He was likely watching the World Cup Final between his native Argentina and Spain and must have felt deep shame and disbelief at the thuggish and boorish reaction of his compatriots after the final whistle sounded to confirm their 1-0 loss.
How can a nation that has produced a man of such sporting integrity that he ordered his Leeds team to permit their opponents in a match with Aston Villa to walk the ball into the Leeds net after Leeds had scored despite Villa players standing still and entreating referee to stop the game so that one of their injured number could be attended in the ultimate act of sportsmanship also produce a squad that violated every tenet of it on Sunday in front of a global TV audience of 1.2b people? How can a nation that produced a man of such humbleness that he constantly reminded his squad of their (relatively) privileged position in society and their responsibilities to 36,000 plus fans who dispensed with hard earned money to adulate their heroes every fortnight at Elland Road yet also produce the yobbery that unfortunately is a feature of a footballing culture that for every Maradona, Messi and Kempes it produces also throws up a Rattin or Simione?
All (non-Argentine) devotees of the beautiful game breathed a collective, global sigh of relief when Ferren Torres of Spain scored the only goal of 120 minutes of exceptionally turgid fare to prevent the possible obscenity of a team who had precisely zero on target attempts at goal lifting the trophy due to the cruel arbitrariness of a penalty shoot-out. The tragedy for football purists is that Argentina en route to the final featured in some of the most memorable games of the tournament from their dicing with the mothers of all humiliation in their 3-2 wins over Cape Verde and Egypt and their semi-final comeback after Thomas Tuchel decided to retreat to his version of the Maginot Line when Anthony Gordon gave them the lead. But controversy was never far away with dubious refereeing decisions in the Egypt game fuelling hardly paranoid conspiracy theories that FIFA needed the golden calves of Messi and Mbappe in the Final and, in a Clausewitzian dictum that football is an extension of war by other means, came the players’ on pitch articulation of the irredentist nationalist claim to the Falklands/|Malvinas Islands after their triumph over England.
However, apart from the (grievous) noises off such as the overturning of the ban on the US forward Balogun on the direct intervention by Donald Trump; the vindictive treatment of the Iranian squad and backroom staff by the US authorities and the hostile environments created for the supporters of certain countries by ICE, the World Cup was largely a glorious global moment as it was in 2018 and 2022 despite the distinctly anti-global hosts: Putin’s Russia, Quatar and Trump’s USA (notwithstanding the more amenable co-hosts; Mark Carney’s Canada and Claudia Schenbaum’s Mexico). Fans of all participant countries mingled freely in the stadiums and the various fan zones. The exploits of debutants Cape Verde will live long in the memory, and I was delighted that Canada, under Bielsa’s successor at Leeds Jessie Marsch, achieved their first World Cup victory and got out of their qualifying group. I reckon that Wisconsin born Jesse might have to seek permanent asylum in Canada due to the enthusiasm with which he sang their national anthem! The race for the Golden Boot was enthralling with the eventual winner Mbappe in the hunt with Kane, Dembele, Messi and Bellingham almost to the death.
The expansion of the tournament to 48 teams didn’t have the bloating effect that many feared and, with the possible exception of Curacao, did not produce any “punching bags”. While hydration access was an absolute priority, the mandatory breaks for this purpose proved a major irritant for coaches, players and especially non-American TV viewers who rightly saw this as the bowdlerisation of the game into quarters to suit an American football audience.
All (non-Argentine) devotees of the beautiful game breathed a collective, global sigh of relief when Ferren Torres of Spain scored the only goal of 120 minutes of exceptionally turgid fare to prevent the possible obscenity of a team who had precisely zero on target attempts at goal lifting the trophy due to the cruel arbitrariness of a penalty shoot-out. The tragedy for football purists is that Argentina en route to the final featured in some of the most memorable games of the tournament from their dicing with the mothers of all humiliation in their 3-2 wins over Cape Verde and Egypt and their semi-final comeback after Thomas Tuchel decided to retreat to his version of the Maginot Line when Anthony Gordon gave them the lead. But controversy was never far away with dubious refereeing decisions in the Egypt game fuelling hardly paranoid conspiracy theories that FIFA needed the golden calves of Messi and Mbappe in the Final and, in a Clausewitzian dictum that football is an extension of war by other means, came the players’ on pitch articulation of the irredentist nationalist claim to the Falklands/|Malvinas Islands after their triumph over England.
However, apart from the (grievous) noises off such as the overturning of the ban on the US forward Balogun on the direct intervention by Donald Trump; the vindictive treatment of the Iranian squad and backroom staff by the US authorities and the hostile environments created for the supporters of certain countries by ICE, the World Cup was largely a glorious global moment as it was in 2018 and 2022 despite the distinctly anti-global hosts: Putin’s Russia, Quatar and Trump’s USA (notwithstanding the more amenable co-hosts; Mark Carney’s Canada and Claudia Schenbaum’s Mexico). Fans of all participant countries mingled freely in the stadiums and the various fan zones. The exploits of debutants Cape Verde will live long in the memory, and I was delighted that Canada, under Bielsa’s successor at Leeds Jessie Marsch, achieved their first World Cup victory and got out of their qualifying group. I reckon that Wisconsin born Jesse might have to seek permanent asylum in Canada due to the enthusiasm with which he sang their national anthem! The race for the Golden Boot was enthralling with the eventual winner Mbappe in the hunt with Kane, Dembele, Messi and Bellingham almost to the death.
