BEAUTIFUL GAME?
The World Cup is getting seriously dirty, seriously gripping
MOSCOW – The World Cup has dropped a few hints about its potential winner but nothing definitive. One thing we do know is that whichever team gets its hands on soccer’s prized trophy, those paws will be bruised and bloodied.
For the World Cup, with eight games and a week-and-change to go, has gotten seriously dirty.
Soccer’s nickname as the “beautiful game” has rarely seemed more tonguein-cheek than it does now at the end of the Round of 16. For all the sparkling, free-scoring soccer on display in the group stage, things have become spiky, to the point that England’s secondround victory over Colombia threatened to spill over into open chaos.
It’s not going to get any cleaner from here, not with some of the world’s best players sniffing the potential for a lifechanging moment and the chance to secure a permanent place in their nation’s sporting soul. Every remaining team has shown a willingness, ramping up the physicality and refusing to be shouldered out of the way. For some, a more cynical approach is a new experience, one that has paid dividends.
“Maybe we are getting a bit smarter,” England coach Gareth Southgate said after it outlasted Colombia on penalty kicks. “Maybe we are now playing by the same rules the rest of the world are playing by. But we kept our dignity and our sportsmanship, and if we went down, it’s because we were fouled.”
What he meant by the “same rules” is that England has learned how to game the system. How to milk fouls to maximize its chances of winning a free kick. How to exert physical pressure (and sometimes pain) on an opponent without getting spotted by the referee or his assistants or the omnipresent cameras ready to beam footage to the video referee. How to simulate injury.
Boy, it was dirty at Spartak Stadium on Tuesday. And it was fascinating. The spiciness of the contest took away nothing from the spectacle. It wasn’t a particularly good advertisement for soccer, but two teams showing desperation to emerge victorious and willing to let nothing stand in their path makes for gripping entertainment.
“Let me say that the match was very rough,” Colombia coach Jose Pekerman said. “I think we have to try to defend football and we have to do a little more to try to prevent certain situations, knowing they will arrive. It was uncomfortable to play this match knowing that feeling was in the air. Something is happening in football.”
Despite Pekerman’s words, Colombia showed itself to be master of the sly.
When referee Mark Geiger awarded a penalty kick to England in the second half, a carefully managed Colombian production kicked in. Several players surrounded Geiger, obscuring his view. Behind them, out of sight and with all eyes drawn to the furor nearby, others crept over to the penalty spot to dig their studs into the turf to rough up the surface as much as possible. The intention was to make things tougher for Harry Kane when he finally stepped forward. It didn’t work. He scored.
That won’t stop teams and players from trying. Luis Suarez of Uruguay seems to have managed to stop biting people, with the last of his such infraction coming in the World Cup four years ago. But he’s still dirty, mixing worldly skill with a constant stream of cheap shots, including, but not restricted to, pinching, elbowing, shirtpulling, feigning pain and treading on a rival’s toes.
An intriguing matchup awaits between Suarez and France’s Lucas Hernandez on Friday. Hernandez likes to play up faux injuries and fell to the turf in writhing anguish against Australia after contact akin to a high-five from an infant. Goodness knows how he will react when Suarez gets near him.
Given that FIFA and its referees have proved themselves utterly incapable of stamping out simulation, players now seem to regard it as a badge of honor. Antoine Griezmann and Hernandez gleefully boasted of their ability to “manage the game,” and no one doubted what they were talking about.
No one remaining here is saintly in approach, which might be part of the reason they are still in the tournament. Belgium knows how to assert itself; Russia is rugged by necessity against more talented opponents; and Croatia’s silkily skilled midfield is backed up by defenders unafraid to channel their inner goon on occasion.
It is what it is. It’s the World Cup and it’s all on the line. It’s not pretty but it’s gripping and it’s the greatest indicator of all that this is the soccer reward most worth fighting for.