Here's an odd-ish, novel approach from Undisc's future employees

Not who will or who most want it... but who'd be best winning it

a conversation about what the tournament is fora conversation about what the tournament is for

t was too much for Ángel di María. After scoring in the World Cup final in 2022, the Argentine forward burst into tears. It was too much for Gonzalo Montiel. Having hit the winning penalty in the shoot-out—so becoming immortal—he pulled off his national shirt and buried his face in it. And it was almost too much for Argentina itself: when around 4m people thronged Buenos Aires for the victory parade, the team had to abandon their bus and wave from a helicopter.

"Winning the World Cup is a secular rapture""Winning the World Cup is a secular rapture"

The World Cup is a branch of international relations. It is an expression of power by the hosts—this year America, Canada and Mexico—and a form of soft diplomacy. The draw can throw up grudge matches that are benign alternatives to war (such as, in 2022, Iran v America) and pair nations which ordinarily have little to do with one another (this time, for example, Cape Verde v Saudi Arabia). It helps supporters everywhere see what they have in common, starting with a shared devotion to watching 22 men chase a ball.

• newsy headlines
• overpried tickers
• coooorrruuuuption left and right
• "sports-washing autocrats" (neat phrase)

The World Cup is only superficially a pageant for the powerful; underneath it is a tacit conspiracy against them. For a month or so every four years, football nuts around the globe sneakily tune in to games on the job, knock off early to binge more matches and let the children stay up for late kick-offs. No overlord, whether company boss or authoritarian ruler, can forbid this pleasure.

A tacit conspiracy against the powerful??

"Shock victories by underdogs give hope that the meek may indeed inherit the Earth.""Shock victories by underdogs give hope that the meek may indeed inherit the Earth."

aaaaaannd.. the spoils go to Portugal:

On balance, though, the most deserving tiddler is Portugal, which has achieved less and waited longer, while enduring dictatorship and economic malaise. “Portugal is an obsessed country,” Miguel Pereira, a football writer, says of its fixation with the sport. In a place that has produced great players but not a world-beating team, winning would spark “ecstasy and joy”. (It might also make Cristiano Ronaldo, a preening superannuated megastar, even more insufferable.)

Or Mexico: "For poetic justice and maximum drama, in the final on July 19th, Mexico would play—and beat—Portugal. It might happen"

OK.OK.

archive: https://archive.md/M6nPq