Why The World Cup Focus Has To Shift Away From The Ronaldo And Messi Show

Why The World Cup Focus Has To Shift Away From The Ronaldo And Messi Show
09:30, 17 Jun 2018

A few days into World Cup 2018 and already this is shaping up to be some tournament.

Despite warnings that there would be trouble, so far fans of each country have mingled wonderfully well ensuring that, in the stands at least, this will be a real festival of football.

On the pitch, VAR has had its moments but in the main, the technology has proved to be more of a benefit than a hindrance.

Even the supposed ‘worst opening game to a World Cup ever’ turned out to be one of the best… unless you happened to be a fan of Saudi Arabia, on the end of a 5-0 hiding to hosts Russia.

Since then, it’s been non-stop, thrill-a-minute, and exactly how the world’s football showpiece should be. In short, it’s been magnificent.

However, there’s already been a tendency to label it as the Messi and Ronaldo show.

A media narrative that seems intent on focusing on what the two best players in the world will or won’t do, at the expense of providing appropriate coverage elsewhere.

Ronaldo’s hat-trick rightly garnered the column inches on Friday night, but Messi’s penalty miss wasn’t really deserving of the blanket coverage it received in the immediate aftermath of Argentina’s draw against Iceland.

He did have 11 attempts at goal which is the most from any player since Luigi Riva in 1966 and 1970, so perhaps the focus would’ve been better placed on La Albiceleste’s under-par back line.

Or the fact that Cristian Pavon did more for Argentina in five minutes than Angel di Maria managed in the entire time that he was on the pitch.

Even better, why not give more air time to just how well both Iceland and Spain played against their respective opponents.

There’s also plenty to be enthused about from a French or Brazilian perspective, and Croatia certainly deserve to be front and centre too with the great squad that they possess.

Not to mention an up and coming England squad that could well be the dark horses of the tournament.

Make the analysis about a lot more than two players whom we know all about and exactly what they are capable of.

Neither may win the tournament, or even get close to it, yet they’ve already written much of the script even on days when their teams haven’t been playing.

World Cup 2018 has begun well and been a hugely enjoyable spectacle. Let’s keep it that way and not spoil it with constant references to the captains of Argentina and Portugal.

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