Argentina fans prep for World Cup final by chanting in front of Lionel Messi’s grandma’s home?

Perhaps you’ve heard that Lionel Messi and Argentina will have a chance at winning the World Cup this weekend.

It’s quite a big story here in the states, but for as big as our sports culture is, nothing will ever match the rest of the world’s love for soccer/football/whatever the hell you want to call it.

When a team wins the Super Bowl or the NBA Finals or [insert another U.S. championship here], there’s always bedlam, and yet it pales in comparison to World Cup victories.

Argentina hasn’t even won the whole thing yet and there was still chaos on Tuesday after they took down Croatia to advance to the final. It seems like the festivities haven’t really stopped either, despite it being the middle of the work week.

The Argentinian faithful decided that the best way to prepare for the upcoming winner-take-all game was to serenade Messi’s grandma’s spirit with chants of “the grandma of Messi.” Perhaps it’s a superstitious way to garner goodwill from the Soccer Gods or maybe they’re just still drunk, but we massively respect the commitment to the bit.

Messi's grandma is a critical part of his lore as he points to the heavens after scoring a goal as a salute to her.

“When I was 4, I started playing at a club. Back then the team was one year older than me were playing and they needed a player, so my grandma told the coach ‘Put him [Leo] into the team,” Messi once said in an interview. “The coach said I’m too small, but grandma always says, ‘Play him, play him’.”

If Messi and La Albiceleste win it all this weekend, there's no telling what the adoring (and inebriated) fans might do, but we can say this for sure: Whoever lives in Messi's grandma's house now might want to invest in some ear plugs.