December 18, 2022: The Crowning of Lionel Messi

December 18, 2022: A controversial World Cup comes to an end with a classic Final, won by Argentina, lifting its biggest star, Lionel Messi, into a legitimate place in the discussion for the title of the greatest player in the history of soccer.

The tournament never should have been given to Qatar. We all know that this country -- bigoted toward women, Jews and gays -- never should have been considered, let alone given the tournament. But the country's royal family guaranteed FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, its most profitable World Cup ever, and got it. As with Russia 2018, it was a bribe.

Throw in the moving of the tournament from late Spring and early Summer to late Autumn, due to the intense Middle East heat, the fact that the construction of these stadiums was a reminder of the plight of migrant labor, and even a reminder that there are places in this world where slavery still exists, and it was, clearly, the worst World Cup ever, from an administrative standpoint, surpassing the ones hosted by fascist governments in Italy in 1934, Argentina in 1978, and Russia in 2018.

The time zone differences were a minor issue. Certainly, it was more workable than in 2002, when Japan and South Korea teamed to hold it. If Australia -- with or without New Zealand stepping in as co-hosts -- want to host it in 2030 or beyond, that will have to be dealt with. The tournament has to be convenient for the hosts, but the rest of the world's needs also need to be taken into consideration. (At least Australia is a free country, and, due to having held the Olympics in 2000, and having a thriving A-League, would have the infrastructure already in place.)

(UPDATE: In 2023, FIFA awarded the World Cup for 2030 to a joint effort by the neighboring nations of Spain, Portugal and Morocco, because it was Europe's "turn," and Morocco was a bone thrown to Africa, which lasted hosted in South Africa in 2010. And they awarded the 2034 edition to Saudi Arabia, for the same reason as in 2018 and 2022: Money.)

Fox broadcast the tournament in America. A defeat during the Group Stage doesn't necessarily mean disaster. Argentina were upset by Saudi Arabia. It ended up not mattering, any more than did the most embarrassing Group Stage loss ever, West Germany falling to political (if not footballing) arch-rival East Germany on West German soil in 1974.

The English love to remind the Americans of certain things. "It's called 'football,' not 'soccer.'" The English love to remind us that they invented the sport. They did not. They invented its organization, but even that was a co-invention with the Scots. They love to remind us that they've won the World Cup, and we haven't. Well, we've won 4 World Cups. When they hear that, They say the women's game doesn't count. Then that means that their women's team, which has been more successful recently than their men's team, gets insulted.

And England claiming superiority because they've won 1 of the 17 World Cups, and that 1 being 56 years ago, is like Toronto Maple Leafs fans claiming 13 Stanley Cups, when they haven't even made the Finals since 1967. At least the New York Yankees have won 7 of their 27 World Series since England '66 and Toronto '67, and that's still the most since then, as well as overall.

And when the game was played, the U.S. did not play well, and England controlled the game most of the way. And still, it ended 0-0. It had all the markings of a Premier League game where Arsenal dominate but still can't find a win. England were better, but couldn't prove it on the scoreboard.

It was better for England than the 2010 match in South Africa, which became a 1-1 draw thanks to Rob Green's "Hand of Clod" mishandling of a Clint Dempsey shot. That was reminiscent of an Arsenal failure to win because of a fluke goal that never should have happened. For the vast majority of English fans, who like to mock Arsenal, the shoe seems to go on the other foot every 4 years.

Throw in the biggest upset in World Cup history, America's 1950 win over England in Brazil, and the record is as follows: American wins, 1; draws, 2; England wins, exactly none. For all their braggadocio, England have never beaten America at the World Cup.

The draw with England was encouraging, but it followed a draw with England's neighbors, Wales. That was depressing: We led 1-0 after 80 minutes, but indiscipline took over, and we gave away a stupid penalty.

This put us in a position where we had to beat Iran, which had the world supporting them as their people finally seem to have taken the initiative in challenging their evil religious-fanatic government. We won, but it was a very sluggish 1-0, and we felt like the least deserving team in the last 16.

And then we had to play the Netherlands, one of the teams that always seems to grab the world's attention at the World Cup. Haji Wright's goal to pull us within 2-1 was quickly canceled out, and the Dutch won, 3-1.

After not making the tournament at all the time before, making the knockout stage this time was a success. But the Dutch showed us that the difference between Top 16 and Top 8 is big. Manager Gregg Berhalter earned the right to be the man to bridge that difference, but, bridge it, he must, if we are to go any further than this on home soil in 2026.

