The end? Countdown to Qatar?

The day after. And just for the record it's day -1588 before Qatar 2022. But whether I will be here on day -1587, well....maybe....or another 1000....

There's definitely a void now. If you love sport, the emotion of winning and losing, following the path of the winners and the losers, the ups and downs, you have to wonder what you are going to look forward to. The Tour de France? Yes, it's a pretty amazing human achievement, and everyday there are some pretty amazing battles. It's up there, it just lacks the euphoria of a knockout round win and the disappointment of a defeat. The new Premier League, Serie A, La Liga seasons? Yeah, there's some fun there. Who will be the new big money names in England? How will Ronaldo take to life with Juventus? Who will replace Ronaldo at Real Madrid? Yes, all good but the seasons are long and a win in August or September may long be forgotten by May.

How about the British Open? A bit of stretch. Golf is like basketball. If you want excitement watch the last 5 minutes (or last 5 holes on the final day) and hope the scores are close up until then so you catch the most exciting bit.

What else? The US Open. Now that could be fun if we go again like last year. Tennis in New York, that's pretty good. I couldn't get excited about Wimbledon, especially not the final as it clashed with the World Cup final. Maybe by the time the US Open comes around I'll be needing that bit of tennis excitement.

But back to the last memories of a wonderful month, my memories. The best times were the Canada Day long weekend, also the last 16 weekend, when it didn't take much persuasion to convince Kristine and my girls that the best way to spend the weekend was to camp out at home and watch football. I could have gone to a bar, but it was better to share those moments with my family. We had a great time cheering Schmeichel! Schmeichel! in the hope that the Danish keeper would come out on top in the penalty shoot out against Croatia. We were all jumped out of our seats when Belgium scored the last minute winner in the thriller against Japan. And we all happily waved cheerio to Spain and their boring, pointless football.

There was the drive to Cleveland with Kristine, some time finally spent alone together, and World Cup commentary on BBC Radio in the car. Shaqiri scored the last minute winner against Serbia just as we pulled into our hotel. And as Belgium put a few goals past Tunisia we were somewhere in northern Ohio, or had we crossed into Pennsylvania, or were we already in New York state? Football on the radio, BBC radio, nonetheless, it never loses it's charm.

And then finally, the joy of my teenager Lily giving up on a day at the beach with her friends to watch the World Cup Final with her dad. That made me happy.

That's it. All done. I'll find something to look forward to. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned.

France: World Champions

Day 32 WorldCup2018

It's all over. Another four years of waiting starts today. Four years of wondering if what we witnessed over the last four weeks can be replicated in Qatar. It was outstanding, excellent, wonderful football. The excitement was, at many times, almost unbearable but made even better by how close it was to pushing the limits of how much emotions a fan could deal with. And the final today was the perfect send off.

Even though the match started at a high tempo and there immediately seemed to be a lot of promise for a classic final, at the end of the first half there was a worrisome feeling that this was going to be a French victory earned through an own goal and a penalty, no beautiful goals from open play. And to make it worse the own goal came after a shocking Griezmann dive to win a free kick, and the penalty was a "could have not been given" kind of handball. Ivan Perisic's wonderful goal in between the two French ones was the kind of beauty you hope for in a World Cup final. The reason I thought of as to why France deserved to win was that football is not about scoring spectacular goals, it's also about defending well.

Then the second half happened and France showed us that they can indeed score the awe-inspiring goals. That pass from Pogba to Mbappe that set up the Pogba goal. Wow! I was still marveling at the beauty of its accuracy and perfect weight long after Pogba had picked up the return and scored his first goal of the tournament. It was the pass I wanted to watch again, not the goal. In one moment of absolutely perfectly measured brilliance France went from their half to a goal-scoring opportunity.

And when Mbappe followed that goal with his own bit of individual brilliance, for a few minutes the world seemed like a better place. Did the best team look like they were going to win? That could be debated. But it was that good football, the kind we had watched for four weeks was the winner. It was the way we dream of Cup finals being won and are so often disappointed to be let down by mediocrity.

Mandzukic's goal after Lloris' comical error may have given the last 20 minutes some more significance. A 4-2 deficit seems more surmountable that 1-4. But as hard as Croatia tried, this was one step too far for them.

