Too often, those in charge of Fifa and Uefa have put gain above the common good. Diversity and equality must be defendedA World Cup works always and everywhere. There is nothing like it – and it is a diverse event. Eleven men or women are actively involved on both sides, even up to 17 due to the new rule with substitutions. All continents take part, and Sunday’s finalists Argentina lost in Qatar to a country from Asia – Saudi Arabia – and almost had to go into extra time against Australia. Thanks to Morocco, Africa – alternatively Arabia – made it to the semi-finals for the first time.At a football tournament, the world negotiates how it wants to live together....
Argentina’s icon ran things again and took a step back in time to set up a clinching third goal as Croatia were swept asideDoes it actually matter if Lionel Messi wins a World Cup? This will now be the narrative around the dog days of his final global tournament leading up to the final on Sunday.The reality is something else. In fact, watching Messi here the opposite seemed to be the case. This was not just a performance of edge and thrust and decisive moments but all of those things carved out of the air in his own unique physical style, a footballer capable, at 35, of basically making this thing up in his own image. Continue reading...
Falling short will sting but, if this is the end for the Croatia midfielder, the past three weeks have only served only to enhance his legacyIt began in Basel, an era ago, with a Lionel Messi goal. Only Luka Modric will know whether it wound down, in this monstrous and dystopian supplement to Doha, with exactly the same thing. At the end there was a hug from an old clubmate, Ángel Di María; then a more meaningful conference, arm around the younger man’s shoulder, with his dear friend Mateo Kovacic. Neither of them had been able to do quite enough this time and that is an achingly rare lament.Modric and Croatia have long exceeded whatever should naturally be expected and,...
Most key figures left in the last eight play in Europe but Lionel Messi’s side have a mindset unique to South AmericaThe quarter-finals are about to begin and the world is talking about Morocco. For the fourth time an African nation and for the first time an Arab nation is among the last eight. Geographically, this is true, but in terms of football culture Morocco is European. One of the stars, Achraf Hakimi of Paris Saint-Germain, was born in Madrid and played in Real’s youth teams. The other, Chelsea’s Hakim Ziyech, grew up in the Netherlands and made his name at Ajax.Morocco, whose coast can be easily seen from Andalucía, has adapted its football to the Spanish rondo style. The...
Argentinian great has been superb in Qatar so far, so just how do you go about stopping one of the best players of all time?How do you stop someone who seems to have capabilities that are beyond human? That is the question that no player or team that has gone up against Lionel Messi at this World Cup has been able to answer. Next in line to try and stop the unstoppable and end Messi’s hunt for the missing piece of his trophy puzzle will be the Netherlands on Friday evening.At 35 years old this is potentially the Argentinian’s final World Cup and he is thriving. Thriving off the responsibility and expectation, almost as if the fact that this could...