‘Bell Ville is 200 kilometres from Cordoba and I used to travel in by bus every Tuesday and Thursday, and then on a Sunday for matches. Kempes, who has the advantage of being sat at the table rather than in Hertfordshire, takes over, keen to provide context. But then they put him in the team and he scored two goals in his first game.’ ‘He wasn’t very good physically, so I was a bit surprised when he arrived. Watching them interact here, Kempes in Doha, Ardiles at his Hertfordshire home, you realise some hierarchies from youth persist, no matter that one of them scored two goals in the World Cup final and won the Golden Boot with five goals.Īrdiles recalls: ‘He was a little bit of a fatty, to be honest.’ Kempes rolls his eyes, as though he’s heard this story before. Kempes was a callow youth of 17, Ardiles the established star of the team at 20. They were team-mates together long before being World Cup winners together in 1978, the tournament which would elevate them into global celebrities.Īrdiles was playing for local club Instituto de Cordoba, in a city about 400 miles west of Buenos Aires, deep in las pampas, when he and Kempes, who grew up in Bell Ville, another 120 miles further west, met 50 years ago. And then comes the smile, the easy familiarity and soon we are pool-side, overlooking Doha, with Ardiles on a video call issuing instructions and goading his friend. And then, suddenly, out of the crowd, there he is: that same smile, the hair a little less unkempt and, though 68 rather than 24, still unmistakably the face of Argentina 1978. Ossie Ardiles, England’s most famous Argentinian, is acting as go-between, relaying messages between myself and his old pal as we search for each other. There is the familiar bustle of hangers-on and self-styled VVIPs. On Thursday, amid the palatial luxury of the reception area of FIFA’s Fairmont Hotel he’s harder to make out. You will remember him as the handsome gaucho, long locks flowing behind him as he ran, arms outstretched, over the debris of the ticker-tape strewn across the pitch to celebrate scoring the goal that first won Argentina the World Cup.
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