And then there were two. Spain stand between Argentina being the first country since Brazil in 1962 to retain the World Cup. Another way of looking at Sunday’s final is that Argentina can stop Spain from completing a world and European double in the 104th game of a tournament where the football has been delightful. The Finalissima that didn’t happen last year due to the crisis in West Asia will now take place in New Jersey.
A different beast
A team with technically adept players will be up against one that does not give up. And have Lionel Messi. There were times when Messi’s farewell looked imminent but Argentina have managed to take it to the last game. Win and Messi will go where even Diego Maradona has not. Argentina play through him but also play for him and the desire to give Messi a happy ending gets them, like MS Dhoni in his pomp, to find a way.
England found that out after Cabo Verde, Egypt and Switzerland did. Like Dhoni, Argentina stay calm under pressure. And because they do, it is their opponents who panic. Messi and Lamine Yamal up against each other is the kind of headline everyone loves but football’s more complicated than that. Or that this is a contest between the team that has scored the most (Argentina, 19) and one that has conceded the least (Spain, one). Spain smothered France but this is a different beast.
Because most of the world tunes in, even if football is a once-in-a-four-year thing for many of them, moments in the World Cup live on. Pele’s dummy against Uruguay, Diego Maradona’s journey from ridiculous to sublime in four minutes and Kylian Mbappe’s goal against Morocco become reference points for entire editions. Messi alone can be a reference point for six editions.
{{/usCountry}}Because most of the world tunes in, even if football is a once-in-a-four-year thing for many of them, moments in the World Cup live on. Pele’s dummy against Uruguay, Diego Maradona’s journey from ridiculous to sublime in four minutes and Kylian Mbappe’s goal against Morocco become reference points for entire editions. Messi alone can be a reference point for six editions.
{{/usCountry}}It explains why, 36 years after it happened, memories of Roger Milla dispossessing Jose Higuita and Paul Gascoigne’s tears have not faded. So, it will be with Lucas Digne and Thomas Tuchel.
About Tuchel first. He was brought to help England add a second star (his words). Through the qualifiers (where England were not tested), through tough love on Jude Bellingham and – this is important – through his substitutions in this World Cup, Tuchel showed why he is among football’s elite, why he could stop Manchester City and win Chelsea the Champions League.
Things fall apart
And then came the semi-final where Tuchel became so safety-first that it helped Argentina find a way in. Argentina are older, slower and do not press. England had players on the bench who could test them (Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka). Trying to shut out three-time world champions who have in their ranks the planet’s best player felt like what England shouldn’t do.
Now about Digne. The left back is 32 which means he may not play another World Cup. Digne not being aware of where Yamal was will be how most will remember the under-20 World Cup winner who has played for Paris St-Germain and Barcelona before forging a solid career in the Premier League.
Till he swung a leg, Spain had the ball but France were sharp when they did. But once Spain scored, they gradually but smoothly shut France out. Lamine Yamal had Digne’s number but apart from winning the penalty, he will be remembered for his defensive work. That is why Spain were impenetrable for a team with world-class attackers.
Could France have coped better if, as Joe Cole suggested in “The Rest Is Football” show, they had shifted Dembele to the left and sacrificed an attacker for three in the midfield? We will never know but given how well they pressed Morocco, it is not difficult to see why Didier Deschamps didn’t want to fix something that wasn’t broken.
Almost perfect
As it turned out, with three defenders and two midfielders always protecting Unai Simon’s goal, France never had space. “You spend so much energy chasing the ball that by the time you get it, you are already exhausted,” said Kylian Mbappe.
The night of misery for one full back, Digne, became a memorable one for another, Pedro Porro. It is one thing to plan this and quite another to execute it against a team that till the semi-final had found answers to every question thrown at them.
No team could tire France as much and it showed in regulation passes being overcooked or Desire Doue hesitating to shoot even when Simon was out of his goal. And though they were chasing the game, France knew the directness of Yamal and Nico Williams could hurt them.
Spain produced a masterclass in possession, blocking out passing lanes and suffocating a vaunted attack. Michael Olise came into the game with five assists. He lost the ball 20 times, failed to complete one dribble and didn’t last the full game. “This is a team working together, trusting the system, sacrificing for each other. When football is played like that, you can only respect it,” said Juergen Klopp. Football’s too complex for it to be perfect but having come so close, can Spain do it again?