Love of the beautiful game, lack of a good night’s sleep
Absent U.S. team is no problem for those who wake at odd hours for monthlong event
I see you.
Dark circles under your eyes already. Fumbling to set your alarm for ungodly hours. Babbling in a new language: “Pogba, goat, Lozano, VAR, Modric, hat trick, Hallgrimsson.”
You are the World Cup smitten. As am I.
Just five days into the monthlong “greatest sporting event in the world,” the World Cup is living up to the hype. And its unique ability to rob us all of sleep.
It doesn’t really matter to true soccer fans that the U.S. team isn’t involved. Of course, for Americans, the failure to qualify remains terribly embarrassing, even more so when you see the likes of Panama battling Belgium to a scoreless first half, and our neighbor/rival Mexico pulling the upset of the tournament thus far, beating defending champion Germany 1-0.
But the drama and excitement was always going to revolve around other teams. And that’s what happening.
We’ve already had a major upset (Mexico’s victory). An instant classic (Spain-Portugal). A cute underdog morphing into a threat (Iceland). And an intense debate about the world’s GOAT (greatest of all time).
The latter will be ongoing as long as Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal team and Lionel Messi’s Argentina side are still
involved in the World Cup. For now, the GOAT needle has swung decidedly to Ronaldo.
One of the great games in World Cup memory, the opener between Spain and Portugal, was a Ronaldo showcase. The 33-year-old Portuguese star scored a hat trick, his third goal on a beautiful free quick that stole a tie from an assumed Spanish win. After his first goal, a penalty kick, Ronaldo ran to the corner flag and stroked his chin, a move the insiders immediately declared a signal that Ronaldo was proclaiming he was the GOAT.
The gauntlet was thrown. Messi failed to take it up. A day later, his Argentina (population 43 million) was tied by Iceland (population 334,000, and coached by dentist Heimir Hallgrimsson). The darlings of the 2016 European Championship, Iceland played with relentless discipline and focus. Unlike Portugal’s result, the tie felt more like a loss for Argentina, and during it Messi missed a penalty kick. After the game, Messi — who will turn 31 on Sunday — appeared devastated, reacting as though his team had been eliminated rather than merely tying the first game.
Both players are five-time world players of the year. Ronaldo has won one more Champions League title than Messi, five vs. four. Their statistics are remarkably even, and unlike other GOAT-candidates (Pele, Maradona), they are intense rivals, playing in the same league and in the same era.
This World Cup — surely the last for both — will likely be the final determination in the argument.
A third, younger player who would like to be included in the conversation also had a lessthan-stellar World Cup debut. Neymar, Brazil’s 26-year-old star, also had to settle for a draw, against Switzerland. Neymar has a bit more of an excuse for not having a memorable performance; he’s coming off a broken foot, and game statistics showed he was fouled 10 times, more than any other World Cup player in the past 20 years. Neymar — who suffered a fractured vertebrae in the 2014 quarterfinal — may have to live with the Hack-a-Neymar strategy going forward.
The stunner of the early games was Mexico’s victory over Germany. The defending champs looked slow and uncharacteristically disorganized, while Mexico’s speed was on full display. If more effective passing had been on the end of El Tri’s dazzling counterattack,
the score could have been 3-0. Hirving Lozano, 22, scored a beauty that was the difference. And Mexico avoided the defensive breakdowns that have plagued it too often.
Good news for an American soccer base desperately in need of it: Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osario, who was educated in the United States, has expressed interest in coaching the U.S. men’s national team.
Mexico was awarded one of the toughest draws in the World Cup. Early predictions that it could finish in second place in its group meant a likely date with Brazil in the Round of 16. Now that fate could belong to Germany, in which case Brazil will be intent on revenging its 7-1 loss in the 2014 semifinal.
There have been other interesting moments in the early going. There’s Russia’s ridiculously fortunate draw. Little Luka Modric trying to get Croatia out of difficult Group D. Young and talented France needed the help of VAR, the Video Assistant Referee, and goal-line technology for both of its scores: a penalty for Antoine Griezmann and a goal ruled over the line for Paul Pogba. Though still controversial, it should be noted that football is integrating the video replay far more smoothly than either the NFL or MLB has.
And England, in the final game of Day 5, relied on Harry Kane’s second goal of the day coming in stoppage time to get past Tunisia. It was only England’s second World Cup win since 2006.
Every four years the threads that tie national allegiances, professional rivalries, friendships and feuds weave a colorful cloth. Sports drama, political intrigue, national pride — there is no other event like the World Cup.
And there are still 27 days to go. Naps highly recommended.