Number 10 is an accident. A sign of appalling unreality. The chance that was caused without hands (or guitar) involved. A trick of the feet, which spoil almost everything and every 4 years they play the illusion of fixing it. If someone was to blame, it was Lorenzo Villoro, who was part of the organizing committee for the 58 World Cup in Sweden.
When soccer began to understand numbers, this Uruguayan assigned one to each player of the Brazilian team that went to the tournament. The 17-year-old boy, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, got 10. More than 20 years later, when in Argentina the numbers were given in alphabetical order, Skinny Menotti shit on everything, as was his custom, and put 10 on it to Diego Maradona in Spain 82. So the shirt was for the playmaker, for the most technical player on the field, for the “hook”. The player began to earn it. At least that’s how it was for 30 years, until the schemes and game systems changed. And the 10 began to disappear, terrified, almost as rationality destroyed all hint of magic or mystery in the world.
Luckily there are some anachronistic ones. Luckily Messi remains, as the last point of that triangle where the bases are Pelé and Pelusa. There is no scheme that definitively stops the 10, that’s what Rosarino told Tata Martino in the 64th minute of the Mexico-Argentina toss.
The 10th saved Escaloni when he didn’t know what to do before the Pyramid that the El Tri men built. Neither eleven, nor initial tactic, nor changes in the complementary were effective until Lionel’s left-handed blow, blow, maso to Memo Ochoa. Alexis Vega, the one who wears the same number as Leo for the Central Americans, was the only one who could disturb Dibu’s door with a bounced free kick launched near the area. Martino’s thing today was a prayer, but in football the only god who sometimes hears is Maradona.
If Borges said that in sex all men are the same man, in the World Cups from the eleven steps, all 10 are Roberto Baggio in front of the goalkeeper struggling to insert the ball into the net. And when he errs again “one and a thousand shadows burn rhythmically”; and, together with the Cuban poet Juan Carlos Flores, we know the meaning of failing.
As Salem Aldawsari found out, in the Saudi Arabia-Poland game when he saw that Wczecny saved the penalty that could tie the game. Salem was a spectacle on the field of play: he dribbled, filtered balls, left his teammates one-on-one, and destroyed the waist of the Polish defense. His game (and that of his entire team) was as exciting as coach Renard’s harangue at halftime against Argentina, but he could not avoid defeat against a team that had his figure in the Juventus goalkeeper with five saves. To reconfirm that he is the worst goalkeeper of the best in the world.
The metaphor of the game of the White Eagles resides in who their 10 shirt is: Grzegorz Krychowiak, a destroyer, a recoverer. If they proposed something on the field, surely that number would correspond to Piotr Zielinski, author of the first goal, with assistance from Robert Lewandoski. Robocop shed a tear at the unexpected gift of scoring the second, which was his first World Cup goal after 5 duels and two missed penalties.
The group remains open and the 4 teams continue with options to qualify in the last round of this group stage. The Poles will try to overcome the onslaught of the albiceleste, who comes with everything. We already know whose hand. The Saudis could add to the surprise with a win over Mexico, which is goalless in two games.
Tunisia also continues without opening the scoring. In 1967 his DT, seeing that he lost 1-0 against Australia, brought Wahbi Khazri, number 10, to the green, who was making his debut in Qatar after not having played a minute against Denmark. Khazri is the second highest scorer in the history of the team and was the leader in Russia 2018 by scoring 2 goals and distributing 2 assists, of the 5 goals that the Africans achieved. He contributed to his country’s first victory in a World Cup since Argentina 78. He is the most technical player of these Águilas de Cártago, but he is not at his best for the tournament; After a start to the season as a substitute at Montpellier in France, he repeats his bench here. Wahbi finished softly, with his left foot, inside the box, almost at the end of the regulation 90, in one of the clearest shots by a Tunisian, who, although he dominated, could not find a way to break Matthew Ryan’s goal. Against France it does not seem that they have options on the next date. Not even breaking the nets once.
For her part, the current world champion leaned on the 10, Kylian Mbappe to contain the red dynamite from Denmark. Although rather, the PSG winger looked like a 9 with his double.
To the terror of the Scandinavians, the only one who could keep track of him when he started was Theo Hernández, the blue left back. This society is envisioned as one of the most fearsome of the event. The creation of the game was provided by Griezman, multiplied by the entire field.
In the opposing team, faced with an injury to Thomas Delaney from the previous match, Christian Eriksen dropped back down the field to form a double pivot with Holjberg. To make up for the lack of goal, the mage has to be closer to his mana source, which is the edge of the large area. He is needed by the country to advance to the round of 16. The World Cup needs him to enjoy his assists or shots. That number 10 is an accident. A survivor of the atrocious reality.
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