World Cup Diary | Day Four

Day 4: Germany v Japan, Spain v Costa Rica, Morocco v Croatia, Belgium v Canada

You can't silence democracy. For FIFA and Qatar every day is a school day.

It could have been so easy. When I was asked by @Global's network of radio stations about the decision by FIFA to effectively ban the One Love armband, I hadn't given it much thought. To me, it was basically another fairly meaningless gesture in an avalanche of meaningless gestures.

How many t-shirts and campaigns and altered logos have we seen down the years? How much has any of the equated to real change?

In fact, banning the armband has highlighted and prolonged the conversation about it even more. In fact, this is the sort of petty spat that might just be the feather that broke the camel's back.

Charles Bukowski said it best, “it's not the large things that send a man to the madhouse... but a shoelace that snaps.. with each broken shoelace out of one hundred broken shoelaces..”.

If FIFA had just let the players wear the armband, that would have been the end of it, another gesture, another statement. The law in Qatar would not have changed. Now the European Football Associations are angry, exploring their options, considering suing FIFA.

Day four began with Germany v Japan. The German team lined up for the photo covering their mouths. These are the sort of things that can snowball, a single snowflake, yes, a snowflake, can cause an avalanche.

What would FIFA be without the European Football Associations? What a World Cup be without European nations?

Since FIFA gate, when an investigation into the International footballing body found the organisation to be riddled with corruption, a new President has been added, some things have changed. But has the organisation really changed that much?

In his first speech as President, Gianni Infantino said to the delegates and representatives of Footballs global associations, “FIFA's money is your money”. The presidency is up for election at the 73^rd FIFA Congress, 16 March 2023, to be held at Kigali, Rwanda.

Our money is your money. Unopposed elections. I would forgive anybody for thinking that this is business as usual.

Remember the shoelace, or the snowflake? Denmark revealed that they have been thinking, along with other Nordic countries, of leaving FIFA altogether, since August. Now that would be a statement.

Revolutions don't happen overnight. It's a steady progression of escalatory actions from both sides of conflict. But it feels like this armband could be the domino that brings FIFA down.

And a prediction: I bet Infantinto wishes he had just let them wear the armband.

Now from one organisation that causes mess, to fans that clean up after themselves and everyone else. Japan.

Powerful images of spirit and passion as another World Cup upset brought this tournament to life and took the headlines, however momentarily, away from all the off-field drama.

Germany had 81% possession in the first half, 5 shots on target, 5 shots blocked. Japan had one shot. They were hanging on. A tactical switch at half-time and the momentum swung significantly. Germany still had the majority of the possession. But the chances created were even.

When Ritsu Doan equalised four minutes after coming on, the Japanese could sense a shock in the making, when another substitute Takuma Asano put them ahead 8 minutes later, they were in dreamland.

The Samurai Blue were not dreaming though, they were banishing memories. It was in this city, 29 years ago, that Japan lost a World Cup qualifier. The Japanese coach Hajime Moriyasu was in the team that day. From agony to redemption, a journey three decades in the making.

A story that back home, half the world away, they're calling: “The Miracle of Doha”. This is the beautiful game.

But Japanese joy was also met with glee from Qatari journalists. The German starting 11 holding their hands over their mouths will be iconic image from these games. But losing after it gave ammunition to their critics. One Qatari journalist tweeted, “This is what happens when you don't focus on football” and was liked more than 200,000 times. A bit of an open goal that, just not sure he knows which team he's playing for.

This was a game that Japan deservedly won.

But the gesture has received a string of historical whataboutery, what about Ozil? What about France 98 “who stole the wealth of Africa”. You can find fault with any nation, you can also find critics within their country on any subject. But what is clear is that deflecting the debate away from the rights of LGBT+ peoples; as well as the right for the European Football Associations to express support for universal basic human rights, only deepens the divide further.

It will only fuel the escalatory nature of this conflict.

In the game after, Spain obliterated Costa Rica so completely it was the football equivalent of Goju-ryu and Uechi-ryu system, colloquially sometimes known as “Iron Crotch Kung Fu”. Which if you haven't heard of it, you really ought to google.

Spain 7 Costa Rica 0. Costa Rica had zero shots. The Costa Rica goalkeeper made one save, Spain scored 7 goals from 8 shots on target. Leaky. It must be a long way from Costa Rica after a performance like that.

Last times losing finalists Croatia came up against the wall that is Morocco. Morocco, if you didn't know, have only lost 2 games in their previous 40 over the last 3 years. Formidable. Both teams looked ponderous and neither looked like scoring.

Onto the final game of the day then and Belgium's golden generation came up against rank outsiders Canada, who absolutely battered them for a 1-0 loss. Canada's expected goals for this game was 2.63, Belgium's 0.77. Canada had 22 shots, that is more than Spain had against Costa Rica.

It was an utterly extraordinary performance, up there with the biggest shocks of the tournament so far. Unfortunately for Canada, their country have never scored at a World Cup final, and they might have had another 20 shots and I'm not sure it would have helped.

When you look up and see the Real Madrid goalkeeper in front of you, and your nation has never even scored a World Cup goal, you can imagine why many of these shots were ending up in orbit.

Twilight on day four and an early finish for the cleaning crew after Japan's game. But plenty of mess for FIFA to deal with. Might an armband be the domino that finally brings the proper reform needed in Footballs ultimate governing body? Who knows? But one thing is certain – critics of Germany's protests are only matched by Canada for completely missing the target.