By: Browntown B.
Will the 2018 World Cup finally settle the question of soccer's G.O.A.T? In the end...does it even matter?
I came into the 2018 World Cup thinking this question would finally be answered. Full disclosure, I was hoping this year's Cup would make a definitive case for Cristiano Ronaldo as the greatest player in the world. While it’s hard to argue that Ronaldo has bested his rival, Lionel Messi, so far in this tournament, I’m starting to wonder -- does it really matter? Should we even care?
For those of you that are a little lost, there’s an ongoing debate in the world of football (“soccer” to us Americans) about the best player of all-time between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. In club football they stand toe-to-toe as the best players on two of the best teams in the history of the game. They’ve combined for nine European Championships (the greatest club achievement a team can get), 10 Ballon d’Ors (Greatest Player in the World, i.e “MVP” award), and 11 Spanish league titles. We’ve never seen players produce statistically in the way they do each year, and now that both are over 30, what they're doing is absolutely incredible. BUT -- the one accomplishment eluding them both is the World Cup title. The greats that came before them like Pele and Maradona each had multiple World Cup championships. Is winning that golden globe necessary to enter the conversation for the best of all-time?
Only in that you leave everything you have out on the pitch.
After watching nearly all of the group stage games, my thoughts on World Cup legacies have completely changed. The Cup is about so much more than individuals; it’s about the passion for playing for your country. This is probably lost on many Americans, but it’s worth repeating -- there is absolutely nothing like playing for your homeland on a world stage. I’m finding that individual stats don’t really matter in the way I once thought; what matters is that a player puts on their team colors and for 90 minutes does everything in their power to represent and win for their country. The competitive fire you see from players like Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar, Hazard, James, Kroos, Mbappe and Kane simply can’t be matched. Politics stop for 90 minutes while the world watches some of its greatest athletes entertain us. For that 90 minutes, nothing else matters.
I was watching Egypt play Saudi Arabia Monday in a game that had zero bearing on the final outcome of the World Cup. Both teams had been eliminated from the knockout round, but you couldn't tell that from watching the game. Each player put everything on the line for their country because it was obvious it mattered to them. It didn’t mean they were moving on to the next round, but it DID mean they got the opportunity to don their country’s kit and leave everything they had on that pitch. There was a goal scored by Saudi Arabia’s Al-Dawsari in the 95th minute that you would've thought just won the World Cup. Where else in sports can you see two teams play in a meaningless game, but celebrate a win like this? That's what the World Cup is about.
It’s about a country coming together as one team. It’s Iceland’s thunderclap, or Senegal and Nigeria’s native dances. It’s more than one player or even the team...it’s about a nation.
There are two young players I believe especially personify this -- Christian Eriksen and Kylian Mbappe. Eriksen has been able to take an average Denmark team and makes them dangerous, and anyone facing them in the knockout stage will have a lot of trouble. This World Cup campaign might even be enough to earn him a spot on the pitch with Messi in Barcelona.
If you want to see the next Ronaldo/Messi, watch Mbappe of France. The 19-year old is already the 10 on a stacked French team that could make a deep run this summer. His name will be talked about with the likes of Neymar, Ronaldo, and Messi for years to come. If you haven’t watched either of these players before, here’s a few highlights to get your started.
The Ronaldo vs Messi debate is fun -- and I’m still team Ronaldo, by the way. But what I’ve taken away from this World Cup is that proudly wearing the Spanish, English, Brazilian, Belgian, German, Argentine, French, Egyptian, Saudi Arabian, or Icelandic kit means so much more than the legacy of the name on the back of it.
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