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....
The beating heart of Les Bleus is playing his role in midfield in a way that no one else does, always on the half-turnThat blue wave just keeps on breaking. For the second time in five days at Al Bayt Stadium, France won a high‑stakes World Cup knockout game without at any stage being behind; without at any stage playing that well; and also without looking like they were ever seriously going to lose.Morocco were exceptionally good, pushing France back, but somehow always finding ways to not convert their slick, probing possession into goals. How to win: a study in Deschampian minimalism. Maybe someone should write a proper thesis on this. Continue reading...
Centre-forward whose goal knocked England out of the World Cup is often overlooked while all eyes are on Kylian MbappéI heard someone say recently that the France forward Olivier Giroud, their new record goalscorer, “deserves his flowers”. He does. Before each game for France at this World Cup, all eyes are on Kylian Mbappé, the star who has scored five goals in five games, but the impact of Giroud, who has four in four, flies under the radar. In the buildup to England’s 2-1 loss to France the story was the same: will Kyle Walker be the player to stop Mbappé? How effective is Mbappé going to be able to be?This matches a narrative that has stuck with Giroud throughout...
England were brave and rose to the occasion but France had no need to – when they had five good minutes, they scoredMidnight strikes and the party is over. England crumple to the turf in fragments: one here, a couple over there, one more over by the centre circle. The Al Bayt pitch is a field of broken dreams, of hope and despair, and hope again, and despair again. In the VVIP seats, David Beckham is holding his head in his hands, although for only one of the reasons he should be. Afterwards Gareth Southgate will talk about how close they came, how much these players can still achieve. England are proud. England are defiant. But England are done.It is...
Captain’s miss will haunt him but the reality is France were winning this game before they even started winning itFor a while, in those endless, scrolling micro-moments of gape, shock, acceptance and slowly gathering grief, the ball didn’t look like it was actually going to come down. There was always something weird about its angle, something anti-gravitational.The night was suddenly quiet, the ball a lovely white thing out there all alone in all that space. Maybe it could just stay there. Maybe this thing could just stretch out and not actually happen, or not happen enough to matter. Continue reading...