To go with superstar midfielder Christian Pulisic, we need an out-and-out scorer, and we need stronger defenders. And it's not like "club football," where we can just go out and buy them. They have to be trained. Maybe Berhalter can bring Arsène Wenger in as a consultant, to help them develop "the quality" and "the mental strength." Because, for now, as to either one, we can truthfully say, "I did not see it."

One person who will never get to see it is Grant Wahl, a journalist who did as much as anyone in the MLS era to spread knowledge of soccer through America. The 49-year-old native of the Kansas side of the Kansas City area, a Princeton graduate, wrote the 2002 Sports Illustrated cover story that introduced the world to a high school basketball star named LeBron James, and continued to write for SI on the subject of soccer, for which Fox Sports hired him as a studio analyst.

He was in the press box watching the Quarterfinal between Argentina and the Netherlands, which Argentina won on penalties (of course: When it comes to penalties, the Dutch are famously as useless as the English), when he collapsed in his seat. Despite his detainment by Qatari authorities after flouting their rules against political statements, and subsequent death threats, it was quickly determined that his claims of feeling unwell were due to an aortic aneurysm, which ruptured.

After showing Senegal the difference between Teams 1 through 8 and Teams 9 through 16, England had to face France, and were lucky to be level going into the 78th minute, when former Arsenal star Olivier Giroud scored for France.

In the 84th minute, the Three Lions were awarded a penalty, and, of course, it would be Harry Kane, golden boy for England and Tottenham Hotspur, who took it. But his former Tottenham teammate, France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, stopped him. After his giveaway performance in Russia 2018, and now this, any discussion of whether Kane, a known diver for penalties, is "world class" needs to end.

Of course, Kane wasn't the only choker. England haven't had a good defense in 30 years, and, once again, their attack tightened up after falling behind. For England, at least historically, the difference between Teams 1 through 4 and Teams 5 through 8 might be bigger than the U.S.'s difference between Teams 1 through 8 and Teams 9 through 16.

No team from the African continent had ever reached a World Cup Semifinal. The only Muslim-majority country to have done so was Turkey in 2002. But Morocco won Group F. Then, avenging their geopolitical defeat of the Middle Ages, they beat Spain on penalties after a 0-0 draw, with goalkeeper Yassine Bounou stopping 3 penalties. "Bono" then played his club soccer in Spain, for Sevilla.

They faced Portugal in the Quarterfinal. Portugal were expected to play hard in what was to be the last World Cup for Cristiano Ronaldo. But Morocco held them, and Bounou's Sevilla teammate Youssef En-Nesyri scored in the 42nd minute, and Morocco were through to the Semifinal.

Which meant that they would face their former colonial overlords, France, the defending Champions. The dream ended quickly, as France scored in the 5th minute, and Morocco never looked like scoring. France added a goal to make the final 2-0.

As Croatia had done in the previous tournament by reaching the Final and holding their own in it, Morocco had won the world's hearts, but someone else would win the World Cup. It would be between, France, Les Bleus, and Argentina, La Albiceleste (the Sky Blues), at the Lusail Iconic Stadium, in Lusail, outside the Qatari capital of Doha. 

Only once before had a player scored 3 goals -- known among hockey fans as a "hat trick," and the term has drifted to soccer -- in a World Cup Final. That was Geoff Hurst of England in 1966, and the 2nd of those goals remains controversial.

Kylian Mbappé was a big reason why France won in 2018. He stood to be an even bigger reason why France won in 2022, had they done so. For the 1st 80 minutes of the Final, France did practically nothing in attack. They couldn't: Argentina just controlled the ball the whole way. There was no doubt in my mind that Argentina were the better team.

That said, it was a very rough game. Argentina have been accused of dirty tactics by the world's English-language media since their performance in England in 1966, and this game was no exception. Eventually, the French began replying with their own roughhousing.

I watched the game at Jack Doyle's, a bar in Midtown Manhattan, supporting France but surrounded by Argentina fans. A few of them had been in America long enough to get the joke, adapted from comedian Rodney Dangerfield's line about going to a prizefight: "I went to the World Cup, and a hockey game broke out!" The fact that this bar was only 2 blocks from Madison Square Garden deepened the connection.

Argentina's 1st goal was a penalty, given after an obvious dive by Ángel Di María. No surprise there, because he's spent most of his career at teams where cheating is the norm: Real Madrid, Manchester United, and was then with Juventus. Of course, the penalty was taken by their premier player, Messi.

It would have been hard to say Argentina cheated their way to victory, though, had the subsequent score of 2-0 held up: In the 36th minute, they had a strong setup, leading to a very nice goal by Di María, totally legit. "Ballgame," I said at the time. "France are not coming back from this."

