Friday Five: World Cup Wonderings Week Two

Carrying on where we left off last week - I've not actually left off at all to be honest - here are some more musings from the highest echelons of the beautiful game.

1. The individuals - Yes, it's a team game. But the golden boot competition is for single strikers, and it's alive and kicking. Of course we have to mention Lionel Messi. At 39 years old he is leading the race, scoring a hat-trick in Argentina's opener against Algeria. He went on to bag a brace against Austria, leaving his team top of their group and breaking a whole heap of records in the process, some of the most eye-catching being: the most goals scored at a men's World Cup; the oldest player to score a hat trick in World Cup History; the most World Cup matches played by a single player. It seems it is almost impossible to chat about Messi without bringing up Cristiano Ronaldo - the two have been pushing each other (in the media's headlines if not their own minds) for as long as they've been playing. Ronaldo also knocked in a couple in Portugal's second game making him equal with Messi in scoring at six different World Cups. He's two years older than Messi so has got the better of him on that front. A quick Google comparison indicates that Messi is the leader in many statistics, "most notably leading in goals, assists, total goal contributions, and by winning the World Cup trophy in 2022." While that last statistic may be the one that counts the most, what really interests me is that Messi has four times the number of assists and more than double the 'goal contributions'. One of these players knows it is not all about them.
2. The defenders - as a former right back, one of the things that annoys me a bit about the media and the punditry is the focus on the attackers. A goalless draw can be fascinating if one appreciates the art of a good block or an off-the-line-clearance. I know there is also a golden glove contest for the keepers, but most of the time folk bemoan the lack of goals as if they're the only consideration. It's like watching cricket and ignoring the bowlers' skill, claiming a match is only interesting if there are lots of runs, without acknowledging the wickets taken. True, a lot of the challenges are tough and it's not always pretty, but it is crucial. Unfortunately, we saw the worst of it when the tackle from Qatar's Assim Madibo resulted in a broken leg for Canada's Ismael Kone, and a red card and five-match ban for the guilty midfielder. However, I maintain that if France win the World Cup (and they are my favourites to do so), it will be largely due to their impeccable defence.
3. The managers - There's always a bit of debate about who controls the team - the manager, the captain, the talisman player, the bloke who's good for the dressing room (which appears to be the reason Jordan Henderson is in the England squad), or the media darling (see Cristiano Ronaldo). Tunisia thought the manager had pre-eminence and sacked Sabri Lamouchi after their first-round 5-1 defeat by Sweden. It didn't do them much good, however, as they finished bottom of their group with no points and a goal difference of -10. They have form at this, having previously sacked their manager, Henryk Kasperczak, two games into the World Cup in 1998, from whence they proceeded to also finish last in their group. Meanwhile Didier Deschamps will miss the largely exhibition match between France and Norway as he flies home for his mother's funeral. The team will show their support and undoubtedly play their finest football in respect. And the manager of Ecuador, Sebastian Beccacece, acts as if his country's victory against Germany is all due to him as he prances up and down the touchline, hugging his entourage in the crowd, tennis-style, and drawing all attention to his antics before finally congratulating his players, basically carrying on like a pork chop, as they say in these parts. 

4. The new rules - FIFA enjoys faffing about with the rules of the game just before big tournaments (silver goal, anyone?). The changes are usually introduced to make things more 'exciting', to give more impetus to the attackers and to speed up the run of play. This time round the new rules largely relate to time wasting and affect tardy throw-ins, substitutions and VAR decisions over off-sides and corner kicks. As mentioned in the previous post, the referees are being relatively consistent and, despite the three red cards in the first game of the tournament (Mexico v South Africa), are letting the games flow. One new rule which has has immediate dramatic results, however, is the one about covering the mouth in a confrontational situation. In a Champion's League game, a Benfica player was accused of making discriminatory remarks to Real Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior, but because he covered his mouth, lip-readers (who are employed for exactly this sort of thing) could not verify the accusation and so it went unpunished. Paraguay’s Miguel Almirón was the first to fall foul of this new regulation as he was sent off in his team's group match against Türkiye. We may not know what he said, but he knows he shouldn't have said it, and he definitely shouldn't have tried to hide it. He can't say he wasn't warned.
5. The commentators - Most of them are knowledgeable and informative, guiding the viewer through the games with helpful understanding. Andy Townsend is, of course, my favourite and has been ever since I met him at a book signing in 1994, and Peter Drury is particularly solid with his mix of enthusiasm and expertise. And then we have the Americans. Brad Friedel has experience despite a complete lack of apparent personality, but he is infinitely preferrable to John Easton who blurts out bullsh*t at an incredible rate. The epitome of someone who has never been told that if he hasn't got anything interesting to say, he should remain quiet, he barely listens to his fellow commentators, and just repeats what they might have said more loudly and more crassly. It was actually a relief when someone killed the sound during the Netherlands v Sweden match so we could concentrate on the football rather than the banal yahooing. At least we are spared the Fox fiasco, in which Alexi Lalas has apparently managed to ghast the flabber of even the most insouciant Henry with his verbose vapidity. It is painfully embarrassing to all in the studio and at home what a glaring division there is between the 'soccer' sycophants and the rest of the world.

