Jonathan Wilson's Blog, page 57

Leaderless Germany are a World Cup team stuck between two conflicting approaches | Jonathan Wilson

Caught between pressing and pragmatism, Germany lack big personalities on the pitch in Qatar – and they are not alone

An angry team meeting. Home truths exchanged. Defeat used as a launchpad for improvement. West Germany did it in 1954 after defeat by Hungary and went on to win the World Cup. They did it in 1974 after defeat by East Germany and went on to win the World Cup. They did it in 1982 after defeat by Algeria and went on to reach the final. But that was in the old days, when Germany was a Turniermannschaft – a tournament team – and they could rely on their leaders, their Führungsspieler, to drag them through.

There was an angry team meeting after Germany’s defeat by Japan on Wednesday, but they are no longer a Turniermannschaft and they no longer seem to have any Führungsspieler. For the first time in 20 years, questions are being asked about the direction of German football.

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Ronaldo makes history as Brazil join the party – Football Daily podcast

Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Jonathan Fadugba recap the Group G and H action

Today the panel rounds up all the World Cup action as Groups G and H got their campaigns under way.

Cristiano Ronaldo made history as the first man to score at five World Cups in their 3-2 win over Ghana – and Brazil’s attacking prowess was on full display as Richarlison scored twice, including a stunning volley, to get the Seleção up and running.

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Frustration for Uruguay in stodgy goalless draw against South Korea

There appear to be three sorts of games at this World Cup. There are the games in which the stronger team batters the weaker team (Spain, England, France). There are the shocks, in which the stronger team is undone by an opponent that is slightly better than it has anticipated (Saudi Arabia, Japan), and there are the evenly matched games in which nothing much happens (the others). With just one shot on target (plus two that hit the post), this was very much in the third category.

The temptation is to come up with a tenuous grand theory as to why this should be. There is barely any data but, still, let’s indulge ourselves. Could it be that all three types of game are the result of the lack of preparation time, four weeks compressed into four days? Some sides, having played in continental competition last year and comfortable with how they intend to play, are still in rhythm from their domestic seasons and so hit their stride immediately.

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Ronaldo wanted to be centre-stage but now has to head for the exit door | Jonathan Wilson

Striker is right in saying Manchester United have made mistakes but the club’s worst error was to re-sign him

The saddest aspect of Cristiano Ronaldo’s interview with Piers Morgan was that so much of it was so accurate. He correctly identified that Manchester United has not evolved much since he left, that the club has been undermined by terrible decision-making. When historians of the future come to write of United’s post-Ferguson struggles, the transcript will provide a very useful precis. But in his diagnosis there is a blind spot: the worst decision United have made since 2013 was to re-sign him.

This, perhaps, is the tragedy of the great sportsman. Ronaldo may be a preening narcissist, and ego of such overwhelming gravity that he inevitably dominates any club for whom he plays, but he has also been one of the greatest footballers of all time and is all the more remarkable for having made himself so. The comparison with Lionel Messi is hackneyed but irresistible. Messi has often seemed almost diffident, as though a great talent acts through him and he a semi‑willing conduit. Ronaldo has, with tremendous single‑mindedness and strength of will, worked and worked to transform his ability into something extraordinary.

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Cody Gakpo and Klaassen stun Senegal with thrilling Netherlands late show

It began as a tale of two centre‑forwards and ended as a game of two goalkeepers. As the Netherlands began their World Cup campaign with a 2-0 win against Senegal, it had seemed the decisive factor would be the absence from the starting lineups of Sadio Mané, and Memphis Depay. But in the end it turned out to be about the two goalkeepers, the debutant Andries Noppert of the Netherlands, who had a fine game, and Édouard Mendy of Senegal, who did not.

For Senegal, it had all seemed to be going well. With their fans drumming away behind Aliou Cissé’s bench, this sounded like a Cup of Nations game and, for a long time, it looked like a Cup of Nations game as well. There was very little width, a lot of bodies banging into each other in a congested centre, and only ever the vaguest sense that a goal might come.

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Qatar 2022 kicks off but hosts slump to Ecuador – Football Daily podcast

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Lars Sivertsen and Troy Townsend as the World Cup in Qatar commences. Plus Jonathan Wilson joins from the Al Bayt Stadium

Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

Jonathan Wilson joins from Al Bayt Stadium in part one of the podcast as Ecuador beat hosts Qatar 2-0 in a thoroughly uninspiring opening fixture.

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Gianni Infantino and Fifa have failed football by botching buildup to Qatar | Jonathan Wilson

Lack of preparation time means that most competing nations will not have had the chance to try fresh faces or tactics

If only the World Cup could be about the football. Last week, Fifa sent a letter to the football authorities of the 32 competing nations to urge them to “focus on the football” and to ensure it is not “dragged into every ideological or political battle”. Which is fine so long as you are not gay, a woman, a migrant labourer, a believer in democracy or a person with a conscience – or indeed any of the people Gianni Infantino claimed to be in his risibly hypocritical speech on Saturday.

This is, of course, the same Fifa president who was at Davos earlier in the year and who last Tuesday spoke at the G20 summit in Bali, calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine for the duration of the World Cup – a laudably neutral position, providing you are unaware Ukraine has just recaptured Kherson and has momentum such that any pause in the fighting is of clear advantage to Russia and Vladimir Putin. Infantino, coincidentally, was awarded the Order of Friendship by Putin in 2019 after Russia had hosted the World Cup. How complicated these things are! Thank goodness Infantino overcame the ginger jibes to do the politics for us.

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Toney makes a point as the Premier League powers down for Qatar – Football Weekly

Max Rushden is joined by Jonathan Wilson, Troy Townsend and John Brewin as the English top flight goes on hold until after the World Cup

Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

Today: as Ivan Toney fires Brentford to an historic win at Manchester City the panel ask, does Gareth Southgate already have Callum Wilson-related buyer’s remorse?

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‘It should be done in a better way’: Fernandes criticises Qatar World Cup

Portugal midfielder speaking after United win at Fulham‘We know the surroundings … about the people that died’

Bruno Fernandes has become the most outspoken critic yet of the World Cup among those who will actually be playing in it. “It’s not exactly the time we want to be playing in the World Cup,” the Manchester United midfielder said after his side’s 2-1 win at Fulham.

“I think for everyone, players and fans, it’s not the best time. Kids will be at school, people will be working and the timings will not be the best for people to watch the games.”

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Alejandro Garnacho sinks Fulham with last-gasp Manchester United winner

Paul Tierney blew his whistle, the ball dropped out of the sky and was grabbed by Tim Ream, and history was made as the Premier League, for the first time ever, broke for the World Cup. The final game before the six-week shutdown was an enjoyable romp that culminated with that most familiar of tropes, a last-minute Manchester United winner, slid in by the 18-year-old substitute Alejandro Garnacho.

A crisp evening by the Thames. The bells of All Saints welcoming the throng through Bishops Park. Smoke rising from the fast-food vans into the chill, clear air. The trees an autumnal gold. In the morning, a gentle mist had hung over the river, perfect for the old maids to cycle through on their way to holy communion. It was the sort of November day that has made trips to Craven Cottage so evocative since it first became the home of Fulham in 1896. It certainly was not the sort of day to make you feel as though, a week less half an hour after kick-off, the World Cup would be getting under way.

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