Morning all.
Let’s start with the Arsenal interest in yesterday’s games, and it came in the reliable, handsome shape of Mikel Merino. Spain versus Portugal was billed by the RTE commentators at kick-off as the ‘Iberian Classico’, but it was anything but a classic. This was not a good game at all really.
Spain missed a really good first half chance when Mikel Oyarzabal fired wide, Portugal hit the bar at one point, but overall it was low quality fare. Lamine Yamal had a couple of moments but nothing much, and when Portugal’s players did get into good positions, they consistently eschewed the better option and tried instead to pass to Cristiano Ronaldo, even if there were a load of defenders around him. One from Pedro Neto in particular was quite hilarious.
I won’t lie, I feared extra-time. Spain looked a bit more dangerous when they brought on a soaking wet Ferran Torres, and his movement caused some problems for Portugal, if not enough end-product. Like many football fans, I talk to my television set as if it is somehow sentient, and at one point I said ‘You’ve gotta get Mikel Merino on here!’.
Nothing happened for a few minutes. Perhaps that message needed a bit of time to make its way across the Atlantic and into the consciousness of Luis de la Fuente, but eventually it happened. You’re welcome my Spanish friends. Merino’s first involvement was to get clattered by Bernardo Silva who just jumped into the Arsenal man shoulders first and looked astonished to get a yellow card because he typically gets away with that stuff in the Premier League.
That must have irked him, because a couple of minutes later, he fouled Merino again, Spain won a free kick in midfield, and from there got the only goal of the game. The Arsenal midfielder/striker ambled forward as the board for 6 minutes of injury time went up, he saw a space, Oyarzabal Torres saw him see the space and played a lovely pass between the defenders, and Merino finished brilliantly into the bottom corner to make it 1-0 and ultimately send Spain through. Did anyone have any doubt when he got into that position he’d do anything other than find the back of the net?
Portugal did have a late chance when Bernardo Silva headed over, then started some aggro with his very recent former teammate Rodri, which was lovely to see. He’s so perpetually irritating he should have ‘Chlamydia’ on the back of his shirt. Bruno Fernandes, see ya. Pedro Neto, get stuffed. And of course, Cristiano Ronaldo and the most unpleasant neck in human history, who told us ‘I’m back!’, hahaha. So back. Back home, more like.
Cameramen zoomed in to provide us the shots we all want to see. Not Spain celebrating, but close ups of his tears, the tears of unfathomable sadness. Which hopefully we’ve seen for the last time, it’s time for this old bloke to call it quits now.
In seriousness though, I think we have to give him respect for the longevity of his career and what he has achieved in that hahaah ahahah haha hahaha sorry I can’t keep it up. He’s always been a massive prick and every time he’s sad I revel in it.
Back to Spain though, and I was just delighted for Merino after what was a really difficult few months for him. There’s a documentary available about his rehab/recuperation which, sadly, is only available on the new Arsenal app. If anyone with any influence there is reading, please put it on YouTube. Some of us – hard as this might be to believe – don’t like watching stuff on our phones. I’ve seen bits though, where he talks about how difficult and painful the injury was, so to come back, make the World Cup, and make an impact in a big game like this, you’ve gotta be really pleased for him.
Then, with all the pre-game focus on FIFA’s corruption, it was USA v Belgium. Flo Balogun started, which wasn’t unexpected, but the game didn’t pan out the way the co-hosts would have wanted. They went behind early to a Charles De Ketelaere goal, equalised in the first half through a deflected free kick, before Leandro Trossard provided an assist for De Ketelaere to put Belgium back in front.
In the second half, Hans Vanaken made it 3-1 after a shocker from US keeper Matt Freese, and Romelu Lukaku added gloss to the scoreline with an injury time strike for 4-1. So, a disappointing night on the pitch for the US after an ignominious 36 hours off it. I have to say, while I fully understand bias and partisanship when football is involved, I’ve been quite surprised at how comfortable some people were with the political interference in the Balogun red card saga. I suspect quite a lot of those people would typically be of the ‘Keep politics out of football’ kind, but when it works in their favour, they’re much less strident about that. As I said yesterday, this was just fundamentally wrong, and as fans of the game, if we can’t find collective opposition to things like this, then we’re going to experience worse down the line.
As time goes on though, I hope people remember that while Balogun was at the centre of this storm, he was not to blame at all. He spoke afterwards, saying:
“I accepted the decision when I was given the red card. Then I also accepted the decision when I could play. There’s not much else I can really say on the matter. I think with all that being said, Belgium were the better team today.”
While Belgium’s coach, Rudi Garcia said of a post-game conversation with Balogun:
“He came to talk to me. I really liked that. It’s not his fault, he’s not the one to blame, I told him that. I appreciate the intention of him speaking to me.”
So he has behaved with an decency and dignity that the likes of Gianni Infantino, Donald Trump, and others in their orbit have not. When this incident is discussed, let’s remember the people who were truly to blame for creating yet another stain on this World Cup, and not a young footballer who got caught in the middle through no real fault of his own other than an unfortunate challenge. We all know people in positions of power don’t care if someone like Flo Balogun becomes collateral damage as they use their bully-boy tactics to get what they want, but those who understand will recognise he’s an innocent party and the the guilt lies elsewhere.
So, Belgium will now face Spain in the quarter-finals. Today we’ve got Argentina v Egypt before Switzerland take on Colombia. There’s an Arsecast Extra below if you haven’t had a chance to listen yet, for now, have a good one.