And, until the 80th minute, it looked like I was right. But Randal Kolo Mouani was brought down in the box. That gave France a penalty and a lifeline. Mbappé took it and scored, and France had a chance. Just 1 minute later, Mbappé scored brilliantly from open play. It was 2-2. Argentina had blown a game they had controlled for its 1st 87 percent. As the old English soccer saying goes, "Two-nil, and they fucked it up!"

The last 10 minutes were nervy. And, as usual, given the heat and the injury stoppages, there were 8 minutes of stoppage time, but neither team could find a 3rd goal. On to extra time.

In the 108th minute, Messi fired. The ball crossed the goal line, but was kicked out by a France player before it could reach the back of the next. VAR (Video-Aided Refereeing) showed that the goal was complete, and it was properly awarded. Argentina, again, had it won.

Except, again, they didn't. A handball in the box by Gonzalo Montiel meant another penalty for France. Mbappé took it, and it was 3-3. After 123 minutes -- 134 minutes, counting all the stoppage time -- referee Szymon Marciniak of Poland blew his whistle, and this insane game was not over yet. It went to penalties.

France won the toss, and elected to kick first, against Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, of Aston Villa of Birmingham, England -- and, formerly, of Arsenal. There was no question that Mbappé was going to take the 1st one for them, even if it wouldn't be credited as a record-breaking 4th goal in a Final. He made it. Likewise, there was no question that the 1st Argentine to shoot toward Lloris would be Messi. He made it.

But in the 2nd Round, Martínez stopped Kingsley Coman. Paulo Dybala made it 2-1 Argentina. And then, after having a great tournament for France, Real Madrid's Aurélien Tchouaméni missed the net completely, shooting wide left. Leandro Parades made it 3-1. Kolo Muani converted to keep France going, but Montiel, a right back for Sevilla in the club game, converted to give Argentina the 4-2 win, and their 3rd World Cup.

And to give Lionel Messi the World Cup that had previously been denied to him, as he'd been with Argentina as they lost to Germany in penalties at the 2006 Quarterfinals; were knocked out by Germany in regular time at the 2010 Quarterfinals; lost to Germany yet again, in extra time, in the 2014 Final; and were knocked out by France in the Round of 16 in 2018. Finally, the "GOAT" (Greatest Of All Time) had removed the only doubt as to that title, by winning the biggest trophy of all, the one that had, until now, eluded him.

Pelé -- whose illness prevented his attendance at the World Cup for the 1st time since 1954, and who died before the month was out -- won 3 World Cups, was definitively the best player in the world longer than the debate between Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo has raged; and, unlike Messi and Cristiano, never had to cheat, or to benefit from his teammates' cheating.

But Messi and Argentina had the World Cup. Although I didn't like the result, it was a great way to end a very shady tournament.

UPDATE: An article for ESPN.com, published after the 2026 World Cup, ranking all 23 tournaments, rated this one 11th, citing the shadiness of the background, but also the upsets, and the atmosphere brought by the fans of the upsetting teams.

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December 18, 2022 was a Sunday. As crazy as the World Cup Final was, in America, it was, beyond any doubt, the craziest weekend in NFL history, and I have a separate entry for that.

There were no college football bowl games. Baseball was out of season. There were 7 games in that NBA that day: 

* The New York Knicks beat the Indiana Pacers, 109-106 at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

* The Brooklyn Nets beat the Detroit Pistons, 124-121 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Boston Celtics, 95-92 at the TD Garden in Boston.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Toronto Raptors, 126-110 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Chicago Bulls, 150-126 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Charlotte Hornets, 119-115 at the Ball Arena in Denver.

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Washington Wizards, 119-117 at the Crypto.com Arena.

And there were 5 games played in the NHL:

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 7-1 at the United Center in Chicago. The Rangers pulled off the unusual feat of having 7 different scorers: Filip Chytil, Artemi Panarin, Kaapo Kakko, Jacob Trouba, Vincent Trochck, Vitali Kravtsov and Jonny Brodzinski.

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2 at the PNC Arena (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh, North Carolina.

* The Minnesota Wild beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-2 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* The Calgary Flames beat the San Jose Sharks, 5-2 at the SAP Center in San Jose.

* And the Seattle Kraken beat the Winnipeg Jets, 3-2 at the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg.

July 12, 1998: A France for the Whole World

Top row, left to right: Zinedine Zidane, Marcel Desailly, Frank Leboeuf,

Lilian Thuram, Stéphane Guivarc'h, Emmanuel Petit.

