It’s hard to beat the World Cup for drama
Edited by Dave Devereux. email: devereuxdave@yahoo.ie
WHAT A World Cup that was! Thanks to VAR we had a record number of penalties and more talking points than a heated referendum debate, although the red card count was surprisingly low, with only four players receiving their marching orders.
After what had gone before, the final didn’t disappointment in that regard either, with the video technology, which was brought in to lessen controversy, again having the polar opposite effect.
First France scored a goal from a free which clearly shouldn’t have been awarded after Antoine Griezmann took a theatrical tumble and then, after Croatia had deservedly equalised, Didier Deschamps’ men were awarded a penalty which was more than a tad generous after the men in the booth drew the man in the middle’s attention to the incident.
France might be far from the most eye-catching side to win the World Cup, but there’s no doubting that they deserved their second triumph for the way they expertly took their goals in the second-half, with a textbook display of counter-attacking, but if those big decisions hadn’t, as usual, gone the way of the big nations in the opening 45 minutes, things could have played out so differently.
Croatia were comfortably the better side in the first-half and their passing and movement was a joy to watch.
The half-time statistics told their own story, with the Croats enjoying 66 per cent possession in the opening period, while amazingly France were 2-1 in front having only had one shot, given that their opener was an own goal.
However, the Gallic giants showed what they were made of after the interval, particularly with a devastating spell which yielded two goals in quick succession, from the rejuvenated Paul Pogba and the mesmerising Kylian Mbappe.
The former has been under fire for his displays for much of his time at Manchester United, but his range of passing and work ethic during the World Cup illustrated what he is capable of and questions have to be asked of how he is utilised by José Mourinho.
It’s hard to fathom while watching the Red Devils, but defensive-minded tactics aren’t always bad and France showed perfectly how to play on the break and take full advantage of the blistering speed of Mbappe to carve open defences, leaving them like rabbits caught in the headlights.
At least the tournament showpiece held the viewing public’s interest to the end thanks to a massive gaffe by Hugo Lloris, one of quite a few goalkeeping howlers that the tournament served up, with David de Gea and Willy Caballero deserving not so honourable mentions for their calamitous errors. Maybe if Loris Karius was watching it might have helped him get to sleep that little bit easier.
Croatia continued to fight until the end, showing the energy of the Duracell bunny, given that they had to play extra-time in their previous three outings, although ultimately the batteries went flat at the final hurdle.
It’s still some achievement though, for a country of little over four million to be a whisker away from the greatest prize in international football, and they’ll be forever talked about as heroes in their proud nation, joining Davor Suker, Slaven Bilic, Robert Prosinecki and the rest of the class of 1998.
All in all it was a decent World Cup, with France worthy winners, while nobody could argue with Luka Modric getting the nod as player of the tournament, although Harry Kane must be the luckiest Golden Boot winner since Russian Oleg Salenko, who shared the honour with Hristo Stoichkov in 1994, having scoring five goals in a group game against Cameroon, while a penalty in their previous game against Sweden made up his tally of six.
We’ll now have an even longer wait than usual for the next World Cup to roll around as the tournament in Qatar in 2022 won’t kick off until November 21.
Obviously the summer temperature of 45 degrees would be too much for the players to take, and there’s still a danger of Kevin De Bruyne melting in the more moderate Middle Eastern winter temperatures in the mid-twenties.
With the final scheduled for one week before Christmas, it’s going to be weird to be watching the world’s finest battle it out in the midst of festive parties wearing gaudy jumpers.
The World Cup is supposed to be a wonderful distraction during the summer months when the major leagues are on their off season.
In four years’ time it will cause all sorts of disruption to domestic competitions, although it will fit in snugly to the League of Ireland schedule.
Then the following tournament to be hosted by USA, Mexico and Canada in 2026 will feature 48 teams, so we can expect some real dross, even worse than Panama were this time around.
That said, Ireland will probably still be playing dinosaur route one football and again fail to qualify, while the likes of Burkino Faso and Nicaragua are left to dine at football’s top table.
The World Cup may have been long usurped by the likes of the Champions League for sheer quality, but when it comes to drama it’s rarely found wanting.