The World Cup is finally done. Spain has won. No real surprise there - though they were an odd case in this tournament. They came in as major favorites, along with France and Argentina, but somehow seemed - underwhelming. France and Argentina were flashy and fun, with lots of goals, and superstar players running up their tallies - Spain was held 0-0 by Cape Verde in their first game. In the knockouts, Argentina lived very dangerously - leaving it very late to beat Cape Verde - very late against Egypt (plus dubious referee work) - taking care of business, more or less, against Switzerland, though not dazzling, then leaving it late, again, against England. That was 3 very exciting games, with a good number of goals and drama and all the rest. Spain meanwhile won narrow games late against Portugal and Belgium, and looked exactly the same as they did against Cape Verdi or Saudi Arabia.
Which should have been more of a clue. Argentina could look like a totally different team at the 80 minute mark of a game and the 90 minute mark - Spain looked exactly the same against Cape Verdi and France. The semi-final against France is where all became clear - Spain shut them down as effectively as they shut down everyone else. Great as France could be offensively, Spain was in another world defensively. They smothered everyone - threw a blanket over them and played keep away until they created an opening and hit the shot. They did it against everyone - Cape Verdi to France. They swallowed France's attack the same as everybody else. They did it to Argentina.
The final might have been the second most predictable game in the tournament- second because I would have expected Argentina to at least try to play some football. They did not. They turned into Paraguay - hopelessly outclassed on offense, and thuggish on D. When it was over, they didn't stop, looking around for bystanders to foul, unclaimed red cards to win. It was extra disgraceful because Lionel Messi deserved a lot better - he deserved better behavior from his team, and a better team around him. To be fair, Argentina were better through most of the tournament - this time, they came out playing for penalties. It was telling after the game to see Messi wandering around alone, with the Spanish players all coming up to him to wish him well, while the rest of the Argentina team seemed to be trying to get themselves arrested.
And so it goes. The final, then, was the second most predictable game of the tournament - the third place game between England and France was the most predictable. Two really good to great offensive teams with nothing to play for but their stat lines and no reason on earth to get in the way of the football - 6-4 was just about right, and as entertaining as it sounds. The announcers carried on as though this were a game with something at stake, other than Owen Hargreaves comparing it to an all star game a couple times - but what was at stake was Mbappe's golden ball and Saka's hat trick. It was an exhibition, and they put on a lovely exhibition. Bt nothing like the exhibition Spain put on, especially against France. Just that you have to look for it.
Anyway. This was a pretty fun tournament. I watched an awful lot of it - and in the end - there was way too much of it. 48 teams is ridiculous. Notably, though, this is not because of the dilution of the talent - there was some dead wood in there, but no worse than most 32 team tournaments, and the knockouts were remarkably competitive, even the round of 32. There's just too much of it. Off the field - I don't know. The stench of money grubbing is truly obnoxious, FIFA can't help looking corrupt and bullying, whether they are or not, and American stadiums are beautiful but soulless places. I don't know. On the other hand, the fans behaved extremely well - traveling fans, North American hosts, everyone was having a good time. There were lots of fun teams, exciting stories, potential upsets (though we ended up with the top 4 teams in the world in the semis - though we did so by the skin of Argentina's teeth.) I confess, it would have been a lot cooler if Egypt had help on against them, or Mexico had managed to take out England - but what we got were some great games.
It was fun.
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