Henry Winter’s World Cup Diary, Day 34
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Jersey/Miami
A confession. I was in such a bad mood when England lost to Argentina in Atlanta on Wednesday and, like everyone else, was furious with Thomas Tuchel’s second-half officiating that I immediately changed my plans and headed north to New York/New Jersey for the World Cup final. I couldn’t shake the thought of watching England in the third-place play-off against France. Miami be damned.
Who wants to cover up the game of shame? Who wants to shake off the ashes of England’s stay in North America after it burned itself down. Rather, Tuchel ruined their hopes of reaching the final with his confusing decisions. There are no more wasted opportunities than England’s collapse on the brink of their first World Cup final in 60 years.
So I bewilderedly set off, packed my woes into an old, rather kitsch bag, and flew to New Jersey on Thursday evening. When I woke up, still in a bad mood, looking at the rising Manhattan skyline, I came to my senses and realized that I should attend the wake in Miami and first listen to Tuchel’s explanations. Like many people who suffer, I needed closure.
So back to Newark, a three-hour flight to Fort Lauderdale and a taxi to the stadium. Tuchel eventually emerged, but he said he helped the understanding or eased the suffering. I came away from a despondency that was quite justified when I listened to John Stones, who could only be forgiven for thinking that England’s journey could begin and end with disappointment in Florida. Stones, who was on the waiting list for the 2014 World Cup, went to Miami, took part in England training, then was sent home by Roy Hodgson.
The defender was adamant that his career does not end here in the Sunshine State. Stones, 32, was adamant about continuing to play in England. But it clearly hurt. The Stones are successful, wealthy and utterly devastated. He recalled in slightly agitated, halting tones how he had tried to recover after Wednesday. “It was a blur,” Stones said. It was just about him revising the “scenarios in my head”, especially how he could take “different positions”. The thought immediately went into position for Lionel Messi’s pass, who cleared it and was met by Lautaro Martinez for Argentina’s winner. “It’s a difficult thing to digest or deal with. We as players can get quite rooted in our personal circumstances, anger or frustration. We forget very quickly how proud I am of everyone in our camp, in our staff, for the effort and dedication that has brought us to this point. It’s incredible.”
Stones stopped, still emotional. “It’s our nature as people to be very individualistic and that’s why we always strive for more. We all believed we could win it. It hurts even more to get to the semi-finals because we believed so much.” The room, which was actually the Miami Dolphins’ locker room, was full of sympathy for Stones. We wished him success in his 95th performance today. We could feel better about England because the players really care.
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Is there a bigger player in France than Didier Deschamps? It used to be Michel Platini, but he had a couple of problems. Zinedine Zidane won the World Cup with Deschamps in 1998, enjoyed a glittering club career, led Real Madrid to three Champions League titles and now succeeds Deschamps as France coach. But Deschamps did the World Cup double as a player and manager (2018), making him arguably the most important figure in French football history.
He remains behind after today’s third-place play-off against England. Deschamps was lightly grilled by the French press at yesterday’s press conference. The semi-final loss to Spain continues to generate much discussion, especially as France were favorites throughout the competition.
Yesterday, Thomas Tuchel expressed the respect that Deschamps shows in football. “Just an incredible personality, an incredible coach,” said the England manager of the man who will be in the dugout next door this afternoon. “He’s won everything as a player, he’s won everything as a coach of the national team. His personality is such a humble, polite person, I always enjoy seeing him, I’m always happy to see him in football. Unbelievably respected and nothing but the highest, highest respect.” Beautiful words. Desham deserves all the accolades he has received.
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“BE SAFE”, “BELIEVE”, “CHEER” and “MOTIVATE”. These are just some of the qualities that children expect when they go to the playground in Terminal A at Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey. There are no pictures of smiling Peppa Pig. It was more like the locker room of an ambitious college team. It’s all pretty competitive and challenging, basically for a few slides and a soft surface for them to fall on. These big words are written on the floor in a mini “New Jersey Hall of Fame” that leads past the small bleachers and leads to the slides and swings. Local heroes such as Willingborough, New Jersey sprinter Carl Lewis are celebrated along the way; gridiron star Eli Manning playing for the New York Giants in East Rutherford, where Sunday’s World Cup final will be played; and legendary American football coach Vince Lombardi, who cut his coaching teeth at a New Jersey college. There is no pressure on children.
Check out the rest of Henry Winter’s World Cup Diary here