Were France worthy winners in the end? There may be many arguments that Croatia were more dynamic, Belgium were more exciting or that Uruguay were more defensively solid. But in the end, in the final, which France got to by out playing Uruguay by just enough and controlling the Belgians, they scored more goals than Croatia. And that's all that counts. It's that simple of a game. And that's why we love it.

There are lot more reasons why Russia 2018 was so memorable. I can't gather all my thoughts right. One more day is needed tomorrow.

Tomorrow: Day 1 after Russia 2018, Day -1588 to November 21st, 2022.

Prediction time

Day 31 WorldCup2018

My last post before the last match of Russia 2018. The sadness of the finality will be described tomorrow.

Today, in keeping with family tradition, I am supposed to make a prediction. But if you've read anything I've written for the past 1030 days or so you'll know I don't do public predictions. Maybe by the end of this I will.

When I was asked about who I thought would win the Belgium-France semifinal my answer was, "my heart says the fun, attacking Belgians but my head tells me to be sensible and go for a win for the pragmatic French."

My feelings are similar for tomorrow. My head really has to say France. They have controlled pretty much every match they have played in Russia. When they went 2-1 down to Argentina in the last 16, they shrugged their shoulders turned up the heat for a few minutes and wrestled back the initiative. No problem, we were never worried. Didier Deschamps has them playing in such a way that a burst of speed from Kylian Mbappe sets hearts racing because it's such a contrast to the conservative approach the team employs the majority of the time. And I did say whoever won the France-Uruguay quarterfinal would win the whole thing.

Croatia are the sentimental favourite, the team from the country that has captured so many people's hearts with their passion and stories of surviving the terrible Balkans war in the early 1990s. And in this tournament they have fought many a battle on the pitch and come through them all. Destiny is the word that comes to mind. I find it hard to imagine Croatia not fulfilling that destiny.

This is a tough one and what I wrote on Day 3 after both teams' opening matches doenst help me much.
"Earlier France beat Australia 2-1 in the Italian way, the Italian way where they go on to win the whole thing." (They won through a penalty and an own goal). France are either going to have a Nicholas Anelka player revolt moment or they are going to go on and win the whole thing."

"And even later Croatia tamed Nigeria with an own goal and a penalty. Hold on. If France don't have their meltdown, does this mean Croatia are going to win this thing?"

I did not change any of that. It is really what I wrote. It's not quite my 1990 dream but I do believe they are the only two teams I mentioned as potential winners.

Can I predict a draw? It's the sensible option versus the one driven by passion. Who comes out on top. Ok here goes. Why do I worry about making predictions anyway? In the end it's just a guess. Not even the most intelligent football brain can foresee an unlucky own goal, or a team that hits the post 4 times and loses when the other team scores with their only shot.

As much as I love the passion, here it is....France 1-0.

Croatia: they went through a war, really

Day 30 WorldCup2018

In the early 1990s I was fully aware of the simmering political tensions in what was Yugoslavia and how the unrest led to the horrible wars in Croatia and Bosnia. As I watched the news with my Mum she regularly asked me to explain who was fighting and who was on the good side and the bad side. Is there a good side in a war? It was terrible to see this happening so close to home. It's easier to admit now that the "closeness to home" factor shouldn't have been a reason to feel more affected by it. The war in Kuwait and Iraq or anywhere else should have been equally saddening, because wars are terrible.

But as with many other significant events for me there was a connection with football. The passion of the supporters of the different clubs across Yugoslavia was evident but I didn't really understand the true reasons why Dinamo Zagreb hated Red Star Belgrade. Really hated. Not like Manchester United and City, Birmingham and Aston Villa, or even Rangers and Celtic. These supporters would be prepared to fight their rivals to their death, not because of football but to defend their Croatian and Serbian roots. And it was with this background that the "kick that started a war" happened.

Zvonimir Boban, who went on to become one of the stars of the great Croatian team of the 1998 World Cup was the perpetrator of the infamous kick. He was incensed that Red Star fans were being left to attack Dinamo fans, 10 minutes into a match between the two. He launched his kick at a policeman and it took the fight between Serbs and Croats to a higher level. Whether that incident started the war in Croatia is debatable but it definitely brought the tensions out in the open. And from there it escalated into the terrible civil war.

I followed it closely, as I did the Bosnian war, but I can never say that I fully understood it. But how could I, so safely ensconced in my comfortable life?

It is no lie though, no exaggeration of facts that this was the background that many (most?) of the Croatian team playing in the World Cup Final on Sunday grew up in.

