Slow start doesn’t matter - and a big win doesn’t either
When Saudi Arabia completed their remarkable comeback to beat Argentina in the first Group C clash, many people quickly jumped to the conclusion that the Albiceleste were no longer among the biggest favourites and rather dropped into the ‘biggest disappointments’ bracket (later actually occupied by the likes of Germany and Belgium). But Lionel Scaloni’s squad proved big teams don’t crumble after one, albeit very surprising, loss. Although Lionel Messi himself described the locker room atmosphere as “dead” after the loss to the Saudis, Argentina quickly came back to life with two emphatic wins over Mexico and Poland and then fought their way to the ultimate prize.
Just as you don’t have to feel as a failure after one loss, you shouldn’t expect the world after a big win. Football fans around the world were blown away as Spain, undergoing somewhat of a generational transition, put seven in Keylor Navas’ net in their tournament opener with Costa Rica. How did that work out for them? If they hadn’t boosted their goal difference with this massive win, they probably wouldn’t have made it out of the group stage at all. They did, but were unable to beat tournament surprise Morocco in the round of 16 after failing to convert a single penalty in the shootout. An embarrassing exit after an encouraging start.
The moral of these stories? The World Cup might go on for just four weeks, but, like in any competition, short term thinking and judgments after a single match rarely ever show the truth.
France’s ridiculous depth
Time to call out a very bad prediction - my own, actually. In our Editor’s Picks just before the start of the World Cup, I expected France to be the unpleasant surprise of the tournament. Ballon d’Or winner Benzema? Pogba and Kante, perhaps the most influential parts of the World Cup-winning side four years ago? Defensive mainstay Kimpembe? All out with injuries. Surely France’s depth can’t be that good, right?
It turns out it can. So good, actually, that they were a few good penalties away from keeping the crown they won four years prior. Adrien Rabiot and Antoine Griezmann, often criticized since the start of the season, were stars of the tournament and had France won gold, Griezmann would be a contender for the best player award. When needed, the likes of Youssouf Fofana and Randal Kolo Muani stepped up - they were both crucial to France’s semi-final win. Didier Deschamps even took Eduardo Camavinga, one of the most talented young midfielders in the world, and told him: “You’re playing left back now.” And it worked.
And then there’s the Kylian Mbappe of it all. He’s only the second ever player after Sir Geoff Hurst to score a hattrick in the final, already has a gold and silver medal from his two World Cups and his four goals away from equaling the record for the best goalscorer in the history of the competition. All that and more a day before turning 24. He has two, if not three more World Cups still ahead of him. France will be right to build their side around (and for) him for the years to come.
Don’t sleep on African teams
Sure, we all had the same reaction when Samuel Eto’o very patriotically predicted Cameroon to win the World Cup beating Morocco in the final. But he might have been the only one who had the France - Morocco semi-final in his bracket challenge.
We all love a good underdog story at a big tournament (unless said underdog is causing trouble for our country, probably) and Morocco stole our hearts throughout this World Cup. It would be easy for critics to dismiss them as a “park the bus” kind of side, but they were way more than that. Walid Regragui built (or rather rebuilt, bringing Ziyech and co. back after the stars had a dispute with the previous coach) an exciting team who swept Belgium, Spain and Portugal away on their way to the best ever World Cup finish achieved by an African country.
They ended medal-less in the end, but reminded us that in international football dominated by European sides and two South American juggernauts, we should not overlook the power of African teams. We may not be that far from crowning African world champions - and it will be Eto’o’s turn to laugh then.
We all had fun, but…
Sorry to end on a bit of a downer.
Everybody was rightly voicing their concerns about this World Cup. The host country being Qatar, which has a questionable history with human rights (to be very polite). The scheduling in November and December, which prevents players from enduring matches in a scorching Qatari summer, but crunches the already packed fixture list of the season even more and further limits the footballer's time to rest, increasing injury risk. The horrible conditions while building the infrastructure for the tournament, which caused the deaths of thousands of migrant workers.
It seems to me we sort of forgot about all those talking points when the group stage got in full swing. I can understand why - football for us as fans is a form of escapism. We want to enjoy the game itself without thinking much about the implications parts of it have on society and the world. And we got to really enjoy the past four weeks. The 2022 World Cup had some incredible stories, an all-time record of goals at a single edition of the tournament (172) and a legendary final that should be talked about for so long I think I will still annoy my grandkids with it in several decades.
That's all great. But we really, really shouldn't forget one for the other and let this tournament be used as an excuse to give more power in football to countries with a shaky-at-best human rights record.
The 2022 World Cup in Qatar was wonderful. But it still shouldn't have been held there in the first place.
