Rivalries

As I got older, I am finding that I have less passion in which sports team wins or loses. I watched the games for the athletic skills of the players (which I don't and at this age will never possess). I also watch for the human drama. Whether its a selfish Max Verstappen who wouldn't yield a spot to team mate Sergio Perez who has helped him all season or a never give up Lee Chong Wei especially against Lin Dan.

In the case of this World Cup, I had wanted the highest drama: to see the two South American giants battle it out in the semifinal, or even better to see the two finest players in this generation, Ronaldo and Messi, play against each other in the final. Alas, by 1am today, neither of these were possible.

Brazil had lost out on penalties to Croatia and Ronaldo's Portugal lost to Morocco. While the chance of  seeing CR7 against his GOAT rival was not to be, I actually am happy to have a team represent a country, a continent and a culture in the semi-finals. These tournaments have mostly been played either on European or South American soil, and in nearly all cases, a country from the continent would win. Could Morocco having beaten their European neighbours just north of them across the Mediterranean Sea keep on conquering and beat France next and play in the final? They would be the first "outsider" team to do so.

At the turn of the millenium, the first World Cup finals outside Europe and South America was hosted in Asia, specifically Japan and Korea. The Korean team made us Asians proud by making it all the way to the semifinals. South Africa hosted the tournament in 2010 and now Qatar became the first Arab host nation. And an Arab country is in the semi-finals too. So no Argentina vs Brazil, no CR7 vs LM10. 

There was one match up that did happen: England vs France. Expectedly the quality of football is not as high and Mbappe was kept quiet most of the match. But the drama was intense throughout. 3 goals. Unpunished fouls (which unjustly even resulted in France scoring their first). And a missed penalty by their captain and most prolific scorer, Harry Kane (tied with Wayne Rooney).

This tournament has given spectators plenty of drama and let's hope the last 4 matches of this 40-match tournament will give us more