Gary Lineker will continue to be a brilliant guy but one of his most famous phrases will have to be taken out of circulation, the one that says (or said) that “soccer is a simple game that the English invented in which you play eleven against eleven and always win.” Germany”. Well not anymore. For two consecutive World Cups, and a Euro Cup halfway to add, the unbeatable and powerful Germany has been expelled in the group stage. We are happy for the intrepid Japanese, whose football continues to rise and climb, and also for Thomas Müller, who each have their phobias even if they are not based on anything particularly solid.
Football, from what is seen, still reserves room for mystery. And as long as he maintains that unique ability to generate surprises, his planetary spell will last. Long live, then, football.
It is not that Germany fell, it is that Spain lost and played the worst game of the three they have played and can only congratulate themselves on their luck. Little brain sprain. They lose against Japan and doing so they are second in the group, avoid Croatia, meet Morocco in the round of 16 on Tuesday and not Monday (one more day of rest therefore), they have erased Germany from the road and go to the second of the picture where neither Brazil nor Argentina are. He does it expressly and it doesn’t come out. She wins the match and the picture goes black. Or at least it’s worse. From defeats you learn, it is said to comfort the loser, who is not usually there for this type of self-help nonsense. Well, this time he gets out of defeat pretending to be angry but falls asleep flat.
Football, on top of all that, continues to be a machine for generating controversy. Despite the use and abuse of technology, he continues his roll causing discussions and controversial plays. More food for the beast, which spits out strong emotions without ceasing.
The VAR has not brought peace with us. When he doesn’t interpret the game in a robotic way, he leaves you with a face of not understanding anything. The ball seeks its life to find places where it is not controlled cybernetically despite the fact that the poor thing has been injected with chips everywhere. Played by the end line of the Japanese attack, the ball that comes out (I don’t know, it seems to me that it does cross the entire line) and they consider the play to be good. “It has to happen in its entirety…”, say the most angry. If you say so.
What other sport gets Costa Rica to score seven and rebuild, and even beat Lineker’s former Germany for a while and even dream for a few minutes of playing in the round of 16?
What sports discipline allows you to lose and win on your worst day at work?
That it is not drugs, all this waterfall of emotions and contradictions and mood swings told here is only given by football.
