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Monday morning with a sinister and overwhelming inevitability. Unless you peel yourself on a sidewalk in Paris, or do not waste your time at a diving bar in Dubrovnik, the 2018 World Cup is over. As a month of sporting hedonism slips from the present to the past, real life and its harsh boundaries refine their concentration, bringing with them a cruel calculation. It was only football, after all.
It was more than that when Kylian Mbappe was burning supporters of the opposition, or that Lionel Messi was repelling the tide, or that Russia and South Korea were getting rid of the unworkable. squares throbbed with raspy songs and nervous tension and thorny thorns of a vague dream. But no: in the end, it was only football, neither more nor less.
Thus, a world on a comedy seeks meaning in its ecstasy. What did we learn? What, ultimately, was all for? France was worthy champions, there is no doubt. Eleven goals in four knockout games and a second World Cup were not easy for a team that was ahead of the tournament as a ghost in a shell, a team of illusory talents chained by indecision and defensive tactics. Instead, they provided an object lesson on what happens when you persuade exceptional individuals to submit to a collective structure, when you patiently wait for the game to break down and give as little as possible. Every adversity they faced, they negotiated. They went through a monstrous draw: Argentina, Uruguay, Belgium, Croatia.
The best pictures of the World Cup
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The moon shines on the stadium of Nizhny Novgorod located behind the cathedral of Alexandr Nevskiy
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Neymar and Gabriel Jesus break an egg on the head of teammate Philippe Coutinho while they celebrate his birthday during a training session at the Sochi Municipal Stadium
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A Russian fan embraces another supporter before the start of the Group A football match between Russia and Saudi Arabia
Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring the second goal during the Group B football match between Russia and Saudi Arabia
Portugal and Spain at the Fisht Stadium in Sochi
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5/50 [19659006] A fan of Argentina is holding a drawing of Argentine attacker Lionel Messi portraying him as J sus
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Iceland supporters support their team
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Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa reacts at the end of his match against the team. Germany after defeating 1-0
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Displaced Syrians watching World Cup at Ain Issa camp in Raqqa Province [19659007] Iranian players raise coach Carlos Queiroz as they celebrate the victory of their first Group B match against Morocco at St Petersburg stadium [19659007] AFP / Getty Images
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Jesse Lingard celebrates with teammate Raheem Sterling after scoring England's third goal in the Group G match against Panama at Nizhny Novgorod Stadium
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11/50 [1965-19006] L & # 39; Brazilian striker Neymar reacts after being attacked by Swiss midfielder Valon Behram i
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Children play football on the bank of the Volga in front of the Volgograd Arena
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13/50 [19659006] Diego Mar Adona reacts before the Group D football match between Nigeria and Argentina
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Senegalese striker Mbaye Niang celebrates after having scored his second goal in the Group H match between Poland and Senegal at Spartak Moscow Stadium
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Egyptian striker Mohamed Salah reacts at the end of Group A match between Russia and Egypt
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16/50 [19659006] English fans in a Fan Fest watch the Group G football match between Tunisia and the # 39, England at the Volgograd Arena
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The Croatian striker Ante Rebic scores his opening as an Argentinian goalkeeper Willy reacts to the forefront in the Group D football game at Nizhny Novgorod stadium
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Mexico's fans celebrate at the Angel Monument of Independence in Mexico after Mexico beat South Korea 2-1
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Nigerian striker Ahmed Musa celebrates after scoring his second goal at of the Group D football match between Nigeria and Iceland
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A portrait of the Argentine legend Diego Maradona exhibited at the opening of the project artistic "Like the Gods", presented by the Museum of the Russian Academy of Arts and the Italian artist Fabrizio Birimbelli in St. Petersburg. The project presents a series of portraits of world football stars and coaches in historical uniforms and includes more than 40 portraits
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Serbian goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic tries to save a shot of Costa Rican forward Christian Bolanos in the Group E match at the Samara Arena
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A fan of Iran is crying [19659007] AFP / Getty Images
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German striker Marco Reus scores his equalizing goal in the Group F football match between Germany and Sweden at Fisht Stadium in Sochi [19659007] AFP / Getty Images
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Brazilian striker Neymar congratulates Philippe Coutinho on his goal in the Group E football match between Brazil and Costa Rica at St. Petersburg stadium [19659007] AFP / Getty Images
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Belgian defender Thomas Vermaelen participates to a training session
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Colombi Striker Juan Cuadrado celebrates with his teammates after scoring in the Group H match between Poland and the Colombia at the Kazan Arena
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Lionel Messi celebrates his goal during the Group D match between Nigeria and Argentina at the St Petersburg stadium
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Supporters of Senegal cheering
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Toni Kroos reacts to the defeat of Germany facing South Korea in their last group match
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Costa Rica defender Kendall Waston celebrates his teammates after scoring the first goal of his team during the football match Group E between Switzerland and Costa Rica in Nizhni Novgorod Stadium
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Ousmane Dembele watches the ball during a training session
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Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring the fourth goal of the France goal in the round of 16 match against Argentina at the Kazan Arena
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A fan cheers in the round of 32 between the l 39; Spain and Russia
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Neymar celebrates his first goal on the shoulders of Paulinho in the match between Brazil and Mexico at the Samara Arena [19659007] AFP / Getty Images
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Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo helps striker Edinson Cavani after getting injured in the round of 16 between Uruguay and Portugal at Fisht Stadium to Sochi
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Spanish midfielder Koke reacts after missing a pen bedtime penalty match in the round of 16 between Spain and Russia
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Russian players celebrate their victory at the end of the first round against Spain
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Supporters applaud in the third place between England and Belgium
