Peru is on something of a tear in the Unofficial Football World Championships — the hugely enjoyable competition that uses a boxing-style title system dating back to the first-ever international match to determine which nation is the current title holders.
The World Cup is just around the corner, and excitement levels are at an all-time high. For the BBC, there will be plenty to talk about, and of course, when it’s World Cup time, you bring out the best analysts you can (unless you're Fox).
If you like your dramas with a bit of continuity — and you haven’t watched a soccer match since the 2014 World Cup — you needn’t worry, the 2018 World Cup has got a better story arc than Anna Karenina. Here are 10 narratives that dominated the 2014 tournament that still apply in 2018.
#1. 2018 Costa Rica is 2014 Costa Rica.
Brazil defeated Austria 3-0 in Vienna on Sunday in the nation’s final warm-up match before opening World Cup group play against Switzerland on June 17. The match was memorable for two reasons: (1) Thank Freddy Adu we’ll have VAR in Russia — Brazil’s opening goal was the sort of break you’d expect the Seleção to get at a World Cup (Gabriel Jesus was four yards offside), but not anymore — and (2) Neymar killed a man.
Mexico vs Denmark served as the final World Cup tune-up for El Tri ahead of a huge match against Germany a week from Sunday. While the team’s fought to a deadlock in the first half, two goals in the second sunk Mexico and sent El Tri to Russia with a defeat on Saturday in Brøndbyvester, Denmark.
Serbia isn’t exactly going into the World Cup with high expectations — no one will confuse the squad with heavyweights such as France, Germany or Brazil. But what the Eagles did to Bolivia on Saturday in their final World Cup warm-up match shows they won’t be an easy out in Russia. The match served as a Serbia World Cup preview of sorts, with the team eviscerating Bolivia 5-1.
The World Cup will be held in Russia for the first time ever this coming month. Four World Cup participants in particular will be quite pleased the tournament is scheduled for summer, because all good historians know it’s impossible to conquer Russia in winter (unless you are the Mongols, who didn't qualify). Germany, France, Sweden and Poland have all failed invasions of Russia in their past, so they’ll hope history doesn’t repeat itself when July rolls around.
Who is the greatest soccer player of all time? A question as difficult to answer as who is the greatest president, scientist, inventor, composer, actor, writer, poet, painter, musician or comedian, a near impossibility to narrow it down to just one human being amongst that elite few that we recognize as not just “great,” but “the greatest.”
Paul Pogba is an enigma wrapped repeatedly in a bunch of increasingly comical synonyms for enigma. And the puzzle that is Pogba will likely be solved during the 2018 World Cup.
The France midfielder has immense talent and potential. He’s dynamic, versatile, athletic, powerful and silky smooth. It’s why Manchester United paid a then-world-record $125 million for him after letting him go for free four years earlier.