Thoughts on the Current World Cup

I’m working on the posts about our recent visit to Quebec, but in the meantime we’ve been watching a lot of the World Cup and I have thoughts about this.

1. It’s been a few days now and I still haven’t quite gotten over Cabo Verde v. Argentina. That was a master class on how the game should be played, and it’s not an accident that even Argentinians have applauded Cabo Verde’s efforts. Lionel Messi gave his game jersey to Vezinho, the Cabo Verde goaltender, as a sign of respect. My favorite thing to come out of it was an anime of the contest that was both really funny and absolutely in awe of the clash. Sometimes things work out the way they’re supposed to work out on the pitch.

2. On the other hand, Paraguay’s team should go hide in shame and the referee should be banned from future matches. Their kicking, punching, and general asshole behavior was an international disgrace and the fact that the ref encouraged it was criminal. I’m not a great fan of the French team – dynasties are boring and they play like they expect things to be handed to them on a platter – but by the first hydration break I was cheering for them to rid the World Cup of that bunch of losers.

3. Watching Erling Haaland come charging down the field gives me an appreciation for what the monks at Lindisfarne felt back in 793CE.

4. The reinstatement of US striker Folarin Balogun is one of the more corrupt things to have happened at a World Cup in a long time. On the one hand, I don’t think his red card was deserved. It was a bang-bang play without malice on his part, and it should have been a yellow. On the other hand, though, bad calls are part of the game and once a red card is given it can’t be taken away in a World Cup. The last time that happened was before I was born, which is an unconscionably long time ago. The fact that Convicted Felon Donald J. Trump put pressure on FIFA – one of the most corrupt organizations on the planet – to make this happen is grotesque and does nobody any favors, not even the USMNT. It’s a shame – Balogun is a remarkably talented player with a bright future and the US team is objectively better with him, but at this point any victory the US scores from here on out will be irrevocably tainted.

5. My social media algorithms are still pointing me toward the various World Cup visitors and their experiences in the US (and, occasionally, Mexico and Canada) and it remains one of the most heartwarming things I’ve seen in a long time. I love going to other places and marveling at the ordinary things there – grocery stores, hole-in-the-wall restaurants, little public spaces, street scenes, and so on. It’s been wonderful watching people do that here, reminding us that this can be a great place if we let it.

6. I think the World Cup has been a cultural moment that way. Yes, the US has a lot of problems and all of them are being intentionally made worse by Convicted Felon Donald J. Trump and his minions, cronies, lackeys, and slaves, and yes those wankers are deeply embedded in American culture and history, but they are only part of the story and not the biggest part. A lot of people – Americans and visitors – are reawakening to the notion that there are other facets of American culture and we don’t have to live or be the way Convicted Felon Donald J. Trump and his minions, cronies, lackeys, and slaves want us to live or be. We as Americans definitely needed that.

7. At one point while we were up in Quebec we were wandering around Montreal wondering why there were so few people outside when it occurred to us that the Canadians were playing one of their games, and that is what an event like this can do to a place.

8. Someday the champion will come from somewhere other than Europe or South America. Today is not going to be that day.

9. One of the things that I truly love about watching soccer at this level is the fact that these players – objectively some of the best in the world at what they do – screw up so often. Passes go awry. Shots get sent into orbit. Corner kicks go every which way but where they’re supposed to go. I find this comforting in a way, as I go about my daily life trying to do things correctly. If these guys, who are highly skilled and generally highly paid for being so, can screw up the one thing they’re good at so often, then perhaps I’m not doing so bad.

10. The one thing that I always keep in mind at these tournaments is that the players on the field know and understand each other far better than they do anyone else in that stadium, and certainly far better than anyone else in that stadium knows or understands them. They’re part of a very small population who does this at that level, they are often teammates outside of events like these, and they know what everyone on the field is thinking and feeling in a way that none of us watching ever will. This explains a lot of what happens on the field, both during and after games, I think.

11. I have no idea how I will fill the hole in my evenings once this is all over. I suspect I’ll figure it out, though. I did it pretty well for many years, after all. But I will miss all this.