The Dreams of our Fathers
I am not even a little ashamed to admit that I was wrong about the third-place decider.
1y ago
Can Messi keep balancing his Marciniak memories?
If it wasn’t obvious before, I think the match between Argentina and the Netherlands laid to rest all doubts about the importance of the referee in a football match.
1y ago
Another chance to witness Maghreb glory
I must say that I did never much hold to the World Cup’s third-place decider.
1y ago
Dembele’s relief before headache
French winger Ousmane Dembele was one of the luckiest men in the world on Wednesday. While his team made it to the final of Qatar 2022, he had come away from the match against Morocco without making any meaningful contribution.
1y ago
The need for a more telling tale
The World Cup in Bangladesh is most fun when both Brazil and Argentina fans have some real skin in the game.
1y ago
Messi’s unexpected Maradona parallel
Carlos Javier Mac Allister played with the great Diego Armando Maradona. His son, Alexis, is playing with Lionel Andres Messi. Only one other father and son duo, Diego and Gio Simeone, can make the same claim. Like millions of other families, the Mac Allisters have long engaged in the inevitable and endless debate about which of the two greats is better. Carlos obviously leaned towards his close friend and teammate Diego, while Alexis swore by Leo, but only till recently.
1y ago
Selfless stars shine on
There is alliterative appeal in talking about Messi, Mbappe, Modric, and Morocco, and each of the four does present a strong story for the semi-finals. I do, however, want to take some time to talk about a certain Didier Deschamps. This is a man who has won both the World Cup and the Euros as captain, and the Nations League and the World Cup as manager.
1y ago
Familial devotion trumps above all else
For me, the best thing flowed on the internet yesterday was footage of Morocco’s Sofiane Boufal dancing on the pitch with his mother in celebration after his team’s famous victory over Portugal in Saturday’s quarter-final game. The short clip encapsulates so much of what is good about the sport in general, and this World Cup in particular.
1y ago
December 7, 2022
‘True party’ from another era
A deep tradition of footballing rivalry dictates that I should not be particularly fond of Roy Keane. The former Ireland captain and Manchester United legend was a particularly prickly thorn during his playing days for us Liverpool supporters.
December 6, 2022
Bangladesh, Argentina fans rejoice in unison
Cometh the hour, cometh the man! When all hope was fading, a diminutive hero from a small third-world town stepped up to save the day. His name starts with ‘M’ and it was not Lionel Messi with a ball at his feet. Instead, it was Mehedi Hasan Miraz with a bat in his hand.
December 5, 2022
Pele and Messi in poetic mesh
Some hours before Lionel Messi once again rocked Bangladesh and the world on Saturday night, news started trickling in that Edson Arantes do Nascimento, much better known as Pele, had entered palliative care after his body had stopped responding to chemotherapy treatment for cancer.
December 3, 2022
Cinderella narrative pops up
Cinderella, in the form of Japan, has finally arrived at the party. I suppose that Morocco’s qualification at the expense of Belgium also defied expectations, but Japan knocking out Germany has to be the definitive David and Goliath story of the ongoing World Cup.
December 2, 2022
Good stories continue to unfold
I spent most of yesterday’s article worrying about the mayhem that would ensue in Bangladesh if Argentina were knocked out on Wednesday night. In hindsight, my concerns were misplaced. Not only did they qualify with aplomb, the other three teams seemed hell bent on getting themselves disqualified.
December 1, 2022
Fearful of impending chaos
Iran became the latest Asian country to exit the World Cup 2022, and I have to say that things are not looking good for our continent.
November 30, 2022
Neymar crucial to Brazil’s Hexa mission
When the book is closed on the current generation of footballers, no individual player will have generated greater debate than Neymar. Very few who have a modicum of understanding about football would dispute his talent. Yet, in spite of scoring over a hundred goals for three separate clubs and being two goals shy of becoming Brazil’s all-time leading scorer, many feel that he doesn’t always apply himself fully to the sport.
November 29, 2022
Qatar World Cup gets spicy
Things are getting spicy in Qatar. On the field, nothing is going according to script. Pre-tournament favourites like Belgium are teetering on the edge of elimination, and the qualification picture is changing wildly with every game and every minute of the first round.
November 28, 2022
Spectrum of spirited acts materialise
When all hope seemed to have faded for Argentina, a familiar figure from Rosario stepped up yet again. Lionel Messi saved the day for his side for the umpteenth time in his illustrious career and, backed by Enzo Fernandez’s golazo sealing victory, millions of Albiceleste fans in Bangladesh lived to fight (not to be taken as a cue or an invitation) another day. However, Argentina’s two moments of sheer magic should not paper over their cracks by any means.
November 26, 2022
Brazil, CR7 and the naysayers
Thursday night was, in the words of Borat, “great success” for Brazil, and consequently the cause of gastric tribulation for at least half of Bangladesh’s adult population i.e. Argentina fans.
X