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Everything was perfectly organized for a quarterfinal of the World Cup to settle the biggest debate on football of the modern era. Only France and Uruguay have opposed a decisive closing act in the play that has lasted for more than a decade.
But there was no whistle for Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, both eliminated in the last stage. by teams whose collective talent exceeds the individual ability of the talismanic superstars of their opponents. There were tears in the eyes of both men after the defeats of yesterday, perhaps an implicit admission that we will not see them again at the World Cup.
Neither player is a god, but the pressure that they both exerted on them is biblical. Both were charged with carrying the weight of expectations for an entire nation, pushed into otherwise average teams and said that their individual brilliance can make everything else irrelevant.
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But Messi could not be there as Kylian Mbappe went through the Argentine defense like a knife through the butter. Ronaldo was not on hand to block the winner of Edinson Cavani on the line. Football is a team sport defined by individuals, but it is nonetheless a team sport. It's a sin to forget that fact, as did Argentine manager Jorge Sampaoli in qualifying the rest of his "limited" team in Messi's defense after the defeat in Croatia.
The Portuguese Fernando Santos understands better. "It's the team that has to play," he said before the match against Uruguay, "If Ronaldo plays alone, we'll lose." It's this attitude that has allowed Portugal to win the Euro 2016, even with Ronaldo injured Of course, even this win is mostly used a point scored for Ronaldo in the current debate.
Ronaldo won the Euro 2016. But Messi got Argentina to the World Cup finals, but Ronaldo scored more goals in the Champions League. Messi has scored more goals in La Liga than everyone else, and it's a constant individual duel that seems to have more importance than any number of team braces.
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France and The victories of Uruguay were both enlightened by the superb individual performances of Mbappe and Cavani, but that's the way they played as a team which made the nets tremble. incisive pbadage to M bappe, and its cool finish.
The victory of Uruguay was an even greater testament to the team's ethic. Cavani being injured and Suarez isolated, Portugal went on penalties, but the central defensive partnership of Diego Godin and Jose Gimenez, forged at the Atlético de Madrid, held up well.
Benjamin Pavard and Diego Laxalt. The two men only won their eighth selection yesterday and, before the World Cup, they accumulated a total of 14 minutes of action for their country. Pavard started his tournament with a very fragile performance against Australia; Laxalt did not even start before the third group match of Uruguay.
But in the biggest games of their career so far, both players showed what they were made of. Pavard scored a goal of the tournament's competitor at a crucial moment in the game of France; Laxalt showed exceptional composure towards the end of Uruguay's victory.
What do they have in common? Their managers trusted them, and their teammates trusted them . A successful team must believe that every player in the camp is worthy of that trust, regardless of inexperience or bad form. This is how players learn to trust each other.
Trust was the main facet behind the invention of total football, which eliminated the idea that players were stuck to their rigid positions and could not trust the ball. upfield. The tiki-taka style that Spain has used to rule the world between 2008 and 2012 relies on the confidence that all players are equally competent on the ball.
The main reason why we see so many sideboards becoming wingers these days is trusting to run with the ball, and they trust that their teammates will cover for them if they lose him. Goaltenders are trusted to be so good with their feet that they can act as advocates in case of emergency. Wherever you look in modern football, trust is integral.
Argentina and Portugal seem to have a complete imbalance of confidence. With the choice between a simple pbad to Messi / Ronaldo or a more incisive pbad to another teammate, they take the easy option every time. They seem to trust their men so much that it has a detrimental effect on how they perceive their other teammates.
Messi and Ronaldo are trustworthy, but this is often carried to ridiculous extremes. Both are sure to take penalties and free kicks for their clubs and countries, but Messi's penalty conversion rate is low and Ronaldo's free kick record is abysmal. Why do they continue to take them?
Because football has become so obsessed with statistics that all goals scored by Messi or Ronaldo are exaggerated. We have become obsessed with the quest for objective truth in a sport of subjective beauty, where each goal is celebrated not for its relevance to the match, but as ammunition in the endless argument.
For what it's worth, I prefer Messi. But I do not prefer him because he's scored 552 goals in 637 games for Barcelona, bleep bloop. I prefer it because at its best, it makes me smile involuntarily. I prefer it because it gives me more joy to watch it than any other footballer.
Other people feel the same about Ronaldo, as well as they could. He is brilliant too, and think that it is better that Messi is a quite valid opinion to have. There is no objective truth in football and we are stupid to keep looking for it.
Obviously, we want to see the best players in the world play at the World Cup, but I must admit that I'm very happy Messi and Ronaldo are out. We have one month every four years to determine who is the best team in the world. We can spend the four years between sorting who is the best player.
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