They think it’s all over

Yesterday’s World Cup final was as long as any Super Bowl. Thankfully in the first ever football Super Bowl football eventually won.

Argentina became more and more contemptible as the tournament went on, and how their players acted at the final whistle was deplorable right up until them turning their backs on the Spanish team, who had given them the guard of honour, when they went up to collect the cup from the camera shy President(s).

It was possibly the worst WC final ever, and I will put my neck on the line, and say that England would’ve given Spain a better game.

England would have lost, because Spain are an exceptional footballing team. I wrote somewhere on here previously that France had the best players, but Spain had the best team. They press, dominate, move the ball quickly and what is brilliant, is they win the ball back so swiftly, if they happen to lose it.

Spain conceded one goal all tournament and I think the stat is there was just 10 shots on target against them. Argentina had to wait for 117 minutes to get a shot on target and even then it was an over hit cross.

A marvellous team, with some marvellous players and a brilliant manager who at the end of an over 3-hour ‘game’ still looked like he just stepped out of a magazine. Pundits talk about DNA, Spain have the blueprint.

6 weeks, 104 games. That was a lot of football, and I might be a little footballed-out. Imagine if they do move to 64 teams, which looks nailed on.

I few things I loved and hated. The latter first.

The ticketing and how FIFA got in bed with the American re-sale companies was singularly the worst thing about the tournament. Tickets were so expensive, yet clearly not for some people, or corporations. Nonetheless, fans from all over the world managed to get seats and in and out of stadiums we saw carnival atmosphere’s, with almost hardly any trouble.

VAR started so well letting games flow and empowering referees on the pitch. Unfortunately that couldn’t last and full kit w@nkers sat in a studio in Texas had to ruin it.

The Trump interference, if that’s what we want to call it in the Folarin Balogun sending off was distasteful. Another deep low for Infantino. Justice was done, which was a shame as I was enjoying the American’s tournament.

I did like some of the rule tweaks though and games definitely moved quicker eradicating a lot of time wasting. Don’t get me started on the hydration/ advert breaks.

Fox made an estimated $450 million in ad revenue from those two 3-minute breaks x 104. I do not want to see those ever again.

The half-time show? What were Ronaldo and Ronaldinho thinking driving around an underground car park with Madonna. And did Bieber think he was at a wake. Rooney summed it up for me, but I’d happily see Shakira on the pitch at The Valley though.

England carried on the hurt, the bruise bigger and more painful. The Mexico game will long live in the memory though, and I was lucky to see Messi and notwithstanding what I said above, being witness to Argentina’s comeback against Egypt in Atlanta was an incredible experience.

Best players. In no order. Rodri, Mbappe, Olise, Cubarsí, Vozinha, Haaland, and Bellingham, Kane, Anderson and Spence from our lot. I can’t think of a Scot. Brazil’s demise saddens me.

Sidny Cabral’s goal for Cape Verde was a beaut, the Egypt goal that was disallowed against Argentina was a gem.

Finally I get very wrapped up in the World Cup and I’m a sponge for content and media. Guy Mowbray and Alan Shearer were a great double act for the BBC. In the Salford studio I liked Rooney, Richards and Hart and I’ve always appreciated Chappers, and over on the other side Patrick Viera, Keane and Wright were the best ITV had.

I watched a lot of Fox here, and the duo of Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimović were very watchable, but the less said about Alexi Lalas the better.

The Athletic coverage is well worth the subscription and then there was the daily The Rest is Football podcast. I know it’s not to everyone’s taste, but I will miss it from my daily routine.

25 games until the first league game….