We can be sad about England and them being so close, and I still will be, but these Croatians, and excuse me for being blunt, suffered some real shit.

So come what may on Sunday, watch those Croatians with an understanding of where the passion comes from with which their supporters will them on to win, a passion for a very young country that lost many, many lives to be what and where it is today.

Nothing-ness

Day 29 WorldCup2018

Today was an empty day. Really. No football, not much to look forward to. At least that's what I thought as I woke to the day after what could have been for England. But as I drove to work and listened to the comically mundane words-to-fill-airtime coming out of the sports radio hosts, something made me look forward to Sunday. This is still the World Cup that I looked forward to since the day after the last one ended, and more specifically for 1000 days. France against Croatia is going to be the culmination of a month of incredible football. So bring on Sunday!

Back to the radio this morning and I said to myself that I wasn't going to this. But I can't resist sharing what I listened to just because I wanted to hear some sort of England post-morterm. It's TSN radio, a show hosted by one of the top dudes of the many Canadian TV and radio sports dudes, Michael Landsberg and his co-host, former Toronto Maple Leaf hockey player Carlo Colaiacovo. For the first 10-15 minutes they were talking about the tradition of who picks the music for the hockey locker room. Seriously. I thought it was joke at first but Colaiacova shared his personal experience and described the ritual and tradition. It's hard for me to convey how serious the conversation was about something so ridiculous. (Producer: "there's another 15 minutes eaten up. Good job boys.")

Then the conversation moved to football. After Landsberg stopped himself (mid-word) from saying Britain again (everyday, does nobody tell him?) they went through the fairly predictable discussion about how sad it is for England and how ecstatic the Croatians were. Admittedly, it was good to hear talk of it, healing in a way. Then Colaiacova went off on a tangent about how he heard that the 50th country on Fifa's rankings is some funny/weird country. To which Landsberg replied, in the polite way you do when somebody in a room with you has said something that can embarrass himself, "what constitutes a weird country in your head?"

The producer/assistant/somebody found out that the country is Burkina Faso and Colaiacovo howled and howled with laughter. "That's it! That's it! Have you ever heard of that! Is that a country? No way!" Yes, replied everybody else, by now even more exasperated by how their superstar hockey player was embarrassing himself. And with that I got to work, turned the radio off and thought I never have to listen to that tripe again.

Just as not to sound like I'm in anyway stereotyping hockey players I have met current and former players and they have all struck me as level headed, pretty intelligent guys.

Anyway, there's my story of distraction for today. What will tomorrow bring? On Saturday the 3rd/4th place match may be the distraction, but I'd need to be pretty desperately in the need for my mind to be somewhere else if I would watch the losers' match that even the losers don't want to play. Is it even possible for Belgium and England to play with more second string players that in their final match of the group stages?

Gloom. Doom. England

Day 28 WorldCup2018

At around 4.30pm this afternoon I resolved that my post for today would be a blank space. I was drained, done, not after 27 days but from two hours of tortuous emotions watching England come oh so close.

Then as I tried to carry on with the rest of the day all the thoughts popped into my head that would best describe those 2 hours.

I had a dream in 1990. I'm going to be having nightmares in 2018. Every time, I hear the names Kane and Lingard thoughts of what could have been are going to fight for prominence in my head.

England were not supposed to get this far so we should celebrate their achievement, no? Bogus. If anybody seriously thinks that they are trying very hard to find solace and consolation in manufactured emotions. Or they started watching football when England beat Sweden.

England were very, very close to being in a World Cup final. I really don't care if the team was made up of inexperienced youngsters playing way above expectations or a team of older players hoping for their last shot at glory. They were 22 minutes away from a World Cup final.

Was this run to the semifinals worth it, in hindsight? It was fun, yes, but if England had gone out in the first round we would have had a long time to get over it by the time the final came around. As we say in the tennis world when you lose in a third set tie break to somebody you've never beaten before: so what that it was close, you might as well have lost 6-0 6-0.

I was dreading Sunday and the end of the World Cup. Now I'm not looking forward to tomorrow.
Is it wrong to feel that there is nothing exciting to look forward to now? What could have been better than this? Are there more important things to worry or be happy about? Yes, but this was it, at this moment.

Can I say I write with a heavy heart? Does England's loss warrant that much of an emotional attribution?