Bottom row, left to right: Christian Karembeu, Youri Djorkaeff,

Didier Deschamps, Fabien Barthez, Bixente Lizarazu.

Thierry Henry did not play in the Final.

July 12, 1998: The World Cup Final is held, at the new Stade de France, in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. The host nation takes on defending Champions Brazil.

France had hosted the World Cup once before, in 1938, and reached the Quarterfinals. They reached the Semifinals in 1958, and did it again in 1982, with a team that many had thought would win. They won Euro 84, and reached the World Cup Semifinals again in 1986. But they failed qualify in 1990 and 1994.

The French team, known as Les Bleus for their blue shirts, had never shied away from using players who were citizens of France but not ethnically French. Their 1938 team featured Abdelkader Ben Bouali of Algeria; Frenchmen of Italian descent in Julien Darui, Laurent Di Lorto and Mario Zatelli; Jules Vandooren, of Dutch descent; Oscar Heisserer, of German descent; Ignace Kowalczyk and Martin Povolny, of Polish descent; and Hector Cazenave, born in Uruguay to French parents.

Their 1958 team was led by Raymond Kopa, a son of Polish immigrants; and also featured another Polish Frenchman, Maryan Wisniewski; Dominique Colonna, Bernard Chiarelli and Roger Piantoni, of Italian descent; Raymond Kaelbel, of German descent; Kazimir Hnatow, of Ukrainian descent.

The team that won Euro 84 was led by Michel Platini, of Italian descent. And their best player in between 1984 and 1998, but not on either team, was Eric Cantona, with a mother from Spain's Catalonia region and a father from Italy's island of Sardinia.

The 1998 team, managed by Aimé Jacquet, was alliteratively described, in a mixture of French and English, as "Blanc, black, beur." "Blanc" meaning white, and "beur" was a term, usually now considered a slur, meaning someone born in France, but with his ancestry coming from the Maghreb, the former French colonies of North Africa? Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.

Some on the far right, including the fascist Le Pen family of politicians, treated the black and beur players, and even the "blanc" players whose ancestry wasn't fully French, as not fully French, flying in the face of the country's motto: Liberté, égalité, fraternité (Liberty, equality, brotherhood). Under French law, whether the Le Pens and their supporters like it or not, all people born in France, or in a French territory before it achieved independence, are considered citizens of France.

Here was the 1998 French squad:

"Blanc," of entirely French descent: Midfielder and team Captain Didier Deschamps, goalkeeper Fabien Alain Barthez (unusually among starting goalkeepers, chose a number other than 1, wearing 16 for clubs and country), defender Laurent Blanc, forward Stéphane Guivarc'h, midfielder Emmanuel Petit, defender Frank Leboeuf, forward Christophe Dugarry, and 3rd-string goalkeeper Lionel Charbonnier.

"Blanc," but of other descent: Defender Vincent Candela, Italian; defender Bixente Lizarazu, Basque descent; midfielder Youri Djorkaeff, half-Polish, half-Armenian; midfielder Robert Pires, half-Portuguese, half-Spanish; midfielder Alain Boghossian, Armenian; David Trezeguet, born in France as the son of an Argentine playing his club football there, and grew up in Argentina, but exercised his right to play for France. 

"Black": Midfielder Patrick Vieira, from Senegal in Africa, but entitled to play for France through his parents, as Senegal was a French colony; defender Marcel Desailly, born in Ghana but entitled to play for France through his adoptive father; forward Thierry Henry, born outside Paris, but his parents were from the Caribbean, his father from Guadeloupe and his mother from Martinique; midfielder Bernard Diomède, born in France to Guadeloupean parents; defender Lilian Thuram, born in Guadeloupe but grew up in France; and backup goalkeeper Bernard Lama, born in Central France but grew up in French Guiana, in South America.

"Beur": Midfielder Zinedine Zidane was the only one, but was already recognized as one of the best players in the world.

And one player who didn't fit any of these categories: Christian Karembeu, who came from the "overseas department" of New Caledonia, off the coast of Australia, and was therefore Polynesian.

Club-wise:

* The 1990 and 1992 French league-winning Olympique de Marseille had Deschamps. When they won the Champions League in 1993, they had Deschamp, Desailly and Barthez.

* The 1994 French league-winning Paris Saint-Germain had Lama.

* Juventus, when they won the Italian league in 1995, and the UEFA Champions League in 1996, had Deschamps. When they won the Italian league in 1997 and 1998, they had Deschamps and Zidane.