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British players celebrate their victory over Colombia in the round of 16
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50/50 [1994] 19659006] The mark The Central World Cup in Kaliningrad is an abandoned Soviet construction project – the House of Soviets. The brutalist structure was once considered a hub of the socialist administration, while it became the standard-bearer of Fifa's global business enterprise
Richard Morgan / The Independent [19659136] 1/50
The Nizhny Novgorod Stadium behind the Cathedral of Alexandr Nevskiy
AFP / Getty Images
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Neymar and Gabriel Jesus Break an Egg on the Head of His teammate Philippe Coutinho while they are celebrating his birthday at a training session at the Sochi Municipal Stadium [19659007] AFP / Getty Images
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A Russian fan kisses a other supporter before the start of the Group A football match between Russia and Saudi Arabia
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4/50 [19659006] Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring the second goal in the match of Group B football between Portugal and Spain has u Fisht stadium in Sochi
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A fan of Argentina holds a drawing of the Argentine striker Lionel Messi portraying him as Jesus
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Icelandic fans cheering on their team
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Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa reacts at the end of his match against Germany after beating 1-0 [19659007] AFP / Getty Images
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Displaced Syrians Watch World Cup at Ain Issa Camp in Raqqa Province
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9/50 [19659006] Iranian players lift coach Carlos Queiroz as they celebrate their first Group B match against Morocco at St Petersburg stadium
Jesse Lingard celebrates his comeback with teammate Raheem Sterling goal in the World Cup match Group G against Panama at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium
AP
11/50 [19659006] Brazilian striker Neymar reacts after being attacked by Swiss midfielder Valon Behrami
AFP / Getty Images
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Children play football on a bank of the Volga River in front of the # Volgograd Arena
AFP / Getty Images
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Diego Maradona reacts before the Group D football match between Nigeria and Argentina
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Senegalese striker Mbaye Niang celebrates after scoring his second goal in the Group H match between Poland and Senegal at Spartak stadium in Moscow
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Egyptian striker Mohamed Salah reacts to the end of the Group A match between Russia and Egypt
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English fans in a Fan Fest watch the Group G football match between Tunisia and England at the Volgograd Arena
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Croatian striker Ante Rebic celebrates his first match as Argentine goalkeeper Willy reacts to the forefront during the Group D football match at the stadium. Nizhny Novgorod
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Fans of Mexico this lebrate at the Angel monument of Independence in Mexico after Mexico beat South Korea 2-1
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Nigerian striker Ahmed Musa celebrates after scoring his second goal in the Group D football match between Nigeria and Iceland
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A portrait of the Argentine legend Diego Maradona exhibited at the opening of the artistic project "Like the Gods", presented by the Museum of the Russian Academy of Arts and the Italian artist Fabrizio Birimbelli in St. Petersburg. The project presents a series of portraits of world football stars and coaches in historical uniforms and includes more than 40 portraits
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Serbian goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic tries to save a shot from Costa Rica striker Christian Bolanos during the game of Group E at the Samara Arena
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A fan of Iran crying
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German striker Marco Reus scores his equalizer in the Group F football match between Germany and Sweden at Fisht Stadium in Sochi
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Brazilian striker Neymar congratulates Philippe Coutinho on his goal in the Group E football match between Brazil and Costa Rica at Stade de Saint -Petersburg
AFP / Getty Images
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Belgian defender Thomas Vermaelen taking part pe at a training session
AFP / Getty Images
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Colombi Striker Juan Cuadrado celebrates with his teammates after scoring in the Group H match between Poland and Colombia at the Kazan Arena
AFP / Getty Images
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Lionel Messi celebrates his goal during the Group D match between Nigeria and Argentina at the stadium of St. Petersburg
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Supporters of Senegal cheering
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Toni Kroos reacts to the defeat of Germany South Korea in their last group match
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Costa Rica defender Kendall Waston celebrates his teammates after scoring the first goal of his team in the match Group E football between Switzerland and Costa Rica in Nizhni Novgorod Stadium
AFP / Getty I mages
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Ousmane Dembele watches the ball during a training session
AFP / Getty Images
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Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring the fourth goal of the France goal in the round of 16 match against Argentina at the Kazan Arena
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A fan cheers in the knockout round between l 39; Spain and Russia
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Neymar celebrates the first goal on Paulinho's shoulders during the match between Brazil and Mexico at the Samara Arena [19659007] AFP / Getty Images
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Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo helps striker Edinson Cavani after getting injured in the round of 16 between Uruguay and Portugal at Fisht Stadium to Sochi
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Spanish midfielder Koke reacts after missing a penalty shot on goal in the round of 16 between Spain and Russia
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Russian players celebrate their victory at the end of the first round against Spain
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Supporters cheer during the match for third place between England and Belgium [19659007] AP
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British players celebrate their victory over Colombia in the round of 16
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/ 50 [19659006] The central scorer of the Kaliningrad World Cup is an abandoned Soviet construction project – the House of Soviets. While the brutalist structure was viewed as a hub of socialist administration, the brutalist structure became the standard-bearer of Fifa's global business enterprise
Richard Morgan / The Independent
We should be wary of the big powers cementing their grip on the competition. Yes, the last three World Cups have been won by France, Germany, Spain and Italy. But Croatia's spectacular run to the final – and race is the key word, given that they just stopped all month – should give pause for thought. A chaotic football infrastructure and the veil of institutional corruption did not stand in the way of a team that was consistent and who believed and was ready to support his faith with his courage and experience. They were closer to winning the final than history will remember.
