Anthony McIntyre ⚽ It was not the most riveting World Cup final ever, far from it.
It lacked the panache and reciprocal attacking of the previous final. This was a contest where attacking football exuded the resonance of one hand clapping.
The Argentina side which emerged victorious from Qatar simply went AWOL for this one. From the kickoff they seemed determined to play for extra time and penalties. Defending in depth, kicking more than just the ball, they will be remembered for their spoiling tactics, a sending off, a post-match brawl and being all round bad losers.
On the one previous occasion when Spain had won the coveted trophy they overcame a side of Dutch thugs who usurped beauty with brutality. They did the same again.
Myself and my son headed off to the Pheasant. He favoured Argentina. Normally I do also but not this time. I was heavily swayed by the support of the Spanish prime minister for the Gazan victims of Israeli genocide and repelled by the stance adopted by the Argentinian president who backed the Nazi-like policy and practices of the Israeli government. Post World War 2, Argentina had been a safe haven for Nazi war criminals including Eichmann, a prime architect of the Holocaust. During the Dirty War in the 1970s and 80s, the regime articulated into its weltanschauung and modus operandi elements and tenets of Nazism, and was determined to refashion Argentinian society in a way that would have won the approval of Himmler. Jews taken into military custody such as the late Jacobo Timerman left harrowing accounts of the Nazi ideological hatred for Jewish people that permeated the ranks of the Argentinian military, whose barracks and officers' messes were adorned with the Swastika and other Nazi insignia. So while Dixie Elliot has pointed out the strength of opposition within Argentine society to the genocide in Gaza, it comes as no great shock to learn that the country's far right president is a fan of today's Nazis.
For all its dour skill content, I enjoyed the game. I loved the way Spain probed and pressed, always intelligent, Argentina's greatest asset, Lionel Messi, had no place in a game plan that relied solely on defence. The Spanish didn't neutralise him, Argentina did, denying the greatest soccer player of all time the creativity he is renowned for in his World Cup swan song.
As I sat sipping brandy, my son on Smithwicks I began to wonder if the breakthrough would come or if Argentina would get their way. Spain's record on penalties had not been good so a goalless conclusion after extra time did not auger well for the men from the Iberian Peninsula. But they persisted with a threat entirely different from the violent one Argentina posed. In the end they prevailed, no doubt helped by the actions of the thuggish Enzo Fernandez who left the field of play after receiving a second yellow. That the red card of Parades was post match and not shortly after his introduction to the game will reinforce the view of many about the dubious standard of refereeing throughout the tournament. Argentina went into extra time a man down, due to the behaviour of the player who infamously taunted the French side for its multi racial complexion.
That invited reflection on the monoracial make up of the Argentina team which looked like a throwback to the 1960s English soccer team in that all the players were white. Granted, the pool of black players to draw from in the country is not large. But this is down to the back population having been effectively culled by racism. The 2020 census recorded a 0.66% of citizens identifying as Afro-descendent. In the 18th and 19th centuries black people accounted for up to 50% of the population in some Argentinian cities, and around 30% in the capital, Buenos Aires.
Spain had colonised Argentina back in the days when the Spanish could rightly be called the bad guys. The worm had turned, in New Jersey the good guys won
We left the bar. A passing car honked at us and one of its occupants yelled ‘Spain’ at my son, still in his Argentina top. I don’t know what they made of me in a Glentoran top procured for me by Beano Niblock who unfortunately died during the tournament. We laughed, Ronan didn't really care. He had turned out for Messi who on the night didn’t turn out. The World Cup would rest for the next four years in Madrid, not Buenos Aires, with players, not thugs. The brain had bested the bully.
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