There was one very, very drunk Croatian in the bar I watched the match at. As I watched him down beer after beer I wondered when he was going to be cut off and also where all his friends were. There are a lot of Croatians in Toronto. I wanted to believe it was a sign that he was in the huge minority and would be further drowning his sorrows after 90 mins. After 120 mins we could still hear his screams of delight as we walked down the street and turned the corner.

Maltese champions Valletta drew 0-0 in Albania in the first leg of the pre-qualifying round of the Champions League today. The qualifying rounds of the Europa League started on the 28th of June. One of the two Maltese teams made it through. Football life outside of the World Cup carries on.

As much as there is talk about how this could have been England's best opportunity for a long time to get to the final, think of what Croatian fans must have been thinking: Denmark, Russia and then England in the semis? We'll never get a better chance.

Do I feel any admiration for Croatia and their story, a young country and in their first final? A great story, yes, but I haven’t yet moved to the coping stage where I can congratulate the other team's supporters.

I hope the final is the Kylian Mbappe show.

Very German France

Day 27 WorldCup2018

Hey France, are you Germany in disguise? The French win today was a display of efficient, controlled football that Germany, pre-Russia 2018, would have been proud of. It was actually reminiscent of Germany's 1-0 win against France in the quarterfinals of Brazil '14.

Belgium just couldn't get going today and the exalted golden generation leaves Russia with nothing, other than the consolation prize of third or fourth place.

Did France step it up a gear? Maybe one gear. There were a few ooh-aah moments, but it was their overall stifling of the potent Belgian attack that was the most impressive. It did make for not the most exciting of matches, not the one that lived up to the high expectations promised to the part-time football viewer. But who in France cares?

Tomorrow, because of course you don't know, is England and Croatia's turn. I have no plans for Sunday. The only thing I am looking forward to is the exciting, unbearable tension that is going to overcome me tomorrow afternoon.

We'll talk tomorrow night.

Mr. Mifsud's seal of approval

Day 26 WorldCup2018

There are so many ways to describe how wonderful this World Cup has been. So here's another one: my Dad would have approved. As long as he hadn't watched Spain play, or France-Denmark he wouldn't have had much reason to complain about boring football, or how many times the ball was passed backward. Yes, he would have moaned about Neymar and Ronaldo, but the multitude of good would have very much outweighed the bad. I think Belgium would have been his favourite, partly because he would have been used to seeing so many of their players on TV in the Premier League every weekend. But I could also hear him saying, "they pass, they move, they attack and they don't keep passing the ball backwards."

He may also have been impressed by England, after so many years of moaning and groaning as we watched them together. The last good memory was the much-talked about (this week) 1990 run to the semifinals. That was the semifinal that I had "the dream" about before the World Cup, the one that made me know for sure that England would not beat the Germans. It was a strange evening. As I sat there sweating in my chair on that hot Maltese night, there was little of the normal nervousness that usually comes with watching England. There was only hope that maybe the only dream of mine that would ever come true, wouldn't actually come to fruition. There we were watching Shilton get beaten by that deflected free kick, England's late equalizer, the drama of extra time, the near misses for England; Dad cheering and groaning, Mum wishing and hoping and me knowing all along that all the emotion was all in vain. The penalties confirmed the gloomy, predictable ending for England. Spooky and weird as it may sound, I really did have a dream about what would happen. I have written about it many times.

All these years later and the emotion is very different. I have not had any dreams and I have not succumbed to any of my normal superstitions. I have also not watched one "football's coming home" video and have made no plans for what may happen beyond Wednesday. I have enjoyed celebrating the wins but stop myself from looking ahead. One match at a time has truly become my mantra.

Before Wednesday's event, Belgium play France tomorrow in what really should be yet another dream match-up for the neutral. Belgium are all about the flashy attacking play and France have the flash with a little more pragmatism. At least that's the impression they've been projecting but I agree with what I heard on the radio today, that they can still shift into a few higher gears. There's more to come from them and maybe they are saving themselves for the final.

The 4 semifinalists as a whole are fascinating. Europe has dominated, has produced the final 4 but look who it is. Not Germany, Italy or Spain. Holland might have also been a safe bet. France may be the least surprising of the four but, for the un-educated, Belgium and Croatia? And England? Well that's a pleasant surprise for everyone.

I hope you all enjoy the next two days. Savour every moment. We are reaching the end. Take the time to watch because next week you'll be watching Chelsea and Manchester City play meaningless pre-season friendlies in the US and looking online for results of the pre-qualifying rounds of the Champions League.

