This soccer goal is one for the ages.
A father and son from Argentina have embarked on a trip of a lifetime — riding their motorcycles from Argentina to the US to see their beloved national team play in the World Cup.
They left their hometown of Córdoba on March 5, and will travel 9,000 miles across 13 countries before getting to Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, MO, for their national team’s first match vs. Algeria. Then its on to Houston for a June 22 match and Dallas on June 27.
The catch: They have no tickets.
“As of now, I don’t have a ticket for any match, but I have a lot of faith,” said Airbnb businessman Tony Ravilli, who originally asked his dad Daniel to join him on an epic, 22,000-mile journey to Alaska.
Instead, his 63-year-old father had a different idea: riding to America to see national hero Lionel Messi play for Argentina for what would be the team’s second consecutive World Cup on US soil.
“Just managing to see one match would put my mind at ease; anything beyond that would be pure luxury,” Ravilli, 25, said.
“I’m going to go to every city where Argentina plays and try to negotiate – try to get a good price right before entering the stadium, since I know that can work,” he said.
Ravilli sold his car and dipped into his bank account to pay for the trip, and the pair spent five months planning.
Disaster nearly stopped them in their tracks after just three days when they got lost in the northern Argentina province of Jujuy and rode their motorcycles into deep sand, causing the clutch on Ravilli’s 2020 Honda NC750X to break.
The pair had no camping gear and overnight temps plummeted to 37 degrees. A stranger eventually helped get them to a local mechanic who got them back on the road.
Since there is no road connecting Colombia with Panamá, they stopped in the Colombian capital city of Bogotá, where they shipped their motorcycles by plane. They then traveled to the Caribbean city of Cartagena, where they took a seven-day boat ride before they made it to mainland. They were back on the road in Panamá City heading towards Costa Rica and Nicaragua before crossing into El Salvador and later Guatemala.
By May 28, the two were in Tijuana, Mexico, where they spent three days before crossing the border into the US. They crashed with friends in Los Angeles when Ravilli’s bike once again broke down — a $3,000 repair. He plans to hit the road again soon.
Ravilli hopes to be at MetLife Stadium for the July 19 final.
“I would like to end the trip in New York, whatever it may cost,” he said. “Beyond the results, beyond everything else, it is one of the cities that has always captivated me the most.”