* The 1995 French league-winning Nantes had Karembeu. So did the Real Madrid team that won the Champions League in 1998.

* The 1996 French league-winning Auxerre had Blanc, Guivarc'h and Diomède.

* The 1996 Italian league-winning AC Milan had Viera.

* The 1997 French league-winning AS Monaco had Henry, Trezeguet, Petit and Barthez.

* The 1998 English Double-winning Arsenal had Vieira and Petit.

So France certainly had a talented team. But the games still had to be played. Of course, they would be played on home soil. They beat South Africa, 3-0 at Marseille; Saudi Arabia, 4-0 at Saint-Denis; and Denmark, 2-1 at Lyon. France and Argentina were the only teams in the tournament to get through the Group Stage with wins in all 3 games.

The U.S. team, encouraged by reaching the knockout stage in 1994, completely flopped. They lost 2-0 to Germany in Paris, and 1-0 to Yugoslavia (at this point, reduced to Serbia and Montenegro) in Nantes, both understandable defeats. But their 2-1 loss to Iran in Lyon was inexcusable defeat.

In the Round of 16, France needed extra time, until Blanc scored in the 114th minute to beat Paraguay, 1-0 at Lens. Also in that round was England losing on penalties, as so often happens, this time to Argentina in Saint-Étienne. Argentina ran out of luck in the Quarterfinal, as Arsenal star Dennis Bergkamp scored in the 90th minute, and the Netherlands beat them, 2-1 in Marseille. France played Italy at Saint-Denis, and it went to penalties, after 120 minutes of no scoring. France won the penalty round, 4-3.

The Semifinals were set up with interesting stories. France played Croatia at Saint-Denis. Croatia having gotten this far was a very big deal: Not only was it as far as its former parent country, Yugoslavia, had ever gotten, but it was the first time a postwar, post-Yugoslavia country had gotten that far. Just after the 2nd half started, Davor Šuker scored for Croatia, but Thuram scored right after that, and scored later in the game -- a defender with 2 goals -- to put France in the Final.

The other Semifinal saw defending Champions Brazil, masters of "samba football," against the Netherlands, inventors of "total football," Marseille. Ronaldo de Lima, usually referred to by only his first name, scored early in the 2nd half, and Patrick Kluivert equalized for the Dutch in the 87th minute. The game went to extra time, and then to penalties. Like England, the Netherlands are notorious for losing on penalties, and Brazil beat them, 4-2.

The Final would be the hosts against the defending Champions. It should have been the perfect matchup. But on the morning of the Final, Ronaldo, thus far having justified his label as the best player in the world, suffered a convulsive fit. When the starting lineups were released to the media, 72 minutes before the 9:00 PM kickoff (3:00 PM, U.S. East Coast time), his name was not included with Brazil's. John Motson, announcing the game for the BBC, said, "The scenes in the commentary box have been absolute mayhem and chaos." 

Stade de France

And yet, right before kickoff, Ronaldo talked manager Mário Zagallo, who had played on their 1970 winners and managed their 1994 winners, into putting him into the starting XI.

Left to right: Ronaldo, Leonardo, Roberto Carlos,

Claudio Taffarel, Aldair, César Sampaio

I watched the game on ABC, and Jim McKay, who had broadcast so many sporting events for the network since the debut of Wide World of Sports in 1961, said the moment had come for which all of France had waited. No, not hosting the World Cup Final on home soil, but singing the National Anthem before the Final. No country does a National Anthem quite the way France does "La Marseillaise."

Ronaldo had nothing, and he even got hurt further in a collision with Barthez. Zagallo admitted that the fears over Ronaldo affected his team psychologically, and stated "for the whole of the first half, I was wondering whether to take him off," but feared a public outcry in Brazil had he done so.

So the star of the game would be a man with a shaved head, but not Ronaldo: It was Zidane. He scored in the 27th minute, and again in stoppage time in the 1st half. Brazil never recovered, despite Desailly receiving 2 yellow cards, resulting in his being sent off in the 68th minute. Guivarc'h nearly scored in the game's 1st minute, and just missed another shot in the 63rd. It could have been 5-0, but France had to settle for 3-0, when Arsenal men Vieira (on the assist) and Petit (on the goal) combined to score on the last kick of the game.

Zidane with the Jules Rimet Trophy

Over 1.5 million people poured into the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in downtown Paris, and photos of the players' faces were rotated in projections on the Arc de Triomphe. It was said to be the biggest celebration in Paris since the liberation from the Nazis on August 26, 1944. France were the Champions of the World, and had united the world within France.

