After a blistering weekend of games, the FIFA World Cup returned on Monday with action kicking off across the United States. The tournament has served up some thrillers so far, and the fifth matchday was no exception.
This was the type of matchday where you could predict the winners just by looking at the fixture list. Except that’s not what happened. Teams with fewer resources, fewer star players, less World Cup pedigree, the types of teams not ‘expected’ to win, fought back and gave the favorites a ****** nose.
Spain, Belgium, Uruguay, Iran. One of these is a favorite for the ****** le. One is at the tail end of a golden generation of talent. One is a South American powerhouse. One, despite being beset by political headwinds, still boasts a strong reputation on the Asian continent. They were the favorites, the ones meant to get ‘easy’ wins. Turns out nothing is that easy.
Football is supposed to be the people’s game, but the upper echelons are dominated by the elite. Nothing symbolizes that more starkly than the existence of this tournament. The FIFA World Cup is meant to be a showcase of that upper tier, the very best of the best.
However, this matchday shows that there is still ****** e for the little guy, if only to act as a spoiler.