Some time ago, I booked a vacation for this week, partly so that I would have plenty of time to watch the climax of the World Cup. But now that the semifinals are upon us, I have a little confession to make: I’m not looking forward to them quite as much as I should be. And I suspect many other soccer fans feel the same way.
With two powerhouse matchups lined up—Brazil versus Germany later today, and Argentina versus the Netherlands on Wednesday—every soccer fan, the newbie as well as the lifer, ought to be licking his or her chops. But after a procession of low-scoring games in the quarter-finals, in which two of the surprise teams of the tournament—Costa Rica and Colombia—were both eliminated, some of the joy has gone out of this event. To bring it back to life, and to insure its place among the list of great World Cups, we badly need at least one high-scoring thriller, or, preferably, a couple of games dominated by free-flowing, attacking play rather than regimented defense.
It’s perfectly possible that the semifinals, or the final itself, will produce one of the great World Cup games that everybody remembers. Right now, though, I wouldn’t bet on it. Since the end of the group stages, there have been twelve matches, and no team has scored more than two goals. What started out as a festival of soccer has turned into a grim, physical grind, dominated by defensive formations that rely on mistakes by the other team, and breakaway goals, to end deadlocks. It’s a bit like the rest of the world has taken a lead from Team U.S.A., which is renowned for its defensive organization and physical prowess. Rather than throwing players forward and trying to overwhelm the opposition, teams are sitting back and trying to avoid costly errors.
During the round of sixteen, the dearth of high-scoring games didn’t matter much. All of the matches were keenly contested, and at least a couple of them—Mexico versus the Netherlands and Belgium versus the United States—were absorbing contests that ended in high drama. (I’m not counting the two penalty shootouts, which saw Brazil and Costa Rica advance. They are always cheap thrills.) But as the quarter finals unfolded, the lack of goalmouth incidents, and the dearth of true attacking creativity, made them something of a grind to watch, especially for casual viewers. For three games in a row, the favorites—Germany, Brazil, and Argentina—took the lead early and held on to it. Only Brazil was really threatened, by Colombia, and, on that occasion, the excitement was largely confined to the last ten minutes of play. Costa Rica and Holland both failed to score before the Dutch went through on penalties.
Looking back, the most memorable moment in the quarterfinals was a foul—the knee in the back of the Brazilian striker Neymar by Colombia’s Juan Zúñiga, which fractured one of Neymar’s vertebrae and knocked him out of the tournament. If Germany beats Brazil, which I think is the most likely outcome of today’s game, two hundred million Brazilians will regard Zúñiga’s wild lunge as the defining moment of the entire tournament.
That wouldn’t be fair. Even before Neymar’s exit, Brazil was not playing with any authority or flair. In the group stages, it was unimpressive in a victory over Croatia, lucky not to lose to Mexico, and, finally, a convincing winner over Cameroon. It was fortunate, once more, to beat Chile (on penalties) in the round of sixteen. And in the quarterfinals, against Colombia, its play, yet again, lacked the freedom, trickery, and brio that characterized the great Brazilian teams of the past.
I’m not picking on the host nation. Pretty much the same thing can be said of all the other semifinalists, too. In progressing this far, Germany and Argentina have both been efficient, but neither has shone. In the most remarkable game of the tournament so far, Holland humiliated the Spanish title holders, but since that historic victory its performances have been spotty. Consequently, the overriding impression of the World Cup so far has been that it doesn’t contain any great teams. One or two notable individuals, yes—Holland’s Arjen Robben, Argentina’s Lionel Messi—but no great teams.
Of course, that could still change. If any of the four remaining teams puts in two impressive performances, its previous shortcomings will be largely forgotten, especially by its own fans. But what will be the manner of its victory? In the grand scheme of soccer history, this can matter as much as the result. Thus, the losing Dutch team of 1974, which created a new type of soccer—“total football”—and the French losing team of 1982, which also played lovely, flowing football, are remembered as well as the winning teams from those tournaments, which were Germany and Italy.
This year, since the knockout competition began, we have searched in vain for a team playing what the Brazilians refer to as “the beautiful game,” or even anything resembling it. Commenting on the lack of high-scoring matches and audacious individual flair, Joachim Löw, the German coach, said: “In this World Cup, the football is more about a physical dynamism, tough duels, players who will work and fight.” With four games to go (including the consolation game for third place) let’s hope that Löw’s comments don’t end up as the last words on Brazil 2014.
Photograph by Laurence Griffiths/Getty.
