I took this picture from one that my brother sent me. What a photo, though! The Arc de Triomphe, one of the most iconic sites of Paris (and indeed, all the world) is surrounded by people, and where an image of l'Equipe de France is on it, complete with the newly earned second star, one star for each of France's World Cup championship titles. In the background are fireworks, which France had just seen plenty of the day before, during the celebrations for the Fête Nationale/Bastille Day.
Okay, so yes, here is one last blog entry about the recent World Cup in Russia that just wrapped up last Sunday. I had some blog entries either completely written, or almost completely written, about some of the nonsense (and there has been no shortage of it) since I gave myself the liberty of taking a break from writing about it, in order to focus on the World Cup.
Frankly, it felt almost like a vacation, and like with most vacations, I find myself reluctant to return to the normal, everyday crap once the vacation is done.
And since it is a weekend, my first full day off in nearly two weeks, and since I have had an especially brutal and exhausting week (although at least the memories of France winning a second ever World Cup remain fresh), I decided to give myself an extra day without all of that nonsense. Perhaps even two, depending on how tomorrow goes.
Also, it occurred to me that I never really did wrap up the World Cup tournament as a whole. The final, and all of the elimination games and even all of the group stage games, yes. Indeed, even the big upsets were talked about. But wrapping the entire thing up is something that I never did, but intended to do. Now seemed like as good a time as any.
So, ever since the later stages of the elimination rounds, there has been much talk about this possibly having been the greatest World Cup tournament ever. This was largely because of the unpredictability factor, because there were so many incredible upsets. Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States all shockingly did not even qualify, which meant that this was an unconventional World Cup right off the bat. Then, Germany suffered a shocking loss to Mexico in it's opening game to defend it's 2014 World Cup title. Now, Germany did recover somewhat to pull off an amazing and impressive comeback win against Sweden in the second game of group stage play, and it seemed that everyone, admittedly myself included, assumed that Germany was re-establishing it's normal dominance, and that they would cruise into the elimination rounds, with the early upset loss to Mexico largely forgotten and chalked up to a fluke. But then came the game against South Korea, where Germany could not score, and then shockingly allowed South Korea to score not just once, but twice in extra time, to suffer an unbelievable 2-0 defeat that meant that, for the first time in many decades, Germany would not even advance to the elimination rounds.
Russia also pulled off some surprises. They entered the tournament as the lowest ranked team, yet pulled off two huge, very convincing wins in their first two games, beating Saudi Arabia and Egypt by a combined score of 8-1. They then lost to Uruguay, which prevented them from winning their group outright, but they went onto the elimination round, and pulled off a huge upset of one of this World Cup tournament's favored sides, Spain, before bowing to Croatia in the quarterfinal. In the process of all of this, the Russian national team captured the hearts and imagination of their entire country, and became on the best stories to come out of the tournament.
Croatia themselves obviously pulled off some surprises. Who would have expected them to sweep their way to an easy and convincing group win, winning all three of their games? Then, they won two straight games through extra time and then penalty kicks, before coming back in the semi-final against England, after getting thoroughly dominated through the first almost 70 minutes, to come storming back to dominate, and ultimately to win, in the latter stages of the game? It almost felt like watching two different games in the same afternoon.
Belgium had an amazing tournament, and were quite close to being in the final and having a chance at the championship themselves. Belgium was an explosive team, and many believed that this was the best Belgian side ever. Indeed, they scored more goals overall (16) than any other team, and had more players (10) score goals) than any other team. But they lost to France narrowly, 1-0, before dominating England in the third place match to take the bronze.
I did read somewhere that some Belgians, and some others for that matter, were complaining about France's style of play during this World Cup. That a lot of people were complaining because it was considered overly conservative, and almost football/soccer's answer to the "trap" style of play that helped allow the 1995 New Jersey Devils, specifically, to win the Stanley Cup. One Belgian (I forget who, because I did not save the article) claimed that he preferred losing with Belgium's style of play, than he would have winning with France's style of play. Perhaps, but he might have changed his tune if he got a gold medal and he status of World Cup champions, which the French players earned, and which they will have the enjoyment of this unique distinction for the next four years. It's funny, in some respects, because I remember my father largely complaining about the same thing back when Germany would win World Cups and other titles, largely using a similar method. However, he was not complaining when France successfully employed those same strategies this time around, and was celebrating like the rest of the family, despite the admittedly conservative style of play. I just wish that France had played a more complete game in the final, and that their championship had not been secured after a game in which it felt like they were outplayed and outclassed in almost every way but the scoreboard, at least through most of the game.
I did read somewhere that some Belgians, and some others for that matter, were complaining about France's style of play during this World Cup. That a lot of people were complaining because it was considered overly conservative, and almost football/soccer's answer to the "trap" style of play that helped allow the 1995 New Jersey Devils, specifically, to win the Stanley Cup. One Belgian (I forget who, because I did not save the article) claimed that he preferred losing with Belgium's style of play, than he would have winning with France's style of play. Perhaps, but he might have changed his tune if he got a gold medal and he status of World Cup champions, which the French players earned, and which they will have the enjoyment of this unique distinction for the next four years. It's funny, in some respects, because I remember my father largely complaining about the same thing back when Germany would win World Cups and other titles, largely using a similar method. However, he was not complaining when France successfully employed those same strategies this time around, and was celebrating like the rest of the family, despite the admittedly conservative style of play. I just wish that France had played a more complete game in the final, and that their championship had not been secured after a game in which it felt like they were outplayed and outclassed in almost every way but the scoreboard, at least through most of the game.
