Henry Winter’s World Cup Diary, Day 25
Kansas City
Every minute that Lionel Messi plays is to be cherished. Every day that passes is another closer to the little genius’ retirement. A group of us gathered around the hotel reception TV mid-morning in the Midwest to watch and admire Messi in Argentina’s tumultuous tie against Egypt. Other hotel guests stopped by to check on the level of Messi’s involvement, which for a while looked destined for the departures lounge. He’s 39, and the theme of the World Cup has been farewell to big names like Cristiano Ronaldo, 41, and Luka Modric, 40. Messi stages a dramatic fight against Father Time. But he’s lucky still to be present in the tournament.
The manner of Egypt’s exit rankles. Their head coach Hossam Hassan claimed officials favoured Argentina in a series of controversial decisions in their 3-2 comeback win. “Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running,” Hassan claimed. That’s debatable, of course, and Messi is blameless.
What is clear is that officials appear to have changed their emphasis in the knockouts. Advantage was encouraged in the group stage. Infringements were permitted far worse than Marwan Attia’s accidental treading on Lisandro Martinez at the start of the wonderful long counter that led to Mostafa Zico sliding the ball into the Argentinian net.
A contender for goal of the tournament was ruled out for a slight infraction far back in the move. It seemed over-officious. It also gave Argentina and Messi a reprieve. Re-refereeing the Attia-Martinez incident was not what VAR was brought in for. Francois Letexier is a good referee and VAR’s pernickety intervention did not help him. Or the image of the game. Let’s keep it fair.
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Some of the Americans in our hotel seemed particularly intrigued by the Switzerland-Colombia penalty shoot-out. The set-piece element and the test of nerve definitely appealed. Beyond the fad for a stutter run-up and the improvement in goalkeeping (Gregor Kobel excelled for the Swiss), it was hard to explain why so many penalties are being missed at this World Cup – 17 of 49 – when there has been so much research and practice.
In particular, where have all the great centre-back penalty-takers gone? Where are the modern versions of Sergio Ramos, Ronald Koeman, Fernando Hierro and David Unsworth?
Or the Republic of Ireland’s David O’Leary against Romania at Italia ’90. “The nation holds its breath,” the commentator George Hamilton declared as O’Leary walked to the spot. The Arsenal defender was confident in his plan: put the kick firmly to Silviu Lung’s left. Nothing fancy, no stuttered run, nor cocky Panenka. Just belief in the technique, and focus. “Yes!” Hamilton exclaimed as Lung went the wrong way. O’Leary had volunteered, and his success was built on confidence. As Harry Maguire’s penalties are. His kicks stay hit. Unfortunately, Maguire has been left behind by Tuchel.
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I knew that England’s performance at the Azteca was winning them friends when I got a call from BBC Radio Scotland. Twice. They wanted to praise England. And you definitely know that football has captured all parts of the nation’s imagination when the grown-ups of Radio 4 get in touch. It’s like being summoned to the headmaster’s study to explain events in the playground.
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Miami is seeing a Viking invasion by longboat. A Norse Atlantic Airways jet from Oslo – call sign “longship” – carries 338 Norway fans across the Atlantic to see Erling Haaland, Martin Odegaard and company take on England. Organisers emphasise that match tickets are not included, and fans are going on the secondary market where top price for a ticket is currently $10,520 (£7,800). To keep passengers entertained on board, crew will organise singalongs and, of course, mass versions of the Viking Row. Be interesting to see if any other European carriers do mass transportations of Norwegians. Erlingus for example.
Catch up on the rest of Henry Winter’s World Cup Diary here
