The platitude of football being a team game has been heard by everyone, but we are conditioned to focus on individuals in brilliance and failure. This World Cup has taught us a few things on that.
A motionless Cristiano Ronaldo staring blankly into the distance, on the verge of tears. An exhausted Lionel Messi dejectedly rubbing his face. These are probably the final images of their World Cup careers. But there’s no time for us to mourn the two greatest players of our generation and their failure to lead their nations to glory. This is the best outcome our sport could ask for.
Football is a team sport. This sentence gets repeated a lot, but its meaning has been continuously morphing as the football world progresses. Upon a first reading, we take the statement as an obvious declaration. As we think about it further, though, we begin to understand its true intent.
When we evoke the highlights of the European season just passed, what memories are triggered? Mohamed Salah’s goal-scoring exploits. Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale’s overhead kicks. Loris Karius’ concussion-induced errors. Apart from Guardiola’s Manchester City and Sarri’s Napoli, our highlight reel is full of individual brilliance and individual failure. For years we’ve been trained to worry about one or two of the players instead of the whole.