the samba is gone

There are, in general, two types of trilogies:

1. the Star Wars one which begins with A New Hope, then Empire Strikes Back and we conclude happily with the Return of the Jedi.

2. or the Godfather one which chronicles the rise of a reluctant new leader (vanquishing his enemies), then his consolidation of ever greater power (even if it meant killing his own) and finally after a lifetime of sin, even "just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in again" and he had to pay the ultimate price.

A high note, followed by a low one, then a crescendo of happiness. Or a high, higher and then a sad even tragic low end. 

And so it is with the 2022 FIFA World Cup. 

Part 1: The group stage could well be a story of a hopeful more equal world. What with Asian and African teams besting the world champions from Europe and South America. 

However, part 2 of the tournament with the round of 16, the saying "form is temporary, but class is permanent", some of the old empire order seem to have been restored. All the stronger teams (on paper) won, even if some matches went all the way to the Russian roulette of a penalty shootout. 

So, what is part three - the quarter finals - which pits the top 8 best teams in the world against each other, like? On paper, any team can now win. Well, the first two quarterfinals were Europe vs South America. 

And like in the movies, both matches last night had the same plot. South Americans played better. They scored first. Their talismanic best player made their goals. The European opponents however were fitter and fought till the end and had equalised in the last minute to take the game to penalties. Thereafter it is no more about skill but nerves and some luck.

Croatia and Argentina prevailed. 

There is another definition of class, though. Not just about the footballing prowess but about how one behaves in victory as well as in failure. Consider the Japan team who beat both Germany and Spain and then lost in a shootout to Croatia (who went on to beat Brazil). 

And then consider the captain of Croatia, the ever classy Luka Modric, consoling Brazil players after the match.

And then consider the Argentina team who taunted a defeated Netherlands team who just lost the shootout.

And as we march onto the 4, 2 and eventually one winning team, I hope that not just form but also class wins.