Soccer/Football

This thing is over.

I do like France to win the Cup, 40 years after I first fell in love with their brand of football watching the tragic semi-final v. Germany. Deschamps’ response to the losses of Pogba and Kante by creating a second life for my favorite player Antoine Griezmann in the midfield has been one of the true joys of the tournament for me. Griezmann has made the decisive late pass in two matches now, Denmark and England, and he keeps the whole engine humming throughout the match. He also defends like a honey badger. I think he will shine against Morocco and be the difference again.

BUT, anything can and will happen.

Re. Croatia, I finally saw the light during their qualifier v. Belgium. For all the hype about Brazil, the real beautiful game is Croatian, not in the final third, but in terms of ball management all over the pitch. They more than any other team have the skill to make speculative passes look routine, and they are led by a true genius. Luka Modrić is so special you want to write Father Time and say, please, sir, let this man keep playing just as he is forever. You have to love the sport at least a little bit to appreciate it but I could watch them solve defenses all day, which is good because most of their matches go to kicks anyway.

Argentina/Croatia looks like a great match to me. The only upset I see is if it doesn’t go to kicks because for whatever reason Argentina have been taking their foot off the pedal every time they score in the tournament. Well, they appeared to learn their lesson v. Netherlands when they packed it in after their second goal and look what happened. It will take two goals to win in regulation, and both teams are tough enough to make that second goal very hard to come by.

I’m biased like everyone else but there would be something poetic about a France/Croatia rematch in the final. As many twists and turns as there have been in this incredible tournament, imagine winding up in the same place as four years ago when it’s all down to the final match. France/Argentina would be another rematch from 2018, so it’s almost like a 1 and 1a situation. Unless, of course, Morocco is there, in which case the whole planet ex-their opponents’ supporters will be rooting for them. Including me.