POGBA SHOWS MOURINHO HOW HE RULES THE WORLD
EVEN in the scoring of what was the World Cup final’s decisive goal, we saw both sides of Paul Pogba. We saw the worst and then, quite emphatically, the best.
Antoine Griezmann couldn’t have set the ball up better had he placed it on a rugby kicking tee. Eighteen yards out, right in front of Pogba. But the young Frenchman’s first effort was an ugly, impetuous thing, a hack across the top of the ball with his right foot. If you were being ubercritical, it just looked a little lazy.
So that made what followed even more impressive, a beautiful, controlled shot with the instep of his left foot that did not so much propel the ball into the corner of the net as feather it. Sure, Pogba had been lucky to get the ball back for another go. But what use is luck if you don’t have the presence of mind to make the most of it?
And with such sweet timing, a World Cup was won and Pogba’s career — after so many months spinning haphazardly around Jose Mourinho’s orbit — was back on a forward trajectory. If Mourinho and Manchester United do not manage to get the best out of Pogba after this, whose fault will that really be?
For all his imperfections, Pogba remains a footballer of real talent. And this has been a month in Russia that doesn’t exactly end with his name stamped all over it, but does see him feature on the list of prominent contributors.
It has also been a tournament that has shown us how much Pogba really does care about his football. As France have moved inexorably through this World Cup, Pogba has been noticeable for his play and nothing else.
AS strange as it sounds, that represents progress in itself. There have been no strange haircuts and no acts of unfathomable self-expression. There have been only spells of decisive football and one passionate interview in the wake of France’s victory over Belgium in the semi-final.
‘The critics can criticise me but the one thing they cannot criticise is the love of football I have in my heart,’ he said. ‘If I hear good things or bad things, I will keep fighting for my love.’
If criticism — perceived and real — has been driving Pogba, his reaction at full time here may have spoken to that.
After following his team-mates to the French fans behind the goal, he eventually emerged draped in a flag bearing his name and number and stood for a moment to call out his sense of relief high into the sky. Either that or he was asking for the rain to stop.
Earlier, on the field, it had not always been Pogba’s best evening.
In the opening stages of the game, the 25-year-old and his midfield partner N’Golo Kante had found it hard to halt the steady flow of Croatian traffic towards the French goal. At full time, the two men embraced and it was by far the closest they had been all evening.
Kante was taken off early in the second half and may have been struggling in the humidity. Pogba, meanwhile, was beaten in the air in the build-up to Croatia’s first goal and was left so bemused by a flick from Marcelo Brozovic soon after that he momentarily stopped running and threw his hands in the air.
These are not moments that help teams win World Cups and, undoubtedly, they are the moments that pragmatic, obsessive coaches like Mourinho see in their minds at night. But within this France team, the bad Pogba is allowed to exist comfortably alongside the good Pogba and this is the beauty of Didier Deschamps’ phlegmatic management.
Why obsess about the awkward moments when you are working with a player who can win you a game?
It is a fine line, of course, and is not for everyone. It is indulgence, after all. But it’s a line Deschamps has walked very well through this tournament. France have won every game they played bar one dead group match against Denmark when a draw suited both.
They have beaten Argentina, Uruguay, Belgium and now Croatia in the knockout stages and have never needed extra time. They have come through the tough half of a lopsided draw and prevailed. Deschamps and his team have won a World Cup the hard way and won it well.
In France — left reeling by a terror attack at their national stadium less than three years ago — the coach will be feted and rightly so. Deschamps and his players flunked badly in losing the final of their own European Championship to a very modest Portugal in 2016 but rebounded as a better side.
The key to it was leaving Deschamps in the post. Other federations could learn from that.
Equally important is that a group of young, attacking players have come through the system to improve a team already containing players such as goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, Pogba himself and, of course, the gifted Griezmann.
France have not always played spectacular football here. Some have said they are defensive. But they have scored 14 goals and some have been memorable.
Pogba, of course, will now return to his other, more uncertain world — that of club football.
He prefaced this tournament by giving an interview to a French newspaper in which he spoke less than warmly about Mourinho.
But in the same interview he also said this: ‘My career is not finished there, I cannot say that now. There is work to be done.’ That is certainly true. But for now there is only glory, World Cup glory.
And that is the reason we play.
If criticism has been driving the midfielder, his reaction at full time spoke to that