GOM World Cup Diary #12: Whatever Happened To Knowing Your Place?

Last week, Cape Verde drew 0-0 with Spain.

The experts were surprised.

Then Cape Verde drew 2-2 with Uruguay.

The experts were surprised again.

At this rate, the experts are going to need counselling.

You see, before every World Cup, football likes to organise itself into neat little categories.

Big nations.

Small nations.

Favourites.

Outsiders.

Teams expected to challenge.

Teams expected to make up the numbers.

Everybody is assigned their place before a ball has even been kicked.

The experts make their predictions.

The statisticians build their models.

The pundits nod thoughtfully in front of giant screens.

And somewhere in all those calculations, somebody decides which teams are supposed to go home early.

Cape Verde, apparently, never received the memo.

They were expected to lose to Spain.

They didn’t.

They were expected to lose to Uruguay.

They didn’t do that either.

Now they head into a final match against Saudi Arabia with a genuine chance of reaching the knockout stages.

Which is precisely why people love the World Cup.

The funny thing about football is that it stubbornly refuses to respect reputation.

A famous shirt doesn’t score goals.

A glorious history doesn’t win tackles.

And a favourable prediction is worth approximately the same number of points as a polite round of applause.

None.

Football has an annoying habit of judging teams on what they actually do rather than what everybody expected them to do.

Personally, I think that’s one of its finest qualities.

Modern life seems obsessed with labels.

Everybody is categorised.

Ranked.

Measured.

Analysed.

Put into boxes.

Football occasionally reminds us that people—and teams—have a habit of climbing out of those boxes when nobody is looking.

The experts had already packed Cape Verde’s suitcases.

Cape Verde responded by extending their hotel booking.

And isn’t that wonderful?

The World Cup isn’t remembered because the favourites behave themselves.

It’s remembered because every now and then somebody unexpected refuses to leave.

Somewhere this morning, a few pundits are revising their predictions.

A few statisticians are updating their spreadsheets.

And Cape Verde are probably getting on with preparing for Saudi Arabia.

Which seems like the sensible approach.

After all, if football has taught us anything over the years, it’s that knowing your place is vastly overrated.

Anyway, what do I know?

I’m just a grumpy old man.

Feel free to leave a comment.

Or don’t.

I’ll be grumpy either way.