We awoke to the sobering news that three people had died during the street festivities not far from our hotel following Mexico’s win. The Mexican government is both investigating and looking at what measures can be put in place to try to prevent another tragedy.
All three died from asphyxiation due to the heavy crowding, reports said.
I’m a little lost for words to be honest.
In truth we had a lousy trip home after. The traffic from the stadium was almost as bad as it had been heading to, and this time interrupted by lots of people blowing trumpets and invading intersections. When we were approaching the downtown area it was clear we wouldn’t get anywhere within cooee of our hotel due to the number of blocked streets. Some had been intentionally shut by authorities with barricades and so on but some were just people-blocked. In places drivers had used entire roadways as parking lots and that was that.
Our exasperated guide and driver were clearly a bit anguished about leaving us to foot-haul the last two kilometres or so among boisterous/stupid/drunk crowds but realistically there was no other option. We finally arrived at the hotel at about 01.40 after having left at 14.30 the previous day. Perhaps the VIP experience is quite different but to be an average fan you need quite a bit of stamina at the World Cup.
We had a quietish day to recover, but then topped off with a night of innocent fun at lucha libre, i.e. Mexican wrestling. The costumes were super and the play-acting delighted the crowd. Our favourite moment was when a dwarf (!) corner man started to get involved while one of the tag team distracted the referee. The noise that went up wasn’t quite like at the Azteca yesterday but it was considerable. For a moment I thought we might be in for a spot of dwarf-throwing when he was found out but the little fella, dressed as a cheeky green bird, dashed off to safety.
Aaaand there was football too.
England survived a brave assault by the Democratic Republic of Congo who went ahead early and held the lead for over an hour as England’s expensive array of stars struggled to put it together. But then cometh Harry Kane, England’s captain and leading goalscorer, with a double within 11 minutes to turn the game. The second was an absolute masterpiece of skill, see the game highlights here.
Belgium were the second European team of the day who needed to play their get-out-of-jail card against African opposition. Senegal leaped out to 1-0 half-time courtesy of a Habib Diarra goal and looked quite in control when Ismaila Sarr added another early in the second half. The Belgians arm-wrestled their way back into the match and produced two goals in four minutes from Romelu Lukaku and Youri Tielemans to send the contest into extra-time.
Belgium looked dead on their feet and hanging on for a penalty shootout win at best when instead they were awarded a standard penalty for a trip on Tielemans, after a lengthy VAR review. The Aston Villa midfielder calmly scored the kick himself in the long shadows of the 125th minute to send Belgium into the last 16. Highlights here.
While we are on Belgium I was way impressed by their jersey which features a homage to a famous painting the Voice of Space by legendary Belgian artist Rene Magritte.
It even bears a tiny inscription ‘This is not a jersey’ to echo Magritte’s also-famous ‘This is not a cigar’ painting.
A goal in each half was enough to give the USA a home win over Bosnia-Herzegovina, highlights here.
Following these results, England will head here to Mexico City to face the hosts while Belgium will play the USA in the Round of 16.
Thursday’s games in the Americas are Spain v Austria (not us, the Sound of Music mob), Portugal v Croatia, Switzerland v Algeria.
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 – Bosnia-Herzegovina, DR Congo, South Africa, Curacao, Haiti
Bosnia-Herzegovina – Round of 32 – copping the USA in the elimination round was bad luck, particularly this USA that has a bit of swagger about it and home support to boot. The country’s football set-up is improving steadily as the war years fade into the past and they surpassed their 2014 World Cup achievement. BH getting out of the group that included another co-host in Canada and the experienced Switzerland was already a fine achievement. The Bosnians will farewell the classy Edin Dzeko but their future looks bright with some classic Slavic ballplayers in their line-up.
Democratic Republic of Congo – Round of 32 – only their second time on the world stage, and a decisively better account than in 1974 when they lost all three matches and conceded 14 goals. This time around they notched a draw with Portugal, a narrow loss to Colombia and their first ever win 3-1 over Uzbekistan. Unfazed by England, they pushed a much more experienced tournament team all the way in a narrow 2-1 loss. “They died with their boots on,” said Diego sagely as we watched the game over breakfast on a mobile phone because the breakfast cafe wasn’t showing football because reasons. This DR Congo team was way under-rated going into the tournament and stereotypical jibes about dictators, genocides and so on seem even more ridiculous now.
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 – Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Sweden, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Panama, Iran, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Scotland
Ecuador – Round of 32 – a win over Germany to secure their passage from the group was their tournament highlight and one that they will surely talk about for a long time. That said they were unadvisably clinging to an ageing Enner Valencia in attack and struggled in their eliminator against the pace and movement of Mexico. Facing a host country was always a big ask. Energetic coach Sebastian Beccacece is out the door with his contract finishing with this tournament. I suspect he’ll land on his feet, as will the Ecuador which has plenty of young talent to work with.
Ivory Coast – Round of 32 – a far cry from the 2010 version that featured absolute stars like Didier Drogba, Yaya Toure and Salomon Kalou, an aura still surrounds the IC as one of the classier African outfits. It’s surely fading now after this team eked out modest wins against Curacao and Ecuador, lost to Germany, then lost a winnable eliminator against Norway. They didn’t show a lot to be honest and an exit at this stage is their current level.
Sweden – Round of 32 – a sparkling 5-1 win over Tunisia got them off to whirlwind start, though they reversed that scoreline in the next game against Netherlands before drawing with Japan. That only put them in third place in their group and yes the punishment for that is banging heads with one of the top teams. France duly showed them what football is about. This is not a bad Swedish team but really needs a very gifted manager to make it a better-than-the-sum-of-its-parts outfit. Currently ranked 38 in the world and that feels about right.
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 – Senegal, Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand, Qatar, Uruguay, Czech Republic, Turkey, Iraq, Korea Republic
Senegal – Round of 32 – after losses to both France and Norway, no disgrace as such, Senegal relied on a 5-0 goal feast against Iraq to catapult themselves into the last of the eight slots allocated for the best third-placed teams. This guaranteed them a tough opponent and thus they fell to Belgium through a cruel last-minute penalty after coughing up a 2-0 lead with just minutes of normal time left. Senegal had come into the tournament after having beaten Morocco in the African Cup of Nations Final earlier this year (although the title was later stripped for ‘excessive protests’ against the referee), and they are indeed the second-highest-ranked African country in the FIFA list. In that context they would have fancied a run to the quarter-finals or beyond. They will be very disappointed at having condeded three goals to all three European opponents and that is not a winning recipe.
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?” Update: Koeman gooooorrrnnee.
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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