Il calcio questo ‘distrattore’. Finzioni e rappresentazioni nell’Argentina contemporanea

Among sports, football plays an eminent role and, due to the massive interest it generates, it has often served as a “distractor” in catalysing the attention of large sections of the population in order to distance it from other issues. This is what happened in the 80s of the last century in Argentina on the occasion of the World Championships. Starting from this socio-political phenomenon, my intention is to analyse how football is represented in three contemporary Argentine works: Hay unos tipos abajo by Antonio Dal Masetto, Dos veces junio by Martín Kohan and the short story “Me van a tener que disculpar” by Eduardo Sacheri, with the aim of analysing how these narratives highlight the hiatus between sporting passion and political manipulation, between individual and collective gaze.