This amazing World Cup will be over soon, so even if you are not Belgian, French, Croatian or English enjoy what's left as a fan of great football.

Rest Day 4 reflections

Day 25 WorldCup2018

"Out of all the unimportant things, football is the most important." I had seen this quote previously attributed to Arrigo Sacchi, former manager of Milan and Italy. But it seems like it was Pope John Paul II who said it first.

It popped into my head again today, as I caught my breath after another two days of acute cardio-vascular-event inducing World Cup football. As the remaining four teams rest, and train, and I rested from trying to put into words the emotions generated by daily excitement, I had the recurring thought of how insignificant what I do is in the grand scope of the world, or how what 22 players do on a football pitch compares to what other professionals in their fields do.

But there is so much that goes on out there that can be deemed insignificant. What is somebody's joy, is another person's perfect example of boredom. Someone's masterpiece is another's ugliness. An artist paints a picture, a poet or a musician toils over lyrics and verses, actors learn their lines. Footballers try to score the perfect goal. Art lovers go to galleries and swoon over the artist's work, concert goers feel the passion of their idol's music, people flock to cinemas to watch the latest work of Hollywood fiction and fanatical fans live by their football team's ups and downs. Is anything more important than the other? Could we easily substitute "football" with "art" or "music" or "acting" into John Paul II's quote? The fans of each probably would say yes.

But how important are they really? Football may be the most popular sport around the world, the World Cup may bring communities together for a month (it does in Toronto) but what effect does it have on politicians' misguided, self-centred opinions, or on people in Syria living in fear? What does it do for stateless refugees in the Middle East, or starving refugees across Africa? Next to nothing.
And on a smaller scale what does football, or any of the above practices do for individuals wishing to live their best possible life, to get a good education, to have access to pathways to follow their dreams, to fall in love and be persecuted for who they fall in love with.

There is a lot more that is more important than football and the events of the past 24 days. But we have to be allowed our distractions. The joy I, and millions across the world, feel at watching this World Cup is not selfish, or ignorant. It is just the most important of all the unimportant things in or lives.

So I may wrestle with the insignificance of what I do everyday, but I have come to a happy realization that I read and see a lot everyday that can be judged to be of equal minuscule value in the world, but the person or people who perform whatever it is they are very good at, or believe they are very good at, are hopefully having as much fun as I am.

And I cannot end these rest day reflections without mentioning what may have been a subconscious inspiration for all this: the happiness that those four boys were rescued from the Thai cave today, and the hope that the remaining 9 will be out soon.

England. Just England.

Day 24 WorldCup2018

Only a few days ago I said, "and then there were 8" and now here we are down to the final four. And one of those four is England. England, in the semifinals of the World Cup. I've tried to remain unbiased and not profess my fandom for England, not out of embarrassment for how bad they were in the past, but so that anybody reading this for the first time wouldn't think that I am just a narrow minded England fan.

It's not true to say that watching England in the semifinal on Wednesday will be a once in a lifetime opportunity. I did live through the pain of the penalty loss to Germany in 1990. That run started with a terribly boring group stage where England struggled to a 1-0 win against Egypt and two uninspiring draws against Ireland and Holland. Despite the progression to the last 16 there was a sense of doom and gloom and the semifinal was a pleasant surprise.

This England team looks confident and reassured, and fans feel, yes, confident and reassured. There is no drama surrounding the team, no never ending debates about who should be selected and who should be doing crosswords on the bench. Gareth Southgate has been consistent with his team, he's picked players who he believes in, young players who are not yet household names in England (Stones, Maguire) or who haven't been consistent with their club teams (Lingard, Alli). And he can't even be blamed this evening for picking Raheem Sterling for every match. But let's not go there on this positive, happy day. It is very obvious that Southgate has managed the team very well. There is a sense of calm and quiet determination, a feeling of belief from the players that they can go all the way. They are not spectacular, but they are not just a good "organized unit" like Switzerland or Iceland. There is a little bit extra and that's why they are here and not at home watching on TV. Southgate's man management skills have made every player seem like an equal, with no obvious signs of big egos being allowed to dominate.

It is a wonderful feeling to invest all this emotional energy into a team and be rewarded with the joy of following a team that is in the semifinals. It's been said many times that it's been a fantastic World Cup and it's even better when you follow a winning team on this incredible ride in this most wonderful of tournaments.

