"In Messi We Trust" - Argentina have super-fan in Czech countryside

BUKOVKA, Czech Republic, June 30 : If you didn't know that Czech soccer fan Miloslav "Curby" Urbanec was fascinated by the Argentine national team, you might have guessed from the house painted in the sky-blue and white of the team strip and flag. Or the life-size statue of Diego Maradona. Or the Lionel Messi mural.

The music promoter's three-storey house in Bukovka, 90 km (56 miles) east of Prague, even boasts a huge sun emblem, the central motif of the Argentine flag, high on the wall.

A larger-than-life Messi mural adorns the back of the house, and a statue of the late Diego Maradona guards the courtyard. An all-weather football pitch behind the house is surrounded by placards bearing images of the stars of Buenos Aires side Boca Juniors, one of Maradona's teams.

"As a four-year old kid I watched the 1978 World Cup in Argentina with my father, and I completely loved the long hair of the Argentine players like (Mario) Kempes," said Urbanec, 51.

"They won the World Cup, that was the start of my passion for Argentina, Boca Juniors, for everything about football."

Urbanec's van is painted sky-blue and white, and bears images of Maradona holding the World Cup and of Messi, with the slogan "In Messi we trust", and a custom number plate reading "MARADONA".

Urbanec named his second son, now 7, Lionel because, he said, it was clear seven years ago that "this guy is absolutely special".

Urbanec is sure his side are on course for another victory.

"La Seleccion this time is absolutely amazing," he said.

"I believe 100 per cent we will win again and it will be a beautiful party, not only in Bukovka - around the world, because Argentina play the most beautiful football."

Argentina meet Cape Verde in the round of 32 on July 3.