Like many big cities Mexico City can be a bit grey. Showers last nights cleared up the air a bit but by this morning it was a wan grey again. Thanks, morning traffic.
CDMX as the locals refer to it reminds me a lot of Jakarta. That connurbation which snakes out in all directions these days is something like 25 million and roughly the same size as the extended metropolitan area of the Mexican megalopolis.
But it’s more the overall set up that does it: grand avenues choked with traffic, mark-our-national-identity monuments that tower over slums, the whiff of power in the air that somewhere not far away a deal of national importance is being done, beggars tapping at the heavily-tinted windows of flash cars, the promise of opportunity and the sheer desperation that draws the rural poor to the capital for a chance to ‘make it’, the untouchable arrogance of simply being the capital, and so on.
In Jakarta’s case that arrogance has come a cropper with construction underway on a new capital Nusantara on another island completely, with political relocation scheduled in 2028. What happens to Jakarta after that is anyone’s guess. The well-known subsidence problems are not easy to solve. At least Mexico City appears to have a solid footing for a long-term future.
We had a stroll around more of the central area, including the Monument to the Revolution, the La Ciudadela Artisan Market and Alameda Central (Park). The market had just a stunning array of colourful crafts, although it was one of those markets where it seemed like about three-quarters of the stalls were selling pretty much the same thing and there relatively few vendors specialising in niche and/or regional products.
Many streets were already being blocked off in preparation for Mexico’s game tomorrow and we saw at least four giant screens being put up.
Looking ahead, if Mexico lose I suppose the crowds will disperse quite quickly. But if Mexico win then I expect like last week in Guadalajara it will be a wall of noise until the wee hours. That’s the result everyone is not just hoping for but expecting here. Especially Merlin the duck!
I wish I could keep a secret but we have a special appointment to meet Merlin tomorrow.
Just to squeeze in a bit of food chat in I have been impressed with the breakfast buffets at our hotels. A lot of effort has gone into the presentation, the service has been attentive and the range of food has been adequate, although a bit too meaty-heart-attack for my liking.
The honey-dripper below is a case in point about the presentation:
Pure theatre, top marks for effort.
Meanwhile FIFA has published some data on viewing figures for the Socceroos (see below).
The other big Socceroos news was that two ‘homecoming’ friendlies against Brazil will be played in September. Australia will host the five-times world champion in Townsville on 25 September and in Brisbane four days later. Details are here.
More detailed data will be available after the tournament.
Jordan maybe headed home but they exited with style, leaving a present of traditional Jordanian sweets in the locker room for stadium staff.
In case you fancy making some predictions, this nifty circular visualiser thingy is quite the tool.
Speaking of predictions, this Japanese fan is just hilarious with his ‘random’ prediction spinner. Well played, sir!
Brazil v Japan is the World Cup’s only Round of 32 match where one country is literally on the other side of the world from the other. Parts of Japan point straight through the Earth to Brazil. Okinawa’s antipode* lands near Santa Catarina, Paraná. Thanks to Iain Cameron for another geography dork-out.
So to the football itself. Japan took a lead into half-time and to be honest went down fighting. The last-gasp goal for Brazil with extra-time looming gave them no time to recover. In the end 2-1 was probably a fair reflection of the game, (highlights here).
At this stage of the whizzer there are no easy matches so Brazil will face off against either Norway or Ivory Coast in the Round of 16.
In the second game Germany and Paraguay (fresh from being dominated by Australia) drew 1-1 at full-time and were unable to add to the scoresheet in the 30 minutes of extra-time. Penalties ensued and Paraguay triumphed 4-3 after seven penalties each. Highlights here. Penalties are not my favourite thing and are a decidedly lousy way to decide a match, but they do provide some upsets and this will go down as one of those. Germany had won all four previous penalty shootouts at World Cups yet three players fluffed their lines today. Ouch.
Germany’s departure means another former champion is out of the race, following Italy (didn’t qualify) and Uruguay (group stage).
That leaves France, Brazil, England, Spain and Argentina with dibs on another title…or could we see a new name etched on the trophy?!
Paraguay advance to the Round of 16 where their opponents will be either France or Sweden. It’s a near amazing recovery by Paraguay after they were shellacked 4-1 by the USA on the second day of the tournament but scrambled four points in their next games to qualify as a third-placegetter.
In the final game Netherlands – delightfully rendered in Spanish as Los Paises Bajos, The Low Countries – clashed with Morocco. It was another enthralling 1-1 whose deadlock was only broken by penalties after extra-time (highlights here). The Dutch came off second best and will head home while Morocco continue to the Round of 16 where they will face Canada.