Please never ask me if England's match was exciting. England matches are exciting for all the nervous tension but is the quality any good? I wouldn't know. Belgium-Brazil was a great match, as was Belgium-Japan because it was easy to sit back as a neutral and enjoy them. The enjoyment with watching England came in the 94th minute today when it finally felt definite that England were going to win.

At the risk of sounding stereotypical (but what the helll, England are in the semifinals) Kristine lifted the mood today by remarking how every Swedish number sounds like a piece of Ikea furniture, especially Ekdal. "Oh yes, we definitely have an Ekdal." Yes, we own a Swedish midfielder.

Ok, this all sounded funnier earlier. Confession and admission time, without the desire for any sympathy. I write this hours after the matches are finished, usually minutes before I go to bed when my brain is not only struggling to stay awake but also trying to remember, through the late night fog, what emotions were going though my head hours earlier.

I can't even go into Croatia beating Russia after extra time and penalties. They probably deserved it. Will England be worried? No. The Southgate confidence factor will see to that.

Brilliant Belgium

Day 23 WorldCup2018

Brilliant, Belgium. Brilliant. The radio in my car is very often tuned in to the Toronto sports channel that broadcasts the BBC commentary of World Cup matches. When the matches aren't on I sometimes listen to one particular program where the two hosts love the use of the word "brilliant" to describe football. Brilliant, they say over and over again, in admiration of the BBC voices.

Belgium were absolutely brilliant today. The players were brilliant, the tactics were brilliant and the win against the 5 times champions, Brazil, was brilliant. The manager, Roberto Martinez, was hounded out of Everton by the fans a couple of years ago. Today, he plotted a great win. Two nil down in the last match against Japan, he brought on Marouane Fellaini and Nacer Chadli. By the end they had each scored a goal and Belgium were off to the quarterfinals. Today they both started and, laugh as many will, at the unorthodox, sometimes clumsy Fellaini and the inclusion of Chadli, who had an injury-ridden season with the glamorous West Bromich Albion, there they were as a significat part of an incredible team performance that had Neymar, Coutinho and co. looking very ordinary.

Impressive as Belgium were the match was an example of the fine line between winning and losing football matches, between being the team that goes on to win the World Cup and being just another that lost in the quarterfinals. Belgium's first goal was an extremely fortuitous own goal and on another day a number of the many rebounds in front of the Belgium goal might have gone Brazil's way.

But Belgium it is who move on to play their neighbours France in the semifinal. The French were not as scintillating as the Belgians, and Uruguay, and Luis Suarez, definitely missed Edison Cavani. But France did enough with a little help from the Uruguayan keeper, Muslera. When he flapped at Griezmann's shot for the second French goal I was disappointed, not because that put France in very good position to win, but because it is sad to see a team lose this way on the greatest stage. If you are a teammate of Muslera, what do you say? It's ok, let's move on. But you know, really, that the guy has just messed up the team's chances of a win. And Muslera knows that he has screwed up and definitely doesn't believe a word of his teammates' encouragement. Not that I noticed any Uruguayan player going up to him. In a World Cup of so much individual and team brilliance that moment for Muslera was hard to see.

Tomorrow, Croatia or Russia and England or Sweden will make up the semifinal lineup. After today it's hard to imagine one of those four can challenge France or Belgium for the title.

Rest Day 3

Day 22 WorldCup2018

I should have had an hourly countdown to 10am tomorrow July 6th, Toronto time, to what could possibly be the greatest day of football at the greatest World Cup ever.

Even if both matches don't reach the high expectations set by the rest of this tournament and are not end to end thrillers, they will definitely still be fascinating. The tough to beat, iron men from Uruguay against the flashy French, followed by the clash of the two teams who, on their day, could be the most exciting to watch. Will Belgium out-Brazil Brazil. But even if they do, will the more pragmatic, well organized Brazil still prevail?

Happy World Cup Friday!

Rest Day 2

Day 21 WorldCup2018

A rest day. A day to recover. I heard on the radio today about a study done during the 2006 World Cup in Germany that showed that a number of German football supporters had acute cardiovascular events when Germany played. My ears heard "good exercise for strengthening the heart" but I don't think that was the conclusion of the study. I wonder if anybody is checking the hearts of people in Belgium, England, Argentina, Columbia.....what the hell, how about anywhere that the World Cup is watched? It's reached levels of constant excitement, at almost every match, that anybody would be hard pressed to remember a comparison at a previous World Cup. Individual matches, maybe, but not almost every single match.

