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"What makes an interesting football match?" I was beginning to wonder exactly when, at the sixty-third minute of the KO match between Sweden and Switzerland, my eleven-year-old son, who was looking next to me, asked the question aloud. We discussed some possible criteria: goals, as in the case of Russia 5-0 against Saudi Arabia in the group stage, or the return of Belgium 3-2 against Japan on Monday; creative play, as in Germany's 1-0 dissection of Germany; power of the stars (Messi, Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar, Messi). Even the side antics – Maradona jumping from her seat, falling asleep, and returning the bird during Argentina's 2-1 win over Nigeria – will suffice. (Maradona, one of the "ambbadadors" of former players that FIFA pays ten thousand pounds per game to be seen in the crowd, has been severely criticized by the board for his behavior. "He likes being a travesty" Jon Smith, a former Maradona agent, told the BBC.)
Sweden and Switzerland had little to offer in any of these categories. Xherdan Shaqiri to score the ball towards the teammates of the zone – and still just a foot or two, and sometimes a few centimeters, out of target.Swiss countered the wings and pbaded the ball inside but was frustrated at many times A promising moment came in the forty-first minute, when Swedish striker Marcus Berg made a long pbad from the midfield to the Swiss zone, but was pushed back by the defender Johan Djourou As Djourou walked away, Berg grabbed his white shorts to hold him, and the shorts continued to stretch, unfolding like a miniature spinnaker on Djourou's hips, until he that Djourou be shot on the ground.
was the highlight of the match so far, and we spent much of the second half of Google searching for videos of other shorts-shooting incidents. Typically, shooting shorts is an accidental foul – a jersey-grabbing attempt went awry. But sometimes, it's downright pants. A 2016 qualifying match between Greece and Bosnia and Herzegovina saw Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko sent off for the offense. Dzeko, on the floor at the feet of Greek defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos, seemed to think that the best way to impede progress was to catch a first leg of Papastathopoulos' shorts, then the other, until he reached the end of the day. that they are in the game of the Greek player. ankles. In 2013, Spurs defender Jan Vertonghen stopped a likely goal from Nicklas Helenius of Aston Villa by pulling Helenius' shorts under his knees, exposing tightness-whities and forcing a flop. In a 2016 match between Paris Saint-Germain and Bastia, P.S.G. Midfielder Marco Verratti interrupted a game in midfield by pulling Axel Ngando by his shirt; Verratti then stated that he was targeting Ngando shorts because it was less dangerous than going for his legs. The most shameful case of short films at this World Cup is perhaps that of Cristiano Ronaldo, who, before taking free kicks, repeatedly raised his shorts to reveal his undulating thighs
. sixth minute, with a shot from Emil Forsberg from the top of the box. He was heading straight for the goalkeeper, another disappointing finish, but a foot deflection of a defender sent him into the net instead. Switzerland has no answer to the minor questions of Sweden. But at the end of the game, my son and I had satisfactorily answered our own question: sometimes the best thing about a football match is the person sitting next to you.
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