Thousands welcome home Argentina after final defeat

Thousands of people greeted a crestfallen Lionel Messi and the rest of the Argentina team when the squad flew home to Buenos Aires on Monday after the World Cup final defeat to Germany.
Television networks carried live coverage of the Aerolineas Argentinas plane -- painted in the blue-and-white colors of the flag with the words "Thank you Argentina" -- as it touched down.
Coach Alejandro Sabella led the team off the plane and onto three buses that took them to be welcomed by President Cristina Kirchner at the nearby offices of the Argentine Football Association, an event that was closed to the media.

"We gave everything we had," Sabella said as he crossed the tarmac at Ezeiza International Airport.
Team members left the plane with grim expressions and had few if any words for waiting journalists.
"I would have liked a different kind of homecoming," said midfielder Javier Mascherano, one of the star performers in the run to Sunday's final.

Messi, who had his head down and a pained look on his face, did not speak to the media.
But to their adoring fans, the team were heroes for battling Germany to the bitter end of a nail-biting 1-0 defeat in extra time.

"We came to support the team because they gave everything for us and they deserve our support," said Matias Ruiz, 17, one of about 500 fans who braved the cold to greet the team's charter flight from Rio de Janeiro.
Thousands more fans lined the team's route from the airport, waving sky blue and white flags and swarming the convoy, which moved forward at a snail's pace.
Nationwide the atmosphere was one of pride as much as disappointment after the team played its first World Cup final since 1990 and Messi claimed the Golden Ball award for best player of the tournament.

Newspaper Pagina/12 ran two large photographs, one of the Argentine players locked in an embrace at Rio's Maracana Stadium, the other of a little boy in a Messi jersey sitting atop his father's shoulders at the iconic Obelisk monument in the Argentine capital after the match.
"Love is stronger," said its banner headline.