Lizarazu played for Bayern Munich as they won the German league in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2006, and the Champions League in 2001. Guivarc'h and Charbonnier played for Rangers when they won the Scottish league in 1999. Trezeguet and Barthez helped Monaco win the French league again in 2000. Karembeu helped Real Madrid win the Champions League again in 2000, and Olympiacos win the Greek league in 2002 and 2003. Candela went on to play for the AS Roma team that won the Italian league in 2001.

Vieira, Henry and Pires helped Arsenal win another Double in 2002, and an unbeaten League season in 2004, with Vieira as Captain and Henry leading the League in scoring. Vieira then helped Internazionale Milano win the Italian league in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Henry went on to help Barcelona win the Spanish league in 2009 and 2010, and the Champions League in 2009.

Zidane helped Real Madrid win the Champions League in 2002 and the Spanish league in 2003. Thuram and Trezeguet helped Juventus win the Italian league in 2002 and 2003. Barthez played for Manchester United when they won the Premier League in 2001. Their 2003 team had Barthez and Blanc.

France won the next major tournament, Euro 2000, with Trezeguet scoring a "golden goal" to beat Italy in extra time. After a dissension-ridden 2002 tournament that saw them crash out in the Group Stage, France regrouped, and, with Zidane as Captain, announcing that he would retire after the Final, they got back to the Final, against Italy.

But they lost it in controversial fashion, as Zidane was sent off in extra time for head-butting Italian defender Marco Materazzi, who had provoked him with racist remarks. Italy then won on penalties, with Materazzi available to take one and make it, and Zidane not available. That result left the team still admired by the whole country, but sparked anger at Zidane from the right.

In 2018, Deschamps managed France to win the World Cup, beating Croatia in the final in Moscow, Russia. He became only the 3rd man to both play on and manage a World Cup winner, joining Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer of Germany. He also got them into the 2022 World Cup Final, losing to Argentina in Lusail, Qatar. In both tournaments, Boghossian was one of his assistants. The 2022 squad included Marcus Thuram, son of another former teammate.

Brazil recovered from their 1998 defeat, and, in 2002, made their 3rd straight Final. This time, Ronaldo was fine, and scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Germany. He became not just one of the greatest players in world history, but one of the most popular. How popular was he? He managed to play for both Spanish giants, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid; and for both Milan teams, Inter and AC Milan -- and remains beloved by fans of all 4 teams.

He began his career with Belo Horizonte team Cruzeiro, and ended it with São Paulo team Corinthians. When people talk about the greatest players of all time, some of those too young to have seen him play call Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo the greatest ever. I have to remind them that Cristiano isn't even the greatest Ronaldo to have played for Real Madrid in the 21st Century.

In 2024, the Stade de France will be the main stadium for the Olympic Games. This means it will join the old Wembley Stadium in London and the Olympiastadions in Munich and Berlin, as 1 of 4 stadiums to have hosted an Olympic Games, a World Cup Final and a UEFA European Cup/Champions League Final.

UPDATE: An article for ESPN.com, published after the 2026 World Cup, ranking all 23 tournaments, rated this one 12th.

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July 12, 1998 was a Sunday. These games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 9-2 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Yankees scored 7 runs in the top of the 9th inning. making a winning pitcher of Mike Stanton in relief of David Wells. Derek Jeter and Tino Martinez each went 2-for-5, with Derek having 2 RBIs and Tino having 4.

* The New York Mets beat the Montreal Expos, 5-2 at Shea Stadium.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox, 11-7 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Cal Ripken went 1-for-4 with a walk.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-3at Pro Player Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-4 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Cleveland Indians, 11-6 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-3 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-0 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Mark Clark pitched a 3-hit shutout.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros, 6-4 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Mark McGwire hit 2 home runs, giving him 40 on the season. At the same time, Ken Griffey Jr. of the Mariners had 37, and Sammy Sosa of the Cubs had 35.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants, 5-3 at Coors Field in Denver. Barry Bonds hit his 19th home run of the season. As far as is now known, he wasn't yet using steroids.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 5-3 at Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field) in Phoenix.

* The San Diego Padres beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Tony Gwynn went 0-for-3 with a walk. Ken Caminiti had 3 home runs and 5 RBIs. He later admitted to using steroids.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers, 7-5 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the Network Associates Coliseum). Rickey Henderson went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

* And the Anaheim Angels beat the Seattle Mariners, 8-5 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Ken Griffey Jr. went 2-for-3 with 2 walks.