Ultimately, I think this has to be regarded as a hugely successful World Cup tournament. First of all, it was in big, bad Russia, and yet the western media did not seem as completely fixated on demonizing and discrediting everything about it, like they did with the 2014 Winter Olympic games. Back then, there was one horror story after another about Putin and the totalitarian manner in which the preparations for those games came about. Nothing this time, though. And the stadiums were absolutely beautiful, while the tournament itself seemed to go off without a noticeable glitch. For Russia not to have received major criticism, that seems in and of itself validation that they did a lot right with this World Cup.
Obviously, the action on the field was amazing, too. From the unpredictability factor, with one favorite after another losing earlier than expected, beginning with Germany, then going to Spain, Argentina, Portugal, and then Brazil, it just felt like the kind of tournament where you came to expect the unexpected. You just never knew who was going to win, who was going to pull off a major upset and when.
There were far more own goals than any other World Cup in history. A total of 12 own goals were scored, where the previous record for total own goals in a World Cup tournament was 7. There was even one in the final, which was the first time ever that an own goal was scored in the final match at the World Cup. There were a record 22 penalties rewarded, and there were also 9 goals scored in extra time, which is more than any other World Cup tournament in history. Finally, there were fewer scoreless draws in this tournament than any previous World Cup, as only one game (France-Denmark in the group stage) went scoreless for the entirety of the contest. All of that added some considerable excitement to this tournament.
Passing was bigger in this World Cup than it had been four years ago in Brazil. There were 59, 255 passes, with 49, 647 passes completed. That is over 4,000 passes more than in Brazil, for an average of over 775 passes per game. The most effective passing team in this World Cup was Spain, who also enjoyed a 74.7 percent time of possession advantage. This did not do them too much once they faced Russia in their first (and last) elimination contest.
Somewhat surprisingly, there were only four red cards issues throughout this World Cup, the lowest number given in half a century.
Belgium enjoyed the longest winning streak (five games) of any team, although France enjoyed the longest undefeated streak, avoiding any losses for all seven games that they played. Of course, France wound up winning the World Cup championship, although they did so in perhaps the most surprising manner possible, being effectively dominated through the first 60 minutes, and then still enjoying a convincing 4-1 lead 65 minutes into the game. It was the kind of final that, in retrospect, we might have come to expect from this most unpredictable World Cup ever.
Are you surprised?
Looking back, neither am I.
Passing was bigger in this World Cup than it had been four years ago in Brazil. There were 59, 255 passes, with 49, 647 passes completed. That is over 4,000 passes more than in Brazil, for an average of over 775 passes per game. The most effective passing team in this World Cup was Spain, who also enjoyed a 74.7 percent time of possession advantage. This did not do them too much once they faced Russia in their first (and last) elimination contest.
Somewhat surprisingly, there were only four red cards issues throughout this World Cup, the lowest number given in half a century.
Belgium enjoyed the longest winning streak (five games) of any team, although France enjoyed the longest undefeated streak, avoiding any losses for all seven games that they played. Of course, France wound up winning the World Cup championship, although they did so in perhaps the most surprising manner possible, being effectively dominated through the first 60 minutes, and then still enjoying a convincing 4-1 lead 65 minutes into the game. It was the kind of final that, in retrospect, we might have come to expect from this most unpredictable World Cup ever.
Are you surprised?
Looking back, neither am I.
Fifa World Cup stats: Russia 2018 by the numbers as records tumble by Nicolas Atkin, 18 July, 2018:
As much as I had fun following this World Cup, I don't know that I would consider it to be the best ever. Granted, that's a subjective judgment, but in terms of my personal enjoyment I don't think any World Cup could ever top the '98 edition. It's always a thrill when your team wins a major title, but nothing quite compares to when they do so for the first time. Plus, as you've mentioned in previous posts, it's extra special when you're celebrating the World Cup triumph of the host country, and you're there to join in the festivities afterwards. And I feel that Les Bleus were more consistent in the '98 Cup than they were this year, even if they had a harder time than expected against Paraguay and needed a penalty shootout to get past the Azzuri. Granted, if one shifts their focus from the French team's performance to how things went overall, one could certainly argue that the 2018 World Cup was the greatest ever, in terms of upsets, near-upsets, great goals, great saves and keeping hooliganism to a strict minimum. But I'll confess to being primarily interested in how Les Bleus fare, even if I also root for underdogs, particularly in the case of African and Asian teams. I suppose it depends on the criteria one uses to make such a determination.
ReplyDeletePretty much agree with everything you said. Yes, my favorite memories of the World Cup still are easily for the '98 games, because we saw the most important game that either of us have ever been to, and then we got to enjoy an awesome concert (largely ruined by too many people being there, I'll grant you), and then watched them dominate and a whole nation celebrate. Then getting to enjoy celebrations even further when the nation celebrated it's national holiday two days after that. Unique memories for a lifetime. But those were special especially because we were there, and got to enjoy them in a uniquely personal way. Objectively speaking, this World Cup was probably the most unpredictable one yet, which added spice. Also, there were just some truly great games, some incredible last minute wins, mixed with that unpredictability. And less fouls more generally, which suggests cleaner, better quality of play. So indeed, I can see why some are making the argument that these were the best games ever.
ReplyDeletePlus, I have to admit that it was nice to see most of soccer's traditional powers experience a WC that they'll want to forget about as quickly as possible: Argentina squeaking into the Round of 16 by the skin of their teeth and then quickly getting eliminated by Les Bleus; Brazil doing a bit better than Argentina but still falling well short of their objective of hoisting the Jules Rimet trophy; Germany failing to make it out of the first round for the first time since the Depression; and of course Italy's failure to even qualify in the first place. For once, France was more consistent than any of them, which was a nice case of role reversal.
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