MANILA, Philippines — A month of interrupted sleep comes to a head tonight with the World Cup final in Moscow, the only certainty being the winner will come from Europe as in the past three editions. It has been a tournament for the ages as usual – cannot be anything less coming every four years like the Olympics – with a series of riveting games, advent of the VAR or video assisted referee which has led to a record number of penalties taken, and easily over a hundred combined goals over 64 games, the only goalless draw so far a no bearing one in group stage between France and Denmark.
France booked the first seat in the finals with a 1-0 win over Belgium early Wednesday, courtesy of a Samuel Umtiti header in the 51st minute, as the tournament high scorers could not draw level. The French now are a step away from duplicating the feat of 1998, with a team then bannered by Zinedine Zidane, current coach Didier Deschamps and Belgian assistant coach Thierry Henry.
Croatia edged England in the other semifinal matchup a day later, 2-1, coming back from a goal down early after a Kieran Trippier free kick. Ivan Perisic volleyed in the equalizer in the 68th minute, then a Mario Mandzukic sneaky strike late in extra time ensured the tiny nation of four million would make the final, ending English dreams of bringing the cup home.
There can be no draws ever since the knockout stage round-of-16, where teams play on through 30 minutes of extra time and if still unsettled by then, engage in a nail-biting five-penalty kick shootout until sudden death. Defending champion Germany were unable to get past the group stage, something amiss with their trademark Teutonic efficiency as they got stymied first by Mexico, then by South Korea. The Germans did provide one heart stopping moment when Toni Kroos hit a free kick in stoppage time to lift Germany past eventual group winners Sweden.
Portugal and Spain provided the first memorable game of the tournament, a 3-all draw that showcased a hat trick by Christiano Ronaldo, with Diego Costa answering back with a brace in a nip-and-tuck battle. Who could have predicted that both would get knocked off in the round of 16, Spain losing to host Russia on penalties and Portugal falling to Uruguay inspired by the brace of Edinson Cavani and the playmaking of Luis Suarez.
A pity that it would be the last we’d see of Cavani, sidelined by injury, just as the World Cup four years ago in Brazil was the last to be seen by the poet laureate of soccer, the Uruguayan Eduardo Galeano, whose book “Soccer in Sun and Shade” is perhaps a must read for aficionados of the beautiful game. Galeano, who died in 2015, was known to shut himself in his room for the duration of the tournament, hanging a sign outside his door that read: Do not disturb, watching World Cup. The master of short pieces and prosody could well remember the glory years when Uruguay twice won the early editions of the cup.
Uruguay would be eliminated by France in the quarterfinals, 2-0, on goals by Raphael Varane and Antoine Griezmann. It was the French too that showed a storied Argentina side the exit in the round previous, 4-3, a back and forth that had France drawing first blood, Argentina scoring twice to level and overtake, then France again hitting three straight, of which two were by the teenage Kylian Mbappe, before Sergio Aguero drew one back in injury time for the final score. And while Diego Maradona made a spectacle of himself and Lionel Messi was again frustrated in the international field, it would be better to remember the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges who has a short story of his own about soccer.
Mario Mandzukic celebrates the win with assistant coach Ivica Olic.
“To be is to be perceived” was co-written by Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares, about a soccer fan who belatedly discovers that all the excitable game commentary he hears on radio is manufactured, in short a fiction to keep the people happily distracted and the gamblers and fixers drowning in cash. A cynical view of course, but not too farfetched considering that we had to watch most of the games through half-sleep, such that we would have to gesture like an irate player or coach for a VAR review, hand signal like a giant chit or LED screen, now did that really happen or was I dreaming it up?
A quote by Borges is worth any somnambulist, or indeed this 21st edition of the World Cup: football is popular because stupidity is popular. Spoken like a true anti-sporting man, but then the man was blind. Maybe we can add two cents to that: just as certain populist presidents are stupid – or too smart for their own good. Could be stupid love then; imagine more than 20 grown men kicking a ball back and forth across a pitch for at least 90 minutes, trying to get the bouncing thing into net. It’s a mania of serious proportions.
But back to the game. Belgium embraced its dark horse role, and punters in Vegas saw the so-called golden generation of the nation of 11 million as capable of winning it all. They got out of group unscathed, fought back from two goals down to break Japan’s heart, and put an end to Brazil’s samba attack anchored on Neymar’s antics to advance to the semis through a series of saves by Thibaut Courtois. But Premier League stars Kevin De Bruyne and Vincent Kompany of Manchester City, Romelu Lukaku and Marouan Fellaini of Manchester United and Eden Hazard of Chelsea could not come up with a goal against solid France defenders Benjamin Pavard, Varane, Umtiti and keeper Hugo Lloris.
Primed to win the golden boot with six goals into the last week, Harry Kane captained a young England team mostly in their early to mid-20s into the semis. No one thought the British would get that far, but the old faithful will now have to wait longer for the cup to come home since the solitary win in 1966.
Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric led resilient Croatia through a pair of nerve wracking penalty shootouts – against Denmark and Russia – to further hone their mental toughness into the showdown with heartbreak kids England. This is the first time Croatia makes the final since its debut in 1998, when they made it to the last four.
What a month it has been, and after tonight hopefully it will be back to regular sleep patterns. Getting up in the wee hours might be automatic for the first few nights, make us wonder if the cup has really passed hands until another four years, beyond the crowds and power (Elias Canetti) of the stadiums in Kazan, Sochi, Saint Petersburg, Moscow.
Sleeplessness is a foreign country, and instead of venturing out to sight-see we choose to sit before the television until the bluest dawn with the sun rising in the west, knowing that a header is not necessarily a hat trick, but a hat trick can be comprised of three headers.