Friday Five: Early Olympic Ruminations

1. There has been a lot of talk about the mascots. They are called The Phryges, based on the Phrygian cap, which is a symbol of freedom in French history, worn particularly during the French Revolution. They are meant to represent the values of freedom, inclusion, fraternity. To many they are called, the French cap and they look as though they represent a clitoris. I have two things to say: firstly, if it does look like that, it is swollen and inflamed and you need to see a doctor; secondly, why not?
2. I don't normally watch tennis at the Olympics as it's not the main event for this sport, and the best athletes aren't necessarily represented (see also football), but I did catch some. Rafa and Novak - smashing balls with tight angles and great force. I definitely don't normally watch doubles (if the players are good, they just seem like exhibition matches, and if they're not, it's dull), but I saw the match between Errani/Paolini and Boulter/Watson in which there were some skilled rapid-fire exchanges, but the Italians were too strong for the Brits. The crowd were fairly engaged, but even more so when the volunteers came on to water the clay court after the game and sprayed them with the hose. It must be getting warm out there. It's also vaguely amusing but mostly tragic to see all the wannabe influencers pouting and posing in the stands and getting their mate to take dozens of photos, which they then examine, reject and make them take more, after a lot more primping, preening and hair-fluffing. You do know it's not actually about you, don't you sweetie?

3. The mountain biking: comprising 'fast compacted gravel, a wooden drop-off, and tough rock garden feature', it wasn't a great course, although it was held at Colline d'Elancourt, which is the highest point in the Paris region. The women's race was won convincingly by crowd favourite Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, who pretty much led from the start. Prévot was originally in a group with three others including compatriot Loana Lecomte, winner of the test event on the course held in 2023, but Lecomte crashed heavily on the rock cascade, flipping over her handlebars and landing on her head. She lay unmoving for several minutes before being taken from the course on a stretcher (reports the following day confirmed that while she briefly lost consciousness, she was otherwise 'fine' with some 'facial trauma'). Ferrand-Prévot's was the second gold medal for France (after the men had won the rugby 7's the day before), and it's great to see the home support. Meanwhile Cadel Evans coughed all the way through the commentary; I'm not sure if he's got a cold coming or it's a nervous throat-clearing tic, but it made almost unbearable listening. The men's race the following day was much closer, with Tom Pidcock winning by nine seconds after suffering a 30-second puncture on lap three (of eight). Pidcock's bike handling skills are simply immense, and he broke French hearts by beating their champion, Victor Koretzky into second place. It was extremely nail-biting with an incredible final lap, and I may have screamed at the television a little bit.
4. I didn't watch any of it, because it's not a sport in which I have any interest, but the surfing is held in Tahiti, where the athletes are sleeping on a cruise boat - probably a better standard of room than the cardboard bed at the Olympic village. At a distance of 15,800k away, this is the furthest an event has even been held from the host city. Also, the surfing did provide one of the most outstanding photos of the games. 

5. There are some sports I watch at the Olympics, that I do not watch at any other time. I give you... diving. I love the skill and precision, let alone when they dive in pairs with perfect synchronicity. When the Chinese divers climb out of the pool, they even perform parallel bows to the judges. During the Synchronised 10m Platform (which the Chinese win and in which the British pair - Tom Daley and Noah Williams - take silver), the French duo of Gary Hunt and Lois Szymczak finish substantially last, but they look as though they are having a great time! This seems to be in the spirit of the games and I approve. Also in the spirit of the commentary, at least here in Australia, is having people talk about sports about which they know next to nothing. Mark Taylor (excellent cricketer; dubious diver) is providing the commentary and I love it. He has clearly been handed a cheat sheet with highlighted words such as pikes, rotation, somersaults and reverse tucks, and he makes profound statements like, 'synchronicity is important'. It's entertaining. I do have some concerns over the extremely skimpy outfits that the athletes are made to wear, as do many of them evidently. The divers use chamois between dives so they can dry their legs, all the better to hold onto them tightly in the next pike position (I learned that from Mark). The female athletes all tuck this tiny towel in front of their crotch as soon as they get out of the pool - clearly they don't like the scrutiny of the cameras - and who would? The cameras also like to focus on their tattoos, and it would tough to find a Western athlete without one. May I suggest they avoid scrutiny by covering up in a hand-knitted garment by Tom Daley who sits poolside creating his iconic fashion items.