Forget the drama
Pure excellence in a World Cup final beats a dramatic penalty shootout any day, says Simon Barnes
(Photo by David Ramos - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
- Simon Barnes
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The World Cup final is upon us and we’re all hoping for a good game. But what makes one game of football better than another? It’s obvious when your own team is playing, but what makes a decent game for a neutral?
Perhaps it’s all about drama, the match with the best twists, turns and shocks. If so, the final of 2006 must be the best. France were playing Italy and the score was 1-1 in extra time. That was when the incomparable Zinedine Zidane headbutted Italy’s Marco Materazzi and was sent off. Italy won on penalties. But wait…
Drama is an inevitable part of high-stakes football but by no means the most important. Drama isn’t the reason for sport. When you go out to play football you don’t tell yourself: ‘I’m going to try and be really dramatic today’. You go out there trying to play the best you’ve ever played in your life. Penalty shoot-outs are dramatic but they’re not really football. The notion of the individual contest in a team context is more like cricket. And besides, penalties are, in the end, a little bit silly – it’s like settling a tied bridge tournament with a game of snap.
Olivier Giroud won the World Cup with France in 2018. (Photo by Stefan Matzke - sampics/Corbis via Getty Images) (Photo by Stefan Matzke - sampics/Corbis via Getty Images)
So if any final that ends in penalties is an anti-climax, then we must rule out the 2006 final. And also the final of 2022 between Argentina and France, superb though it was. In extra time Lionel Messi put Argentina 3-2 up; Kylian Mbappé then completed his hat-trick and the match was drawn. They then had to spoil it all with penalties. Argentina won.
So what are the real contenders for the best final ever? Let’s restore Zidane’s reputation a little and suggest 1998: France beat Brazil 3-0 and Zidane scored twice. It was their first World Cup title and from that point on they have been global heavyweights. It’s all the legacy of Zidane, whose smouldering self-belief was inspirational.
The narrative of a World Cup final seems to often revolve around a single player, but perhaps that’s just the way we like to tell the story. Ten points if you can name the player who scored the winner in 1986, when Argentina beat Germany 3-2. It was Jorge Burruchaga of course.
So what happened to Diego Maradona? This was, after all, the World Cup with the Hand of God goal. But he didn’t do much in the final. Germany did everything they could to stop him and, to a large extent, succeeded... leaving the way open for the rest.
Success is not essential to a great final, glorious failure also has its points
I have a soft spot for the final of 1974, when the Netherlands took the lead against West Germany in the second minute and then showed the world the perfection of total football. They lost 2-1. Success is not essential to a great final, glorious failure also has its points.
But in the end, my choice as the best ever final (1966 is not allowed for reasons of partisanship) is 1970, when Brazil beat Italy 4-1. This was the Brazil of Pelé, Rivellino, Jairzinho, Gérson and Tostão. It was the time of Italy’s classic catenaccio tactic: the word means door-bolt and it was all about shutting the door on opponents. Come at us if you dare!
Brazil dared. Pelé scored one and made two. Brian Glanville, the great football writer, said the match was “a marvellous affirmation of what could still be done with attacking football, a splendid reassurance that cynicism, caution and negativity had not, after all gained a stranglehold on football.”
Pele celebrates Brazil winning the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images
I have a great deal of time for defensive football myself, like England’s last 20 minutes against Mexico a fortnight back. But perhaps the best thing about truly excellent defence is that it can only be beaten by genuine brilliance.
And that is what sport is ultimately about. Partisanship matters, drama excites, but the best of sport is to be found in the pursuit and capture of excellence. When excellence is achieved at the highest possible level of completion, you find the finest form of sport.
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Brazil in 1970 will do for me.
Authors
Simon BarnesAuthor and journalist
Simon Barnes is a sports and wildlife writer, and is the author of a number of books including the recently published The Green Planet
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