The two day break might good to get everybody's adrenaline levels restored a little bit. But just the thought of Friday is enough to get the heart going again. France-Uruguay, an enticing clash of styles. Brazil-Belgium. Wow. The European Brazilians against the real Brazilians, who are not maybe as Brazilian as they used to be but they are still Brazil.

Enjoy your day off tomorrow. Make good plans for Friday.

England make it 8

Day 20 WorldCup2018

And.....breathe. Phew. England won the battle of Moscow to become the 8th quarterfinalists. And, boy of boy, did they do it the hard way. A goal conceded in the last minute and a win after penalties. Just another day of head shaking excitement at this incredible World Cup.

Who would have predicted these 8 countries in at this stage? On one side of the draw you've got your perennial favourites (Brazil), two extremely talented teams (France, Belgium) who could win this thing if they get their act together for the next three matches and a very strong dark horse, Uruguay. The other side is made up of Russia (really, how did they get there?), Sweden (there has to be one outsider, right? But hold on, there's more than one), England (football's forever coming home) and Croatia who are probably thinking, "how can we not make it to the final....we've got Modric and Rakitic and a whole bunch of other trending, hyped up players."

England won their first shootout at a World Cup, and they came through what came close to a football war. It was nasty, very nasty at times. And the Colombians sensed the referee was their for the emotional taking. They harassed and harangued him, and forced him to flash his yellow cards as a his only form of defence. England didn't fall apart as they have in the past. They didn't succumb to the provocations and if it hadn't been for that late, late Colombian goal we would have been talking about a hard-fought 1-0 win, instead of an historic shootout win.

I just have to mention that I saw about 30 seconds of Sweden's win against Switzerland. My whole work day was planned around watching England, so I'm sorry Swedes and Swiss, I had no time for you. My flaw in my plan for the day was I didn’t allow for extra time. So as England battled with the psychological blow of having to play extra time, I faced the challenge of dealing with the emotions of three and four year olds on a tennis court for the first time. Visions of Harry Kane scoring a winner fought for space with the mental energy required to keep my audience focused and not be distracted by what was going on anywhere but the tennis court.

And on a final, personal note, a vindication of sorts today. I argued when England beat Panama that no English player attempted to take on an opponent directly. I got only shakes of the social media heads at my preposterous suggestion of a display of a lack of skill. This was Chris Waddle after England's win today:

"We dominated the game and had a lot of the ball but we didn't create enough. We haven't got that player who picks it up and beats someone, before rolling the ball into a player to finish. It's hard work, tempo and set pieces which are proving important for us." Thank you Mr. Waddle.

As we look forward to what will be two amazing days on Friday and Saturday, a continuation of one of the greatest sporting events ever, I quote Gary Lineker, who last made England dream in those hot, crazy nights during Italia '90:

"Football. There is nothing like it. Nothing." After today, and the last twenty days, who can argue with that?

The joy is back, thank you Belgium

Day 19 WorldCup2018

Yesterday was just a blip. Today we were back to the Russia 2018 that we have all fallen in love with. Belgium and Japan took it to an even higher level. Even the most hardened anti-football person out there must have been moved by the incredible excitement of Belgium's comeback and final seconds' winner. What a move for the final goal, the speed of the Belgians to go from defending a corner to Chadli scoring the goal that puts them into the quarterfinals.

And that quarterfinal has the potential to be a real cracker. Belgium-Brazil is on paper the meeting of the two most talented teams, bar France, in Russia. Brazil were clinical and, at times, spectacular. Mexico were frantic. The Brazilians lost a lot of respect amongst a lot of neutrals with their terrible playacting antics though. Neymar was the worst culprit. His behaviour was appalling. It would be a wonderful idea to use VAR for one more thing. Whenever the VAR crew spot a shameful act of cheating, the match should be stopped and the video of the incident replayed on the big screen in the stadium. I would love to see Neymar's face when one of his exaggerated rolls along the pitch is played back to 50,000 people who can all have a good laugh at him.

I got into a little Twiiter spat today because I poked fun at one of the contributors to Fox Sports coverage of the World Cup. I have switched from watching the Canadian broadcast and enjoy the entertainment of the animated American commentators. But the best bit is they occasionally have Dr. Joe, the rules expert, pipe in with his mostly amusing opinions. It's amusing to me, but then I am a Euro snob. I did mention in my tweet that it contributes to why non-Americans laugh at American coverage of football. It was a light-hearted comment as a reaction to how hilarious having a Dr of rules is. But all the Americans who replied didn't quite see the humour in it.

