Press Writer Philip Marcelo contributed to this story.

___

See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here