Masterclass

France - Senegal 3-1

As much as the other day was great for Muslim countries, that's how catastrophic yesterday was.

But a few words on France - Senegal before that. Now, I'm not gonna pretend I'm the woke master. As much as I'd try and avoid it, there is some residual racism in me, the result of a long and deeply entrenched racist education and cultural environment I went through growing up. And to a little extent, I do like to hold on to some of the jokes, and hope for the best.

But come on guys... I could not make head or tails of who's playing for what team in France-Senegal. Mbappe scores for one, then Mbaye for the other? Someone's taking the piss here. 

That's it. That was the joke, and that's why I wrote the racism intro.

On a serious note, Senegal is a super solid team and the scoreline dosen't do them justice. Norway is gonna have a real headache with them. But. But. Not only is France a super-team, Mbappe at his best is unstoppable. And he was at his best for most of the second half. But that was enough. 

First off, never a penalty when he fell in the Senegalese box. There was no contact between his feet and the Senegal defender's. Not that it matters. The movement for his first goal was sublime. No look at the goal, all the way across the keeper, on the turn, it's a shot that defies physics.

His second goal, the one sealing the board and the one that makes him top scorer for France and two short of Klose's record... the English comentators said half-heartedly that the keeper should've done better. And yeah, maybe he should have. But the force of the shot, the misleading bend... poor keeper didn't stand much chance.

Harsh scoreline for Senegal but goddamn. Mbappe only needs a keeper and maybe someone else to pass with.

Norway - Iraq 4-1

I'm very conflicted about Norway. I like them. I like the country, I like the team, I wanted to buy the tshirt. Norway's France 1998 team made me fall in love with United. Solskjaer, Ronnie Johnsen, Henning Berg... I have a lot of love for my friend Anette and all of the team at the Norwegian Embassy, I'm gonna see them tomorrow, I'm looking forward to it and always enjoy visiting them.

But then there's Haaland. Great player, for sure. But he plays for City, and he's uncouth as hell. Really unpleasant fellow. Ugly motherfucker. A combination between the strength of Schweinsteiger, the predatory instinct of van Nistelrooy, but the character of Alf Inge Haaland.

God said he'd save Sodom if he finds 10 good people in it, so my love for Norway should not be dented by one asshole. And it's not, not really. Worth mentioning him anyway.

Purely in footballing terms, however, what I wouldn't give to have one of our forwards (maybe Sesko?) be half the player Haaland is. That first goal, what a stretch! Big motherfucker, he could've probably started the tackle on the halfway line and still get the ball in.

Iraq did really well to equalise, had some momentum going, but then that silly error comes, 2 minutes before the break. Can't be too mad at the keeper, he was always gonna have a tough day at the office, errare humanum est and all that, but that mistake of his, sloppy pass back and not coming to receive it, very likely cost his team at least a point. Which was gonna be a precious point, neither France nor Senegal are gonna be easy to get anything out of. But with Norway frustrated, you can hope you can frustrate France too to a goalless draw or something, then either snatch something from Senegal, or go for 3 draws and wait for the other results. None of that possible now. 

3-1 kinda sealed their fate, 4-1 was unnecessarily harsh. 

I gained a lot of sympathy for the Iraqi team, but their adventure in this World Cup will be limited to 3 games. give a good account of yourselves, make the home country proud, then try to build on this legacy in 4 years, I suppose that's the best course of action. A good result against France can make them heroes, but a moment of brilliance from Mbappe will prevent that.

I was happy to see Zidane Iqbal playing, United academy kid, and still a lot of potential. Didn't materialise today, but hopefully he'll feature again.

Argentina - Algeria 3-0

'He was only holding a cup'

Now, if you know me, you know I don't like Messi. I think he's overrated, annoying, and obviously the 2009 and 2011 Champions League finals will always be an open wound.

But this game was a masterclass. I can't really say much other than putting my hands up and admitting that what he has done in this game was incredible. Beginning to end.

From the disallowed goal in the 5th minute - what good instincts to know that he started the run just that little bit earlier, to feel what the ref needed a computer to see! Then the goals, first and third, phenomenal left foot shots. Now, thet strong left foot has been Messi's trademark for a while, and I was acknowledging its quality even at the height of my Messi-hating days.

Did he deserve a red card? I'll be honest, I didn't see that foul. Maybe I was asleep or what. There's pictures that say he did, I tend to think nowadays, in the age of VAR, the refereeing mistakes are much more structural rather than incidental. As in, a team tends to be generally favoured by being granted the 50:50 calls, and it might as well have been the case here. But what that means, is that it was only a 50:50 red card call. I don't know.

Algeria, despite the spectacular disallowed goal, didn't put up much resistance, and I hope, for their sake, a different team will show up for the next two games, otherwise they'll be the final two games. But the Chaibi fellow looks like a more than decent player, and with Austria and Jordan the other opponents, qualification is not out of the question for them.

Argentina, what an interesting team. It looks like a team build around and for Messi. Except that, unlike 4 years ago, it works. 4 years ago it was pushed forward strongly by an agenda and some made up penalties and did not deserve to win the World Cup. In the intervening 4 years though, those players have become superstars, playing for the biggest teams, at the highest level. Lautaro Martinez, Lucha Martinez or MacAllister, players any team would want in their ranks, and yet Messi shines. Argentina does look now like a team that deserves to win the World Cup. I still think they won't, but - and this is a big admission - I will enjoy watching Messi for the rest of the tournament.

Austria - Jordan 3-1

5 am is ungodly for the 4th game of the day. I did my best, but I can't say I saw much of the game. I did say I don't rate Austria, I thought Jordan isn't playing too bad, but the only goal I saw was Arnautovic's penalty. Again, they were winning anyway, 3-1 makes it sound a lot more categorical of a win that it has been, but you know...I like Sabitzer. I miss him. Arnautovic probably aspires to a good swansong. So, why not? Let Austria battle it out with Algeria and Jordan for the second place. The real test will be if they can get anything out of the Argentina game.