The Week India - July 29, 2018

JULY 29, 2018 • THE WEEK 49

Unlike club football, riches can

only do so much on the internation-

al stage. Th e national head coach

is left with limited choices in weak

positions and has to make do with

what the domestic circuit gives him.

Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli,

who had proved himself at Sevilla

and Chile, could not bolster the

country’s ailing defence line. A few

days before the World Cup ended,

it was announced that he was sacked.

Nikita Osokin, deputy director

at the Centre of Sectoral Research

and Consulting, Financial Univer-

sity, Moscow, said that in terms of

consumer spending and subsequent

economic impact, Russia could sure-

ly have benefi ted more if more South

American teams progressed into

the later stages of the tournament.

“In terms of the economics of the

tournament, there is a bigger impact

caused by the size of the team’s fan

base rather than the teams them-

selves,” he said. “According to reports

by Visa, the top spending nations in

Russia during the World Cup were

from South America, and the USA,

most of whom also supported Latin

American teams.”

Th e 21st edition of the World Cup

leaves a rich legacy for the much ma-

ligned host country. “In the context

of Russia, the tangible and intangible

legacies of the 2018 World Cup are

interdependent,” said Osokin. “Rus-

sia’s historical run at the tournament

brought an unprecedented amount

of positive exposure to the team. Th e

volunteers made fans feel welcome

and eased the trouble of navigation,

while the FAN ID system helped

ensure security.” All doping tests

returned negative. Th e worst Russia

did to try and infl uence results in

their favour was when the mayor

of Kazan joked that he relied on a

superstition—the creation of murals

of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo

and Neymar had resulted in the three

players crashing out of the tourna-

ment. So he wanted a mural of Luka

Modric in his city before the Rus-

sia-Croatia game. Th e mural, howev-

er, came up only after the game, and

Russia lost to Croatia.

“Th e international community will

realise that there is more to Russia

than just the doping and the negative

aspects that they portray it to be,”

Gusev said. “You have to be wiser in

your judgment of people, and they

should see what a great World Cup

this has turned out to be.” Th e night

before and after the fi nal, Russians

partied nonstop and the foreigners,

too, joined, reciprocating the warmth

shown by the people. France took

home the trophy, the others took

home the love of a misunderstood

people.

life after the Latin Americans exited.
None of the supporters from the
European sides could bring the kind
of atmosphere the Latinos brought on
match days. It was a phased conti-
nental exit: Th e African teams were
out by the group stage, the Asians
by the round of 16 and the Latin
Americans by the quarterfi nals. When
asked about why the European teams
were outdoing others, Uruguay coach
Oscar Tabarez fi rst dismissed it, but
later hinted at the gap in the fi nancial
conditions.
Gusev, though, did not agree. “Ar-
gentina’s was a systemic failure, while
Brazil’s was just one bad game,” he
said of the big two. “Th e Europeans
are not superior to the Latins, tactical-
ly or skill-wise. Th ere are coaches who
go both ways and cultures are merged
because players play in Europe, too.
Each country is diff erent, there is no
Latin American approach or Europe-
an approach to the game. Each team
has its own reasons for failing and it
cannot be generalised as a continen-
tal failure. Th e last three World Cups
were won by Europeans because of
the strength of individual teams.”

Goals

Passes completed Clearances,

tackles & saves

Attacks

NEYMAR IVAN PERISIC

MOST SHOTS DISTANCE COVERED

MOST GOALS

TOTAL GOALS SCORED

BEST PASSING

STAT ATTACK

SOME NUMBERS FROM RUSSIA 2018

BEST ATTACKING

BEST DEFENDING

16

169

3,336

27 72 km

352

301

ENGLAND CROATIA

BRAZIL CROATIA

BELGIUM CROATIA