Tuesday’s games in the Americas feature Ivory Coast v Norway, France v Sweden and lastly Mexico v Ecuador here in Mexico City. We’ll have to head off four and a half hours before kick-off so it’ll be a long day. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Enjoy the football and have fun!
ELIMINATED TEAMS NOW MARINATING IN THE QUAGMIRE OF PUNGENT SADNESS
Now that we are at the stage where teams are being eliminated I am keeping a running list of them and also doing a brief summary of how they went. The list will be in three groups: Overachieved, About As Expected, Underachieved. Newly-addeds are higher-up and in bold.
Overachieved – South Africa, Curacao, Haiti
South Africa – Round of 32 – after making history in 2010 as the first host nation to not pass the group stage, the Bafana Bafana had a point to prove here. No-one was confident of that after their opening round shocker losing 2-0 to Mexico with two players sent off. A come-from-behind draw against Czechia gave them a sniff before they did the business with a historic 1-0 win over Korea. The Saffers pushed Canada all the way with a respectable 58% possession in the round of 32 game but lacked punch up front. Overall the tournament was a big learning experience and a marker of progress for South African football.
Curacao – Group stage – the smallest nation at the tournament, and from their first appearance they will go home with a goal and a point. The entire squad will be legends in the nation’s footballing history.
Haiti – Group stage – not the worst, and if they had got something out of their first game to Scotland instead of a 1-0 loss maybe things could have been different. They put a couple of goals on the board against decent teams in Morocco and Brazil and overall put up a better showing than their only previous World Cup appearance in 1974.
About As Expected – Japan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Panama, Iran, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Scotland
Japan – Round of 32 – really the Blue Samurai didn’t do too much wrong. They started with a credible 2-2 draw with Netherlands, bushwhacked Tunisia 4-0 and drew with Sweden to finish second in their group. Unfortunately the draw paired them with Brazil in the eliminator and that was never going to be easy. With a 1-0 lead at half time they were in a position to cause an upset, but late Brazil pressure told with an equaliser and then Martinelli’s winner five minutes into stoppage time. As a team ranked 18 in the world they were capable of going further and might look back at this as a missed opportunity. Overall very competitive and a chance in any tournament when a slice of luck goes their way. I’ll monitor fan reaction and see if they agree with my categorisation!
Saudi Arabia – Group stage – the team struggled in qualifying and is clearly going through a generational change. I expected them to slot into third at best and in the end they were stonewalled by the brave Cape Verde unit.
Tunisia – Group stage – before this tournament Tunisia had qualified for the World Cup finals six times and failed to progress beyond the group six times. Make that seven and seven. Sacking the manager after game 1 smacked of chaos in the camp. They have a major goalkeeping problem with Chamakh rating 2.9 for the first game loss against the Netherlands, one of the lowest I have ever seen on Flashscore.
Panama – Group stage – only their second appearance at the finals, they lucked out with a difficult group. They drew three teams that have been at the quarter-finals or better since 2010 and all still with decent pedigree. Unsurprisingly they went down to straight losses, although all quite competitive. Better luck with the lotto ball sorting next time.
Iran – Group stage – on paper a good side but war and US immigration hard-ball was against them. Their travelling fans being denied entry and having their tickets revoked also didn’t help. I expected the dramas to be a bit much to handle and they were. As formeroo Socceroo and pundit Craig Foster said: “Above all, the World Cup must have exactly the same rules, treatment for all teams. Otherwise, it is not a ‘level playing field.’ Which is the inviolable premise of competition in football. Equal opportunity to compete, to excel. That has not been the case. And it’s shameful.”
Uzbekistan – Group stage – first time at the Big Dance for the Uzbeks. They certainly boasted a star coach in former WC winner Fabio Cannavaro, but still lack a bit of quality on the field. Some impressive moments and they will not be too disappointed in the end.
Jordan – Group stage – another debutante who copped a group with very experienced opponents including of course reigning champions Argentina. Three defeats was in the tarot and thus it was.
Scotland – Group stage – ‘as expected’ as this is their first appearance at a Finals since 1998 and they clearly lack major tournament know how. That said, with the classy McTominay and other players from the Serie A and Premier League this is a somewhat golden generation that were very impressive in qualifying. After a win against Haiti the lack of any points against Morocco or Brail left them flapping in the third-place repechage. I think they’ll go on from here and Scots fans can look forward to next European Championship with a positive mood. Coach Steve Clarke stepped down after the exit.
