Sunday, July 15, 2018

Round of 16 first day

The dreams came back.  Not nightmares like I'm being chased or falling, but nightmares of an unfeeling madness, or an intelligence so different and alien that 'insane' is the only fitting descriptor.  Lovecraftian, maybe, but as an Afrofuturist I'm uncomfortable with H.P. and his ways.

Anyway.  As Ed said, the France Argentina game was off of the chain; France won 4-3.  The Portugal Uruguay game was also chainless, with Uruguay upsetting Portugal 2-1.  Messi and Ronaldo are both out, and maybe that's a metaphor for the great masses being triumphant over the individual being of will.

French 19-year-old Mbappe is the first teenager since Pele to score two points in a Cup match, and while Argentina was scrappy and worked really hard to support their star Messi, the Argentinian defense was shoddy at best, like the thoughts of the man behind the dustbins, contemplating his meagre existence and wondering if he should use the knife on himself, or on those who have wronged him first.

Well, maybe not quite that dark.  Anyway.  The goalkeeping on both sides was - acceptable.  Nothing magical.  outside of that, however, this is the first game I saw so far that really looked like Cup-level soccer - two teams battling back and forth, nothing that made me cringe because of poor play, and just a joy to revel in the sport.  I have so few things that bring me joy these days that it's nice to see a game like this.

I called it wrong - Uruguay beat Portugal and now I can't use the word 'Iberians' anymore to describe two of my picks for the final four.  Portugal just didn't have the juice this Cup, I guess - It was not the contest that I saw in France-Argentina.  The Uruguayan team of Cavani (who scored two) and Suarez was some of the tightest offense I've seen so far, and if I say the match could have been more exciting that's because I have the earlier match today as a comparison.

Cavani was replaced late in the game with an injury, probably to his hamstring (and in a touching moment he was walked off by the Portuguese Ronaldo - nice to see respect at that level, like two battling cult leaders politely dividing up their captured victims).  And the Uruguayan keeper today wasn't the best I've seen - when France meets Uruguay in a week my money's on France.  I mean, maybe Cavani can recover.  Maybe their keeper can up his game.  Maybe France won't bring it as tight and as hard as a knife to the heart, with blood on the altar.  But I predict France to go to the semi-finals.

Unless they tighten their defense (and especially their keeping) I don't see France in the finals, though.

Hmmm.  Maybe my cold blunted my senses to the looming darkness of FIFA World Cup Soccer and it's Dark Masters.  Tomorrow is Spain vs Russia, and Croatia vs Denmark.  I'm going to take a shower and contemplate my shortcomings.  Until tomorrow,

  -Dave

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