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The weird USA World Cup that no one, bar the Brazilians and the Italians who made it to the final, really got into. Not even the Americans, who seemed largely bemused by the whole fandango.
Regardless of its precise genealogy, this is a footballing conflict to rival any. The three of us sit together for much of the next two days. I chat amiably with the German, and sometimes, no less convivially, with the Dutchman. But not a word is shared between them. Not one. Both teams seemed more eager to reveal their weaknesses than display their strengths. And the outright enmity was close to the surface and burst through repeatedly, encouraged by a comically error-strewn and narcissistic performance from referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz, who has now been reportedly “sent home”.
Look at Federer and Nadal. Their matches have been as intensely and insanely competitive as it is reasonable to imagine is possible. But afterwards, they show grace and kinship in abundance. A great deal of sentimental stuff and nonsense has been written about how Morocco’s progress is a huge victory for “Africa”, as if this represents a great righting of the historical geo-political scales.
Like Messi, Ronaldo behaved badly in defeat, and squeezed out the mandatory tears as the cameras followed him unrelentingly and unforgivingly down the tunnel. Goodbye CR7.
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