A Whole G.O.A.T. šā½ļø
The greatest match Iāve ever watched
I was an FC Barcelona fan throughout my high school years. Thatās when a diminutive Argentinian teen shocked the world. Samuel Etoāo, legendary Cameroonian former player and current president of the countryās football association, fielded a provocative question from a reporter. When asked what it was like to play with Lionel Messi, he answered: he was not playing with Messi, Messi was playing with him!
At the time, the little magician was making his mark on the footballing world, having been saved from a life-threatening illness by the football behemoth that took care of his medical bills. Barcelona became Lionel Messiās life.
I have followed his career since and have continually marvelled at the greatness that the world witnessed last night. The FIFA World Cup final on December 18, 2022, was an emotional affair. I hope no one had a heart attack from the continual supply of nail-biting moments on that Qatari pitch.
An amazing GOAT and a marvelous kid
A(nother) Messi penalty put Argentina up before the angelic Di Maria doubled the lead. France made strategic changes that proved prophetic of a miracle comeback from the majestic Kylian MbappƩ in the second half. Squared at the final whistle with a scintillating performance from either side, we welcomed 30 minutes more of play.
A first-half extra-time goal by Messi roused the hapless Argentina crowd once again. They lost steam when MbappƩ equalised during regular time and would lose it once again when he calmly placed an equalising penalty past the amazing Emi Martinez.
A game of 6 goals, three penalties, the first WC Final hat-trick since 1966, a goal-record-breaking performance by both Messi and MbappƩ, and drama to boot came to a head: it was to be decided by a penalty shoot-out.
Needless to say, Argentina prevailed earning both Lionels (Messi and Scaloni) their first World Cup trophy. Maradonaās glory days were ushered back. The debate over the GOAT is finally settled, and his name is Lionel Messi.
Buy Black
Some commentators on social media pointed out that Africans who chose to abandon our brothers in the French team were to be ashamed of themselves. At one point, virtually everyone wearing a French kit on the pitch was black. The question of African players filling the French squad is a sore point for me.
However, the argument focused more on black Africans supporting the winning team. Iāve been told Argentinians are a racist bunch, with racial abuse being rife in their homeland. Many Nazis fled to Argentina after WWII and the country began to whitewash its image, downplaying the presentation of indigenous and darker-skinned people within its borders. Thatās as much as I know about racism in Argentina.
Being a citizen of South Africa, I can relate to the horror of a racist polity and the oppressive practices of those who try hard to maintain that status quo. Ultimately, that is a tough balancing act to pull off.
The fallacy of composition is an interesting counter-argument to the disgust felt by my fellow compatriots. We cannot simply ascribe a quality of some part of a thing to the rest of that thing. It would be hard for me to imagine Messi as a racist, considering his mentors included Etoāo and Ronaldinho, who arenāt white by a mile. He played well with Abidal, Henry, Keita, Toure, and others throughout his career.
However, metonymy is a different spin on the same idea. It happens when you call a name or thing by something closely associated with it: you call the national professional menās soccer team of the Argentine Football Association āArgentina.ā The men who won the world cup arenāt the whole country. They are a selection of 25 men plus coaching staff who wear the colours of the nationās flag.
In other words, we accept that a part can represent a whole. Sometimes thatās a good thing; sometimes itās bad. It really depends on what attributes you focus on. It caused a political stir when FIFA banned political statements in support of the LGBTQ+ community in this World Cup because it would be disrespectful to the culture of their Qatari hosts. These same hosts seem to be known for exploitative labour practices and discriminatory legislation based on strict, conservative religious values. Does the FIFA World Cup represent the country? Both the activists and the planning committee would like you to think so, but for entirely different reasons.
How far down this rabbit hole do you want to go? Right now, Iām not sufficiently informed to do so. What I do know is that I didnāt support Messi because of Argentina; I supported Argentina because of Messi. Iāve done so for the last decade and a half.
Maybe if Bafana Bafana (South Africa) pulled up their socks, I wouldnāt need to look for other teams to support during World Cup season.
Asazi! (translation: š¤·š¾āāļø)
