Today at the FIFA World Cup
The 2018 finalists kick off their campaign with much of that nucleus of players still in tact, including the likes of Mateo Kovacic and Luka Modric. Morocco are an interesting watch – the team of wing-backs with PSG’s Achraf Hakimi and Bayern Munich’s Noussair Mazraoui. (Read More)
FIFA World Cup: Small margins result in Argentina’s defeat to Saudi Arabia
Argentina would curse two spells in the game. The five-minute span of madness between the 48th and 53th minutes when Saudi Arabia belted in the game-defining goals. And the 13-minute stretch from the 22nd and 35th when three ‘goals’ were adjudged offside. In a wicked sleight, those two passages embodied the best and worst of Argentina. One illustrates the casualness in possession as well as the fleeting propensity to panic when defending around the box; the other, offside goals though they were and justifiably so, demonstrated the silk and style they possess when everything clicks, an indication of the quality they possess to rebound and salvage their tournament. (Read More)
World Cup 2022: Saudi win over Messi’s Argentina gives every team hope that it can write a fairytale of its own
Jorge Valdano writes about football as eloquently as he played. Four years ago during the World Cup in Russia, the former Argentina playmaker, who is now one of football’s foremost philosophers, mused in his Guardian column about his love for the game. “We want calculations to be proven correct before the game has even started,” he wrote. “Big data and mathematical projections are making their way onto the field of play to tell us things I don’t want to know. We love football for its imprecision, its moments of genius and its mistakes.” (Read More)