The expansion of the tournament to 48 teams didn’t have the bloating effect that many feared and, with the possible exception of Curacao, did not produce any “punching bags”. While hydration access was an absolute priority, the mandatory breaks for this purpose proved a major irritant for coaches, players and especially non-American TV viewers who rightly saw this as the bowdlerisation of the game into quarters to suit an American football audience.
For as long as Trump stayed away, it was possible to forget about the malign backstories of the tournament but the incessant panning of television cameras to FIFA President Giavonni Infantino brought back the unpleasant reality of its geopolitics. The matches were communal moments for those who followed the progress of their teams in bars and in the ubiquitous public spaces that are fan zones. Nowhere more did the World Cup provide joyous distraction from the everyday travails and perils of existence than in Gaza where a traumatised people would gather around screens to cheer on, in particular Egypt, despite the ongoing risks to life and limb from Netanyahu’s forever war. A curious divide in partisan political allegiance emerged during the World Cup with Palestinians and their advocates supporting Spain due to Prime Minister Sanchez’s outspoken condemnation of Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza and Israelis cheering on Argentina due to the ideological affinity between Netanyahu and far-right Argentine President Millei. They might just need to reflect on Argentina’ s history with Nazism including Juan Peron’s sympathies with European fascism and the refuge it afforded to Nazi war criminals including the logistic organiser of the Holocaust, Adolf Eichmann.
Once again, England and Scotland did not fail to disappoint; with the Scots’ pathological inability to advance beyond qualifying groups again painfully obvious. We were not even left with the heartwarming memories of an Archie Gemmill or David Narey glorious goals or how Scotland’s 1974 vintage with the spine of Europe’s top two clubs at the time, Leeds United and Glasgow Celtic, came so agonisingly close to beating Brazil and departed West Germany unbeaten. Ok, so achieving third place is incremental progress of sorts for England and the manner of that crazy 6-4 victory gave some fanfare to the common man but, given their proven experience in winning tournaments, it is much more likely that England’s Women will bring home the bacon, next year maybe, than the perennially nearly men.
But there is an elephantine presence in the room that cannot be ignored – FIFA’s stewardship of the global game and the World Cup cannot go unchallenged for otherwise schisms in the game will be inevitable. So much outrage has been caused by the prostitution of the game’s ethics such as the obscenity of the awarding of the inaugural FIFA “Peace Prize” to Donald Trump, to the stroking of other powerful egos and the awarding of the 2034 World Cup, uncontested to Saudi Arabia with yet more disruption to domestic league seasons due to it having to be a winter event and the flagrant disregard for human rights consideration. The USA could be in line to host the 2038 tournament as the transcontinental nature of 2030 held in Spain, Portugal (Europe) Morocco(Africa) and Uruguay and Paraguay (South America) makes it part of an eligible region.
Once again, England and Scotland did not fail to disappoint; with the Scots’ pathological inability to advance beyond qualifying groups again painfully obvious. We were not even left with the heartwarming memories of an Archie Gemmill or David Narey glorious goals or how Scotland’s 1974 vintage with the spine of Europe’s top two clubs at the time, Leeds United and Glasgow Celtic, came so agonisingly close to beating Brazil and departed West Germany unbeaten. Ok, so achieving third place is incremental progress of sorts for England and the manner of that crazy 6-4 victory gave some fanfare to the common man but, given their proven experience in winning tournaments, it is much more likely that England’s Women will bring home the bacon, next year maybe, than the perennially nearly men.
But there is an elephantine presence in the room that cannot be ignored – FIFA’s stewardship of the global game and the World Cup cannot go unchallenged for otherwise schisms in the game will be inevitable. So much outrage has been caused by the prostitution of the game’s ethics such as the obscenity of the awarding of the inaugural FIFA “Peace Prize” to Donald Trump, to the stroking of other powerful egos and the awarding of the 2034 World Cup, uncontested to Saudi Arabia with yet more disruption to domestic league seasons due to it having to be a winter event and the flagrant disregard for human rights consideration. The USA could be in line to host the 2038 tournament as the transcontinental nature of 2030 held in Spain, Portugal (Europe) Morocco(Africa) and Uruguay and Paraguay (South America) makes it part of an eligible region.
There is talk of 64 team World Cups. There is the World Champions Club Finals which is another Infantino vanity project which has attracted the ire of the international players body FIPRO and the steady descent of FIFA into a cash cow dependent on World and World Club Cups and which dispenses largesse to expanding competitors in the manner of petroleum-soaked autocracies must bring the day of reckoning closer. While running the risk of being accused of Eurocentrism, UEFA, as the collectivity of football associations most affected by FIFA prolificacy and lack of accountability, must demand a share of power in FIFA or viable collaborative arrangements. Otherwise it should withdraw its member associations.
At the very least Infantino who heads and is the visible symbol of the institutional rot that is FIFA needs to step down. Sadly he is set to be re-elected at the next FIFA congress thanks to the pork-barrel politics that has characterised FIFA governance and decision making since Joao Havelange succeeded Sir Stanley Rous as FIFA President in 1974.
Go Giovanni, in the name of football, Go!
⏩Barry Gilheany is a freelance writer, qualified counsellor and aspirant artist resident in Colchester where he took his PhD at the University of Essex. He is also a lifelong Leeds United supporter.
