As a rule I don’t take much interest in football but last night, after we’d finally got around to watching the day’s activity in the Tour de France, and after a bit of channel-hopping, we found ourselves watching the last stages of the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina.
As I said already, I don’t take a great deal of interest; when Phil watches Match of the Day on Saturdays and Sundays during the season I find something else to occupy, only noting what’s going on when he gets excited about something on the pitch. But this was the Cup Final: Spain versus Argentina, so far goalless and onto extra time. And it somehow became for Spain - disapproved of by Trump for supporting Palestine and for various other reasons - to defeat Argentina - a far-right country approved of by Trump. politics is not supposed to enter into it but the Argentinians had already used the football pitch as a platform to tell everyone watching that the Falkland Islands belong to Argentina and are really called Las Mallvinas.
It was all very tense. Then Spain scored but the goal was disallowed because the player was offside, only just offside but there it was. The ball went up and down the pitch. Both sides had unsuccessful shots at goal. Then Ferrán Torres scored a goal for Spain and we had to endure the tense remaining minutes until the final whistle blew and it could be acknowledged that Spain had won!
“Argentina’s reaction in defeat was shameful. They turned their backs on the Spain players as the trophy was presented, preferring to keep their eyes on the fans behind one of the goals. Donald Trump, who did not want to leave the stage as the Spain captain, Rodri, got his hands on those six kilograms of solid gold bliss, was not the only person to make a spectacle of himself.”
I’m quite surprised Mr Trump hasn’t claimed that he invented football!
Much praise rained down on Spain’s 19 year-old Lamine Yamal, just 19 a couple of weeks ago.and some tears were likely shed for Lionel Miessi with his team losing what will almost certainly be his last world cup match. He’ll have to change from football legend into football pundit!
We have been recording Channel Five’s daily summary of each day’s stage of the Tour de France. Yesterday it was the middle fo the evening when we got around to it as we had had a big family dinner and sat chatting for ages. And in that summary we saw Jonas Vingegaard, until now second behind Tadej Pga af, acrash out of this year’s competition. It seems he may have hit cobbles on a bend, came off his bike and broke his collarbone. Interviewed before the stage began he had said thatch had had a bad night, being woken by a knock at his door at 2.00 am - a random drugs test.
The wearer of the yellow jersey is tested at the end f every stage. Other riders are apparently tested at random. The middle of the night seems cruel. Tadej Pogacar suggested that being woken in the small hours may have been a factor in the crash. “If Jonas, if he was tested at 2am in the morning, he probably slept less than four hours, or his deep sleep was ruined. It ruined the night,” he said. Remco Evenepoel, now in second place, also commented, saying: “It's pretty disrespectful. To be honest, [if] I had it, I would send my team to wake them [doping control officials] up to feel how it is.
“It's something inhuman, it's something that we should not accept as athletes. Everyone knows sleep is the only recovery moment we have, and if that gets disturbed... This is the hardest and the biggest race in the world. This is a shame that this happened, and I hope it doesn't happen any more in the future.”
It’s a hard life being an athlete, but they must feel rather privileged to be able to make a living doing something they love.
Today is a rest day for the riders, but no doubt they’ll still be out there training in the heat.
Life goes n. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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