{"id":369,"date":"2026-07-03T09:23:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T09:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=369"},"modified":"2026-07-03T09:23:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T09:23:43","slug":"maybe-the-world-cup-has-not-heard-the-last-of-luka-modric","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=369","title":{"rendered":"‘Maybe the World Cup has not heard the last of Luka Modric’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"‘Maybe<\/div>

<\/p>\n

\n

Henry Winter\u2019s World Cup Diary, Day 20<\/h2>\n

Click here to read World Soccer\u2019s guide to the 2026 World Cup<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Kansas City<\/strong>
I watched Portugal\u2019s narrow, dramatic, controversial defeat of Croatia in a bar with Colombia fans gathered en masse for tonight\u2019s game with Ghana here. They celebrated Portugal\u2019s win but there were respectful nods and words of appreciation towards Luka Modric. It is easy to see why he is so admired: the technique that contributed to six of Real Madrid\u2019s Champions League titles and his own Ballon d\u2019Or in 2018; the reading of the game, the intelligence of movement and precision of delivery; the leadership, inspiring team-mates with word and deed; and his longevity, at 40, playing in his 51st\u00a0game of the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Modric is respected everywhere, and revered amongst his 3.8m compatriots, for his unyielding commitment. Croatia\u2019s captain ended the match soaked in sweat, having once again given everything for his country. His face looks almost gaunt. He\u2019s pared down to a skinny frame, exuding sacrifice for the team. Every dressing-room needs a Modric to set standards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This was his fifth World Cup and it is hard to see him involved at 44, so let\u2019s hope FIFA accord him some honour for his contribution to the tournament in five editions. Players like Modric help make the World Cup even more special. He showed how much the competition meant to him. In his 202nd international, Modric was still an influence against Portugal, contributing 66 touches and a couple of decent crosses. If it is farewell, what memories Modric leaves. With that mind and ambition, Modric will surely go into coaching at some point. Maybe the World Cup has not heard the last of Luka Modric.<\/p>\n

\u26bd\u00a0\u26bd<\/p>\n

Thomas Tuchel spoke of the \u201cobstacles\u201d involved with playing in Mexico City. The main obstacle is the altitude, and what the thin air does to the uninitiated and also to the keeper facing an additionally flighty ball. Another equally disruptive element is the guaranteed racket outside England\u2019s hotel. We always have this debate in World Cups about fans of the host side sabotaging opponents\u2019 preparations to play the hosts. Ecuador complained about the noise made outside their hotel in Mexico City by locals. England have now taken precautions by keeping their hotel location a secret (good luck with that for long). A far simply way would be for FIFA to allow England to share lodgings with Mexico, so any late-night jinks and noise affects both sides. FIFA protocol probably forbids but it would solve a problem.<\/p>\n

\u26bd\u00a0\u26bd<\/p>\n

Somebody got at Johan Manzambi\u2019s Wikipedia page yesterday and inserted Newcastle United for current team. In the know? Wishful thinking? News to Freiburg? Manzambi\u2019s box-to-box dynamism was celebrated last season in Freiburg\u2019s run to the Europa League final. Now, the 20-year-old is lighting up Switzerland\u2019s run to the round of 16 with three goals and two assists, including creating their first goal against Algeria with a breath-taking 50-yard run. More clubs than Newcastle will be chasing Manzambi.<\/p>\n

\u26bd\u00a0\u26bd<\/p>\n

One of the joys of this World Cup is how keen the locals are to understand more about this huge \u201csoccer\u201d caravan that has rolled into town. If I\u2019m wearing my tournament accreditation, which becomes like a second skin for a month, Americans often enquire about the \u201csoccer\u201d and how it\u2019s going in their backyard. They are proud of USMNT mainly because they are winning. It will be interesting to see the engagement levels when they go out. But conversations with locals are increasingly nuanced and informed, far more than when I covered the tournament here in \u201994. Waiting for a flight at Atlanta airport after Wednesday\u2019s England-DR Congo game, I fell into conversation with an American who proudly declared that his country\u2019s use of the word \u201csoccer\u201d showed how established the sport was here. He nodded at the \u201cWorld Soccer<\/em>\u201d title and keenly explained that \u201csoccer\u201d was, of course, an historic abbreviation of the word \u201cassociation\u201d in \u201cassociation football\u201d. It\u2019s part of the heritage of the game, the man from Atlanta enthused.<\/p>\n

\u26bd\u00a0\u26bd<\/p>\n

Click here to read World Soccer\u2019s guide to the 2026 World Cup<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Henry Winter\u2019s World Cup Diary, Day 20 Click here to read World Soccer\u2019s guide to the 2026 World Cup Kansas CityI watched Portugal\u2019s narrow, dramatic, controversial defeat of Croatia in a bar with Colombia fans gathered en masse for tonight\u2019s game with Ghana here. They celebrated Portugal\u2019s win but there were respectful nods and words…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.worldsoccer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2283812925.jpg?w=3264","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[41,757,758,37,40],"class_list":["post-369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-cup","tag-heard","tag-luka","tag-modric","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}