World Cup Watch Party: The Final
The ends of multiple eras, anticlimactic and disappointing for the main characters, just like in real life. And now we get to start all over.
Well. That’s it. What did we learn? What do we take away from all of this? If you’re new here, you can catch up on the series here:
It’s Over, Now We Can Wait for It To Start Again
Soccer isn’t a game where you can rely on the statistics as the whole story. I get a little frustrated when people get too in the weeds about things like xG and “big chances created.” But the statistics in the World Cup Final between Spain and Argentina did a pretty good job of explaining the whole vibe.
The eye test showed that Argentina relied on a strategy of “rely on the greatest player of all time for individual magic, assume our superstar goalkeeper will continue to make game-saving stops when necessary, and the other nine of you can go out there and bust heads.”
It’s not an easy feat to paint Lionel Messi as the villain. He can be a bit of a bastard on the pitch, and he has his “Little Dictator” reputation. But, still, it’s largely understood that he’s the light end of the Ronaldo-Messi spectrum. And yet, the rest of the Argentina squad managed to make themselves the villain. Through its collective lack of ever really pushing to win the game through things like shots or goals, and through heavy tackles and then starting fights after the final whistle, there was very little to cheer for. It was a bad look all around, and it made it easy to look at the unbreakable unit of Spain, with its marketing push led by a teenager with braces and his adorable little brother in the stands, anointed and chosen by Messi himself.
It felt more like a relief than anything. Argentina winning that game, after doing so much of nothing for 120 minutes plus stoppage time would be the ultimate in “Nothing ever happens.” They did nothing, and in return they would be rewarded with an ending that felt unsatisfying and even scripted. The greatest of all time with an unprecedented back-to-back victory, sailing off into the perfect sunset after a difficult battle to get to the final, crossing off minor boss fights along the way. It would all just feel a little American, don’t you think? Especially after we were given an unprecedented halftime show, the idea of Messi doing something else unprecedented in the home of the New York Giants and also the Jets just seemed very unappealing. The supposedly ironclad rules of soccer were broken to allow for “hydration breaks” that turned a game of halves into a game of quarters, and American fans still cried out for more rule changes. Scripting it to become a perfect Super Bowl career finale would have been the ultimate pandering to the American viewer that should not be attempted to be won over.
Instead, we were given purity. Crisp passing, total football, suffocation by possession and patience. The winning assist coming from a player whose mother walked thousands of miles while pregnant to give her family a better life in Spain. There was more to root for in Spain rather than simply rooting against something or rooting for one person. Spain was a something, Argentina was (by and large) a nothing, despite Messi. It was clear they were hoping to get to penalties, where Emi Martinez would shine. It seemed like an apt ending for a match that would be scripted to create maximum drama as well as commercial break opportunities.
Instead, we got a nice little team buildup from Spain ending with a solid goal and then the match ended with Messi crying. There were no penalty heroics, no second chances, only an Argentina team down to 10 men thanks to Enzo Fernandez’s poor decision making and the fact that Argentina, the top-ranked team in the world, just never had control of the situation.
And now the Messi era seems like it’s over. The Ronaldo era on the international level is over — the Saudi league might as well just be a very lucrative purgatory. The Neymar era is over. The Kane era as we know it may well be over depending on what a 36-year-old Harry Kane looks like. That’s the thing: We simply don’t know where we’ll be in four years, but it’s exciting as hell to have that unknown ahead of us as a sports fandom.
We now get to watch these new story arcs develop, these new eras ushered in. The Lamine Yamal era, the Mbappé era, the Jude Bellingham era. New rivalries, new comparisons. On the sidelines, we’re about to be gifted Zidane managing France and Klopp managing Germany, and I’d bet my bottom dollar that Pep Guardiola is in the dugout in 2030, whether it’s for Spain, Italy or he goes full competitive psycho and takes a job like the U.S. just to prove that he really can do it all.
The World Cup Final was a much worse game than the “Bronze Final,” in which France and Spain exchanged blows in a high enough scoring game to convert even the most staunch believer that soccer is too boring and nothing ever happens. But, the final had the stakes. And it had a result that allowed us all to move on rather than clinging to some past. We could welcome the beginning of something new. We were given closure.
Because closure isn’t always that perfect positive moment. It rarely is, in fact. Often closure comes with enormous heartbreak that sticks with you forever. Often, closure comes when you experience a loss. That’s just how it works. You lose a lot more than you win.
Despite all of the problems around this World Cup and FIFA as an organization, it’s impossible not to be excited about what’s next. Four years can be an eternity when so much can happen. Entire lives and arcs can happen in the negative space that exists between World Cups, if you’re not someone who pays attention week in week out for the overwhelming global soccer calendar. But maybe you will now.
If this World Cup didn’t ignite a little something in you to at least be curious about soccer going forward, if the Viking Row didn’t inspire you to at least check out a Manchester City game, or if Lamine Yamal didn’t get you down a Wikipedia rabbit hole of the history of FC Barcelona and its political identity, or if you just didn’t feel that magic that the evangelists talk about, then it might truly just not be for you. At least for now. And that’s OK.
There’s always next time. Chances are good Shakira will still be performing, and thank goodness for that because she rocks. Chances are also good that Alexi Lalas will still be part of it, too. But, we can still dream for a better tomorrow. A lot of things can happen between now and 2030.
Today’s Snakes and Sparklers musical guest is Shakira.