The arduous and ritualistic wogball extravaganza known as the World Cup concludes in just a couple hours. Congratulations to England for winning yesterday’s playoff that counts for diddly-squat (though it’s mildly poetic that the 3 Lions should win 3rd place).
Before remarking about the World Cup, I will briefly comment on the forever-war between UK/England and Argentina over the Falkland Islands (Las Malvinas), because recent years have actually hinted at British decline when it comes to territorial matters. Firstly, the Chagos Archipelago (BIOT) was scheduled to be handed over to Mauritius and was only prevented by President Trump. Secondly, last week the border control between Gibraltar and Spain was decommissioned by agreement, in spite of Brexit taking the UK out of the EU. Some interesting points:
96% of Gibraltan voters opposed Brexit
the Gibraltar side is very rich but the Spanish side is among the poorest
The deal will effectively integrate Gibraltar into EU customs laws and the Schengen Area, so what may happen ten years from now remains to be seen.
The case of the Falklands is of course very different, but the UK position has never been weaker. This is a shame, because the Falklands are the most British place on Earth (in the demographic sense)—a social time capsule of what has been lost on the British mainland. But the UK cannot even protect its young girls from grooming gangs, and ethnic tensions are only growing as the non-British share of the UK burgeons. Advantage Argentina.
Regarding the World Cup, whose games I watched very little of, it can be said that the most interesting aspects were off the pitch. Norway was the feelgood team who went a long way and showed that a small and homogenous country does not need to sell its soul for sporting success. In fact, other countries did that and are struggling on the sporting scene. The runic touch to their jerseys (which sold out) and Viking row were sublime. The babyface was of course Erling Haaland, who possesses more charisma than the entire German team. Someone commented that his unique phenotype is indicative of old European ancestry (haplogroup I), which is indeed present in the region. I tend to think it is more Uralic (Saami). His famous doppelganger (a Russian model) likely has Karelian or some other Uralic admixture.
As far as non-PC observations go, it was hard to miss the whitest team in the tournament: New Zealand. What’s ironic is that they are actually called the All Whites as a team name (their rugby team is the All Blacks). A real stereotype breaker was however NZ forward Sarpreet Singh, who is Indian on both sides.
Kudos to those who pointed out the hypocrisy of the Egypt coach using FIFA’s crossed-arms anti-discrimination gesture in the match against Argentina. It has now come to many people’s attention that Coptic Christians have been greatly discriminated against from playing for the national team. Having said that, the refereeing decisions were ridiculously biased in favor of Argentina and it has tainted the tournament, in addition to Iran’s shabby treatment. Trump’s intervention and corruption speaks for itself, but this tournament was Americanized like no other. The water breaks and 30 minute halftime for the final were just all about money.
I’ll conclude with a little fun, because let’s face it: soccer isn’t exactly a hair-raising entertainment. Unless of course you are one of the players, who sometimes get mown some of the strangest scalp pitches in pro sports.
A special congratulations to Canada for contributing 3 players to my rough selection of finalists in the grid above. Thanks again to the Guardian for compiling the photos. But the winner simply has to be Julian Ryerson of Norway. This snow leopard look should be the design for next World Cup’s official ball.