Meanwhile, Belgium, Uruguay and Sweden have all shown what it is possible to do with team work and a little momentum. Brazil played perhaps the best football tournament, only to be defeated by half an hour of pure inspiration in Kazan. Teams like Japan, Colombia and Serbia will all come back stronger in four years. The likes of Italy, the Netherlands, the United States and the Ivory Coast will surely return to the ring in Qatar. A renewed interest in international football and the expected increase in 48 countries should allow medium – sized teams to better cope with the game. Over time, Croatia may not become the best. exception, but the rule
And of course, we had England. Riding a unique wave of great optimism and low expectations that will not be repeated for a generation, Gareth Southgate's team has dug a modest half of the table with an uncompromising cocktail of established method, determination , routine and first shootout victory in 22 years. It was not their climax, not by a long time. The "English disease" still struck at key moments against Tunisia, Colombia and Croatia. But they have a friendly team, a newly reengaged audience, a defined identity and teams of young people who have opened silverware in recent years. Think of it as the first step, not the last.
If England has a bright future ahead of them, then for the two biggest footballers in the world, the opposite is true. Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are out of the tournament four hours from one another, their international future uncertain, their legacies – whatever that means – remain open to interpretation. They'll be 35 and 37 at the time of the next World Cup, so it's tempting to conclude that it was the last time we saw them both at their peak on their stage, without the fact that neither one neither the other near their summit in Russia
Oh, there were moments, of course: the goal defying Messi's geometry against Nigeria, Ronaldo's carefree hat-trick against Spain. But after an era that was fashioned, distorted, almost defined by these two superheroes, it was perhaps the tournament when the idea of the star player who was dragging his team alone on the line. arrival finally ran out of locomotion. Mo Salah, Robert Lewandowski and Neymar have all been eager to catch the tournament by his setbacks. But in their respective failures, one realizes that building a camp around a single captivating individual is never the most lucrative strategy.
In any case, the next age will not boast of two superstars but of several. That was the other side of this World Cup: the anointing of a new generation of champions, players we knew all along had potential, but now we have started to do it in a very serious way. If the 2010s were the decade of Messi and Ronaldo, the 2020s will be the decade of Mbappe and Pogba, De Bruyne and Hazard, Torreira and Betancur, Stones and Pickford: men of enormous individual talent, but with a well defined tactical role. that full-fledged tactics
The real team of the tournament, however, was Russia. And not just Russia playing the XI, a limited but eagerly high team in the quarter-finals on an inexhaustible race and pursuit diet that has barely passed the test of the naked eye, but the country's Russia. The most expensive World Cup in history has proven to be the best-organized, with virtually no violence or unpleasant incidents, immaculate transportation and stadium infrastructure, and a concerted charm offensive that, according to you, has only been partially entrusted to strangers. were truly bewitched by the hordes of strangers in the middle of them, dancing and singing and lining their coffees with flags and hope. A country that has always looked vaguely at the rest of the world has been confronted with the vibrancy of globalization and has not hated it. Our solidarity should remain as strong as ever with those who are oppressed and harassed by the odious government of Russia and those threatened by its belligerency. But if these few weeks have brought us closer to a micron, then it may not have been a totally useless experience. This is not because Vladimir Putin did a good tournament that everyone had a bad one.
There has always been evil and evil in the world, there has always been darkness in souls and there will always be darkness. The World Cup will always offer a platform for opportunists and demagogues, kleptomaniacs and carpet-guards. It will continue – unfortunately – to generate pollution and waste that breaks the heart and rot the planet. In four years, the circus will go to Qatar, a flagrant racist state that does not think of hand-frying migrant workers on the plate of its own selfish prestige. We should, and we must, always remain vigilant.
But even by the vortex of the black hole of the stupidity of Fifa remains, perhaps, a nucleus of undeniable truth. Football brings people together. Football awakens our collective spirit like nothing else on earth. And in a troubled world, as long as there is a ball and a field, and people can play and watch, the reservoir of human happiness will never be completely dry. It's only football. But when it's done correctly, what a gift it is.
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