When the final whistle sounded after two hours of a barely watchable game of football, announcing the end of the 23rd edition of the FIFA World Cup, my predominant feeling was one of relief. It had been five gruelling weeks, and the game of crowning ended up being the most forgettable of matches. The half-time show was memorable only because it was the singular unifier. Hating on it momentarily brought together people on the antagonistic ends of the football-narrative spectrum.
Spain, the deserving side, won the game. Their on-the-ball defending and positional sync would have granted them a more substantial margin of victory if their finishing had been a little better and Emiliano Martinez had been less formidable.
Argentina could create nothing in terms of attack. Such statements are generally hyperbolic, but not this time. Argentina’s disruptive strategy of physical aggression achieved little except delaying the inevitable. And after that, the inevitable happened: the reactions from the Argentine contingent were plainly disrespectful. Messi, one of the best football players in history, was little more than a passenger in his last World Cup game. And it is telling that his swan-song, a defeat in a World Cup final, could generate little in terms of sympathy for the losing finalists.
The tactical details and (in)disciplinary record of the final hardly mattered; it was the barrage of conspiracy and counter-conspiracy that overshadowed and keeps overshadowing whatever happened on the pitch, which rendered it the perfect World Cup final of our times. FIFA did all it could to undermine whatever is left of the World Cup’s sporting integrity, and that, unsurprisingly, made conspiracies compelling. A toxic cycle of social media outrage and one-upmanship meant Spain’s victory was stripped of the awe and celebration it warranted and became a tool of whatever narrative twist the wielder wanted to load it up with.
The weight of narratives was often so great that we were not seeing the matches unfold as much as we seemed to be wishing them to go one way or the other. Is it really a festival of togetherness where fraternalising has to depend so desperately on the premise of hate-watch-shaped schadenfreude? No. And it’s high time we concede that’s what the World Cup is about in our times.
It feels tiring to write about this World Cup final. There are so many things to be acerbic about that it feels less like a football match and more like an enormous piece of coordinated rage-bait, which, again, is kind of on-theme. As was Trump and Infantino’s tomfoolery during the trophy-presentation ceremony. The only good thing about their presence was the fact that they brought the loudest boos.
All in all, this has been a World Cup full of glittering moments, with almost all the biggest stars delivering countless iconic spectacles. It also boasted the best goals-per-game record of any World Cup in the past 60 years. More pleasantly, there were no ICE raids in stadiums. But despite such dizzying heights, the lows of this World Cup i.e. the advertisement/hydration breaks, the mandatory five-second shot of Infantino in the VIP box, VAR controversies, a red card being rescinded because Trump wanted, countless visas denied, including that of a Somali referee, the treatment of the Iran squad, ticket prices, etc., etc., etc., will be no less memorable. Maybe the cynicism rampant in the discourse has gotten to me, but it sure seemed like a world cup of content fatigue.
That would be a fitting note to end my World Cup column with. But there’s one more thing left to do. And trust me, it will make it even more fitting. Just like a boastful Infantino, I will engage in the self-congratulatory exercise of revelling at some of my pre-tournament predictions (but unlike him, I will have to concede my failure with the rest).
The first prediction I made was that Haaland wouldn’t be particularly involved in the Golden Boot race. I got that wrong. He was well and truly involved. I couldn’t foresee Norway being in the tournament this long.
My second prediction was bang on! I confidently asserted that no more than one team from outside CONMEBOL and UEFA will feature in the quarterfinals. Lo and behold, it was only Morocco that featured in the last eight from outside the two continents of the World Cup winners.
The third prediction was that 15 of 32 knockout games would go to extra time. Only 9 of them actually did. This was an absolute stinker. What was I even thinking!
The fourth prediction about France making it into back-to-back-to-back World Cup finals also fell flat during the semifinals after looking all but inevitable all tournament, kind of like France’s attack itself.
The last prediction was that no more than two African sides would make it to the round of sixteen. I was right. Only Morocco and Egypt reached that stage, despite nine CAF countries entering the knockouts.
It got two correct predictions out of five. Not ideal. And that’s, you guessed it, very fitting because the two correct predictions were about the impossibility of football’s status quo being challenged. A lot happened in this World Cup. But there was little meaningful change. If that’s not of our times, I don’t know what is.
Read more – Gavi makes Paredes suspension stance clear after World Cup final
Also see – The Last World Cup of Football’s Last Great Generation
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