The mention of steroids leads me to close on this note: While Zinedine Zidane played for Juventus and Real Madrid, 2 teams known for various forms of cheating, he is not known to have been a dirty player. Except, of course, for that last game, against Marco Materazzi.

July 9, 2006: Zinedine Zidane's "Coup de Boule"

July 9, 2006: The World Cup Final is held at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. ABC broadcasts it in America. France play Italy. Both teams tend to wear blue, thus France are Les Bleus, and Italy are gli Azzurri. On this occasion, Italy wore blue, while France wore white.

The Olympiastadion is 1 of 3 stadiums to have hosted an Olympic Games, a World Cup Final and a UEFA European Cup/Champions League Final. The others are the Olympiastadion in Munich and the old Wembley Stadium in London. In 2024, the Stade de France outside Paris will make it 4.

Italy were loaded with legends: Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, Andrea Pirlo, Francesco Totti, Luca Toni. This was a team so good, Daniele De Rossi and Alessandro Del Piero did not start and had to come on as substitutes, Alessandro Nesta and Filippo Inzaghi remained on the bench, and Paolo Maldini, still starting for AC Milan at age 38, was not even selected.

But France were equally laden with starpower, many of them holdovers from their 1998 triumph: Fabien Barthez, Lilian Thuram, David Trezeguet, Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry, and Captain Zinedine Zidane. Others had developed since that win: Claude Makélélé, Florent Malouda, Sylvain Wiltord, Lasanna Diarra, Éric Abidal, Franck Ribéry. 

The key was Zidane: The midfielder, who had starred for Girondins de Bordeaux in his homeland, Juventus in Turin, Italy, and Real Madrid in Spain, had put the team, indeed his entire country, on his back, and led them to victory in 1998.

The son of Kabyle immigrants from France's former colony of Algeria, he was a symbol of reconciliation, as both nations were still dealing with the nasty war that Algeria fought for its independence from 1954 to 1962 -- having ended only 36 years before.

Although light-skinned enough to appear white -- unlike several national side teammates, including Henry, Vieira, Thuram, Trezeguet, and his Real Madrid teammate Makélélé -- he had faced prejudicial gestures large and small, including the insinuation that he was not truly, or not wholly, French.

Yet he went into that 2006 Final once again having led the team to glory. It was to be his last game: At age 34, he had announced his retirement as a player. Win or lose, it would be all over when the final whistle blew for this game.

In the 7th minute, Malouda, then playing his club football for Olympique Lyonnais, was knocked down in the box by Marco Materazzi of Internazionale Milano. If Materazzi were a hockey player, he wouldn't be a "pest": A good player who frequently plays rough; he'd be a "goon": A player whose sole purpose is to play rough, because he can't do anything else.

Horacio Elizondo, the Argentine selected to referee the game (because he was from neither team's continent), correctly awarded a penalty, and Zidane converted it. France led, 1-0.

The lead did not last long. In the 19th minute, Pirlo, the AC Milan legend, sent a hellacious corner kick into the box, and Materazzi, of all people, headed it past Barthez, the famously bald goalkeeper who was back with Olympique de Marseille after starring for them, Toulouse, AS Monaco and Manchester United.

In the 2nd half, Luca Toni, then of Florence-based Fiorentina, hit the crossbar with a shot, and then correctly had a headed goal disallowed as having been offside. Malouda was tackled in the box by Juventus' Gianluca Zambrotta, but was incorrectly not awarded another penalty. Arsenal legend Henry was stopped by Juventus goalie Buffon. Malouda skied a shot over the bar. Pirlo just missed with a free kick.

In extra time, Ribéry, then with Marseille and later to star for Bayern Munich, just missed. Buffon just barely knocked a Zidane header away.

And then, in the 110th minute, Materazzi pulled on Zidane's jersey, they exchanged words, and Zidane head-butted Materazzi right in the chest. In French soccer, this is known as a coup de boule -- literally, "stroke of ball" or "blow of ball," but also meaning "play of head." (The more familiar phrase coup d'état means "blow of state," and refers to the overthrow of a government.)

Elizondo did not see the incident. The 4th official, Luis Medina Cantalejo -- so respected that he not only officiated at 3 games of that World Cup, but was one of the few Spanish referees to officiate at La Liga games between arch-rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona, a rivalry so intense that foreign referees are nearly always assigned to oversee it -- told Elizondo through his headset that it had happened.

Elizondo properly showed Zidane a straight red card, making him the 4th player to be sent off in a World Cup Final, and the only player ever sent off in games of 2 separate World Cups. The scene of Zidane walking into the locker room, past the World Cup trophy but not even looking at it, is nearly as iconic as the coup de boule itself.