They'd be happy to know that I could have gone further. American commentary is not bad, but it is polar opposite to the BBC. I enjoy the excitable commentators at times, but it still takes bit of getting used to the phrases.

I didn’t tweet about the shutouts and turnovers, or mention how Croatia were denied on the pk yesterday, or about the action at the top of the six. Japan, at times today, were jumping lanes and there were players who ran out of real estate on their plays. When Japan scored that amazing second goal the ball had some knuckle on it and if Japan had gone on to play Brazil they would have been playing with house money.

I'm laughing with you, Fox, not at you because I know you want us the viewers to be amused.

Wake me up when Spain do

Day 18 WorldCup2018

Stop. Don’t go there. It was just one bad day. It's been a fantastic 17 days. One day of, let's call it tactical football, will not spoil how wonderful it's been.

Even amongst what BBC called "largely disappointing", "dreadful" and "lacklustre" football there was still a huge amount of excitement. Two penalty shootouts will always guarantee that. And for the football fans who count the days for four years between World Cups even a day like today is a special one.

Let's get the easy one out of the way first. The hype surrounding Croatia looked very misguided today. They were on par with a very ordinary Denmark team, high on physicality and even shorter on skill than their norm with star man Christian Eriksen mostly anonymous. Luka Modric, the engine room and creative genius in the Croatian midfield looked like he had all his football smarts sucked out of him. The end result was for for him, luckily, redemption after he missed a penalty a few minutes before the end of extra time, a chance to not have his team go through the emotional torture of penalties. The two goalkeepers were the heroes in the shootout, but in the end one had to be better than the other. Croatia will move on to the quarterfinal that they were probably thinking about before the start of their match today, the "easy" quarterfinal against Russia.

And then there was Russia. A defensive masterclass. I'm sure some, or many journalists writing their match reports described Russia's win that way. And what did they say about Spain? That despite all their possession they couldn't find a way through the Russian defence? That they dominated the match and did not deserve to lose? That they were the team that tried to win while their opponents were happy to sit back and play for penalties? Or did somebody out there write about how Spain thoroughly deserved to lose for being so stubbornly arrogant, displaying no attempt at flexibility in their tactics and how this defeat will hopefully result in a massive overhaul of Spanish football?

Spain were forever the underachievers. Throughout the 1980s and 90s they had the big name players, there was huge potential, but tournament after tournament they failed to perform. Divisions between the Real Madrid and Barcelona players, tension between players from different regions in the country were amongst the often repeated reasons for the disappointments. Then Luis Aragones and Vincente Del Bosque worked out the magic formula and Spain were European Champions, twice, and World Champions. They came crashing down to earth in a first round exit in 2014, seemed to have found their way again in qualifying for Russia but this really could be it for a while for them.

It was hard to say the better team lost today or that Russia didn't deserve to win. Football is about defending and scoring goals. Spain's goal was a lucky own goal and Russia defence was not just stoic but also very well organized. Overall, it can be argued that Russia were the better team. They executed their game plan with more success than Spain did theirs. Sadly, Spain's plan was one with no alternative. They passed and passed and passed again. But they rarely went anywhere, or anywhere in the direction that mattered.

During Euro 2012, Del Bosque was accused of being arrogant by playing without a centre forward. How could he? How could he be so presumptuous as to believe his team could move the ball around so well and have anybody play in any position that goals would always come. Today, that arrogance came across in a different way. It was a smugness that despite almost losing to Morocco made the Spanish players believe that they could beat anybody by doing what they've been successful at for the past ten years: keep possession of the ball, have their opponents chase them to the point of wearing them down physically and emotionally. Iran and Morocco were not bullied by it. Russia definitely were not. It was almost sad watching Spain slowly passing the ball around their penalty area in the last minute when any other team would have been kicking the ball up to their opponents' penalty area in the hope of having one more scoring opportunity. The referee's final whistle as they took ten passes to reach the halfway line sounded not just like the sign that we were going to see the first match decided on penalties, but it was the sound of the end of this Spain, the signal that we've all had enough of it. Time to move on. Others team have evolved. Spain, it is not just frustrating anymore watching you hit over 1000 passes. It was sadly comical today.