Underachieved – Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand, Qatar, Uruguay, Czech Republic, Turkey, Iraq, Korea Republic
Netherlands – Round of 32 – still probably the best footballing country to have never won the trophy. The Dutch have been runners-up three times and are out in here in the first elimination round. After they coughed up a lead to draw 2-2 with Japan in their opener, they were flattered by the 5-1 scoreline against Sweden. 3-1 over the abject Tunisia gave them deserved pole position in their group, but unfortunately put them on course for Morocco who finished second in Brazil’s group. The Africans looked marginally superior all game it was no surprise they held their nerve in the shootout. At least on the surface it’s hard to understand why a team who scored 10 goals in the group games sat so low (more players behind the ball than the 4-2-3-1 formation used in the group) and surrendered so much possession. Coach Ronald Koeman will have a lot of explaining to do. With the Netherlands having plenty of experienced coaches with big egoes looking for their next challenge, I think Koeman’s a goner. A Dutch fan commented: “Zlatan (Ibrahimovic) never misses with the truth bombs. He’s right the Dutch have always been about attacking flair, total football, taking risks. This team looked lost and defensive. Losing your identity in a big tournament is the ultimate sin for Oranje. Koeman under pressure now. What do you think: time for a change?”
Germany – Round of 32 – after crashing out in the group stage for the last two World Cups, this is a slight improvement. But for the second-best national side in World Cup history after Brazil, it’s just not good enough. This was not a German team with anywhere near the pedigree of some of the former incarnations. Clinging on to goalkeeper Manuel Neuer who is now over 40 was to me symbolic of a lack of decisive leadership by coach Julian Nagelsmann. Bullying Curacao 7-1 in the first game was fools’ gold, 2-1 over Ivory Coast acceptable, but the writing was put on the wall with a 2-1 loss to Ecuador in the last. Nagelsmann had several days to sort out his team’s issues with South American opposition and didn’t quite get it right. One German fan commented: “Julian Nagelsmann should be sacked with immediate effect. The squad has not improved since he took the helm. There is a fundamental lack of personality in this squad. Robotic in nature, not clinical, pass backwards, can’t dribble, etc. That includes the Bayern Munich players as well. When all of the players get worse, there’s a structural problem and for that, Nagelsmann must go.”
New Zealand – Group stage – the All Whites dared to dream after a promising 2-2 draw to start and fine team goals. That was as good as it got with Egypt and then Belgium showing the gap in quality that is still to be bridged. I think third in the group was gettable so it feels like an underachievement to head home with another wooden spoon to add to that of 1982.
Qatar – Group stage – playing their second World Cup in a row, and in hot conditions, and presumably with a generation coming through that was inspired by hosting the tournament in 2022, I thought the Qataris might have been competitive. A 1-1 with Switzerland must have given hope of qualifying, but a 6-0 reverse to Canada flipped the script. Another loss to Bosnia and the departure lounge it is.
Uruguay – Group stage – trying to find something polite to say. Failing. Uruguay fans expect better than third place in the group and a miserable two points. As coach Marcelo Bielsa admitted, he failed to get the best out of the squad he had available. No excuses, their tournament was a disaster. Good analysis here.
Czech Republic – Group stage – have players playing in top leagues but did not put it together as a team. Just disappointing all round and the side looked strangely intimidated by the atmosphere and conditions.
Turkey – Group stage – they were a bit full of themselves prior to the tournament and paid the penalty. Their very expensive forward line failed to hit the target in the first two games and by then it was too late. Personally I think they were flattered by their ranking of 22 in the world and it will perhaps fall back to a more realistic 30-something after this tournament.
Iraq – Group stage – 1-4, 0-3 and 0-5, the Iraqis leaked goals to everybody. The Lions of Mesopotamia (spoiler: there are no lions and never have been in Mesopotamia) are renowned as a steely side and it just vanished here. See ya! As a caution to Australia, some of the Asian sides that have been caned at the World Cup will be licking their wounds and determined for a better showing in the Asian Cup in early 2027.
Korea Republic – Group stage – a shock 1-0 loss to South Africa in the final game left them on only three points. The Koreans generally put themselves about pretty well in World Cup group stages and this is definitely a fail by their standards. Coach Hong Myung Bo was sacked the day after their exit was confirmed. Aaaand South Korea president Lee Jae Myung says he is “utterly baffled” at the national team’s World Cup group-stage exit and called for the country’s sports ministry to investigate. Taking it well then…
Alan Whykes is a Tasmania-based writer and an ex- too many things to list.
This blog is the start of a new section called Tas At Large which showcases stories of Tasmanian diaspora let loose upon the world.
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