With 99 players born in France but just 23 playing for Les Bleus, the tournament highlights how lines of nationality are blurred
It’s a “Love Letter to England”. Written by James Graham, the man whose play Dear England transformed the image of Gareth Southgate from a mediocre national manager into an icon of Englishness, the 90-second film, designed to rouse support for the team at the World Cup, is tub-thumping in a restrained, very Southgate way.
Narrated by Ian McKellen at his most sonorous, it concludes: “We know who we are”. Yet, if this World Cup has shown us anything, it is how complicated it can be to define “who we are”.
Michael Olise, one of the world’s best forwards, was born in west London and played for Reading and Crystal Palace before joining the German giants Bayern Munich, but may win the World Cup with France. Born to a British-Nigerian father and Franco-Algerian mother, he celebrates the fact that he is the product of “four countries… which all enrich me”.
When England took on DR Congo last week, facing them was Aaron Wan-Bissaka, born in Croydon and currently playing for West Ham.
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Right now, I cannot get the sulphurous stench of Trump and Infantino out my nostrils
ReplyDeleteJustice is done.
DeleteBarry, my wife, who is a US citizen thinks the team might not have turned up because of Trump interference and self promotion. Belgium should never have beaten the US by such a large margin if at all so she might have a point.
DeleteGiven the frail state of the Belgian national team it is a remarkable achievement for it to be in the quarters.
Did you catch the racism from the Paraguayan politician? She said Mbappe was a brute who had not been taught to write; he was fed no on his mother's milk but coconut milk and his school friends were chimps.
Absolutely vile.
His response was dignified and sophisticated..