Dortmund score 3-1 against Frankfurt
Ageneration or two ago, it was a simpler question to answer. The first time you saw a player was the first time you saw them. You can well imagine the consternation a talent like de Jong would have created had he pitched up unannounced at Wembley in about 1960: pipes falling from mouths all along the press box, thousands of screaming teenage girls clustering around the Dutch dressing room at full-time, a lively debate in the Times letters page as to whether dribbling the ball out of defence, while very impressive, is strictly within the spirit of the game. All too readily these days, laments for the modern game lapse into a sort of empty nostalgia. But on the death of mystery, the evaporation of collective discovery, the dilution of football’s pure shock value, they may have a point.
Perhaps it’s time to admit that nobody ever really watches a player “clean” any more. From the very first moment they pass before our eyes - and sometimes, even earlier - our judgement has already been refracted through the judgements of others, all the words that have been written about them, all the fire emojis we have seen alongside their name, the addictive impulse in all of us to be able to say we saw him first. By the time a player like de Jong emerges into the light, they have long since been stripped of their right to a blank slate. The first time we watch de Jong over 90 minutes, we’ll already be watching him through a preconceived lens of the hype machine, to say nothing of snarky weekend columns commenting archly on the hype machine while also sharing in its lustre. Guilty as charged, by the way.
And yet. Strip all this away for a moment, load up all the requisite caveats, acknowledge the manifold limitations of the short-form video, and the feelings are still real. The excitement is still real. How is it possible to get this animated about a player you’ve never seen? I don’t know, but all the same, it is. Perhaps the real joy of football is that it allows us to imagine the world not as it is, but as it might be. I’m aware that Frenkie de Jong may not be all he’s cracked up to be. I’m aware that a four-minute video is no basis for rational judgement. I’m aware that half the world’s ills stem from people seeing things that aren’t there, asserting things they can’t possibly know for sure. But god, I still want to believe. THE INDEPENDENT BERLIN: Borussia Dortmund scored twice in the second half to beat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-1 on Friday and notch their second win in three league matches that put them provisionally top of the Bundesliga.
Defender Abdou Diallo put the hosts ahead with his first Bundesliga goal when he netted on the rebound after his header was initially saved in the 36th minute. After the goal Dortmund’s attack started to stutter as the midfield lost possession and Eintracht grew bolder. Frenchman Sebastien Haller snatched a deserved equaliser in the 68th minute, pouncing on a failed clearance by Marcel Schmelzer to volley in.
But former Eintracht player Marius Wolf struck back four minutes later after superb work from teenager Jadon Sancho who shook off two players and floated a pin-point cross to his team mate at the far post. Substitute Paco Alcacer, also got onto the scoresheet with an 88th minute goal to seal Eintracht’s second consecutive loss. Dortmund are on seven points from three matches, with champions Bayern Munich on six from two matches and facing Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday. REUTERS