Extra time ended with the game still 1-1, so it went to penalties. Italy kicked first. Pirlo scored his penalty. Sylvain Wiltord, then with Lyon and previously the man whose goal past Barthez secured the League and Cup "Double" for Arsenal in 2002, made his. 1-1.

Materazzi was next for Italy, and made his penalty. Next for France was Trezeguet, facing his Juventus teammate Buffon. In extra time of the Euro 2000 Final, he had beaten Buffon with a shot. Under the rules then in place, it was a "golden goal": Automatic victory. This time, he was not a hero: He clanged his shot off the crossbar. 2-1 Italy.

De Rossi made his penalty. Abidal made his. Del Piero made his. Willy Sagnol made his for France. Finally, Fabio Grosso clinched the win for Italy: 5-3, with France's last shot not taken, seeing as how it would have been meaningless. Italia: Campioni del Mondo.

Fabio Cannavaro, as Captain, raising the Jules Rimet Trophy

Zidane, of course, was not available for the penalties.

Why did he do it? Three British newspapers -- The Times, The Sun, and the Daily Star, with varying degrees of reliability -- all hired lip-readers who were fluent in French and Italian to look at the tape, and to see what Materazzi had said to Zidane to provoke it. (Materazzi does not speak French, but Zidane played in Italy long enough to learn the language, and their exchange was entirely in Italian.)

The Times has a reputation for sterling journalism; The Sun and the Daily Star are considered lying right-wing propaganda rags. Yet the lip-readers hired by all 3 reported the exact same thing: They all said that Materazzi had called Zidane a "son of a terrorist whore."

It had been less than 5 years since the 9/11 attacks, and a year to the week after the 7/7 attacks on the London Underground (subway). Apparently, Materazzi was unaware that presuming that all Muslims are terrorists is not only bigoted, but stupid. To make matters worse, Zidane's mother was ill at the time.

Materazzi's version of events was a little different. He said he would never have insulted someone's mother, having lost his own when he was 15 years old. Without question, he had tugged on Zidane's shirt. The exchange of shirts is a postgame tradition that goes back decades, and Materazzi said that Zidane told him, "If you want my shirt, I will give it to you afterwards." Not an unreasonable request of a star of one of the finalists to one of the other finalist, and not an unreasonable response.

Materazzi said that his follow-up was, "I prefer the whore that is your sister." In other words, "Your sister puts out, and I'd like you to set me up with her." In other words, Materazzi admitted that he had gone too far.

But so had Zidane. There were about 10 minutes of play to go. Winning is the best revenge. A man as accomplished as Zidane -- 2 League titles in Italy and 1 in Spain, a Champions League win, a World Cup and a Euro title -- should have accepted this. Win the game, and you look like a champion, and the guy trying to provoke you looks like an idiot. Instead, the great Zizou looked like an easily provoked fool, and Materazzi an undeserved World Champion.

The play swept the world. Dozens of people posted their attempts at recreating it on the Internet. American TV shows parodied it. A song titled "Coup de Boule" hit Number 1 on the French music charts.

One moment can change not just a game, but a reputation, forever. Zidane stood to become the greatest hero in the history of French sport. Maybe he still is, anyway. But the first thing anyone thinks about when they hear his name is the coup de boule.

UPDATE: An article for ESPN.com, published after the 2026 World Cup, ranking all 23 tournaments, rated this one 3rd, citing "some old-school corruption," "a delightful semi-underdog run from the hosts," "stars doing star things," "another Final shootout," and, "Most of all, we got Zidane's head-butt."

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July 9, 2006 was a Sunday.  It was the off-season for the NFL, the NBA and the NHL. But, as the last day before the All-Star Break, it featured a full slate of Major League Baseball games:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 6-5 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. Jason Giambi hit a home run, but a bullpen collapse led by Ron Villone and the execrable Scott Proctor gave the game to the Deviled Eggs.

* The New York Mets beat the Florida Marlins, 7-6 at Shea Stadium. The Mets scored 4 runs in the 8th, including 3 on a home run by David Wright, to win it.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-3 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Washington Nationals, 10-9 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-3 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-4 at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-5 in 19 innings, at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago (now Rate Field). Tadahito Iguchi singled home the winning run.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 11-4 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Kansas City Royals, 11-3 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros, 7-5 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston. Aaron Miles' double won the game in the top of the 12th inning.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-2 at Ameriquest Field (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Colorado Rockies, 8-5 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 3-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-2 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the McAfee Coliseum).

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-2 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle.