Achraf Hakimi scores the winning goal against Unai Simón. KARIM JAAFAR (AFP)
Dear Martin:
I snort like players before a penalty, waiting for the air to sharpen its aim. And with that we have come to the point where destiny is defined by the taint of death.
The maximum penalty is imposed from 11 meters away (in German, a language that leaves no doubt, the penalty is penalty). On the poor squares that cannot be reached with a tape measure and where the lime stain has been obliterated by dust, the referee (if any) measures that distance with twelve increments.
A great text by the Chilean writer Francisco Mouat emerged from the custom: The Magic of the Twelve Steps. There he points out: “The games that are won by a penalty goal do not have the same spice as those where victory is won by game goals. In that sense, the punishment is improper.”
And what about elimination-to-the-death, Russian roulette where there are only penalties?
Mouat collects suitable sentences on this topic. Despite scoring his 1,000th goal with the maximum penalty, Pelé was able to say: “A penalty is a cowardly way of scoring.” Vicente Verdú settled the matter by calling the merciless shooting an “abuse of a massacre.” The very definition of punishment is an invitation to the Holocaust.
In your letter on Monday you explained that Brazil played the fantasy games reserved for training sessions against South Korea. But there is a game for which there is no learning. Roberto Baggio shot the bow with such precision that he created a wonderful useless prodigy. They say that during a practice session he dipped the ball in paint and hit the crossbar with such skill that he dyed it a different color. As one of his many clubs, Fiorentina, the exaggerated ones that never fail, said that no one had drawn such clear lines in this city since Leonardo. Well then, Roberto Baggio, architect of self-control – who was a Buddhist, to be precise – missed the crucial penalty in United States 94.
Qatar has filed some high school charges like Neymar’s against South Korea. In this way, Cristiano managed to score at five World Cups and Messi confirmed his moody state as a genius. He scored elegantly against Saudi Arabia and squandered the opportunity against Poland like a tycoon who doesn’t bother to pick up a ticket off the street.
In a duel with Frenchman Lloris, Lewandowski showed that the famous paradinha is a matter of rhythm. He made the traditional break before the shot, but instead of fooling the goalkeeper with a samba break, he jumped like a Cossack putting out a fire: the ball landed in the goalkeeper’s hands. In a previous match, Mexican Memo Ochoa, who knows the old men’s typical Michoacán dance, had easily guessed Lewandowski’s intention.
It is quite possible that the best coach of the World Cup is the Japanese Hajime Moriyasu. It did have players who play in the Bundesliga and the exceptional striker Ito from Reims, but it was the group that mattered, not the numbers. In these conditions, they defeated Germany and Spain and tied on points with Croatia, the current runners-up. Japan, a paragon of discipline, multiplies on the pitch, leaving the dressing room pristine and adorned with paper herons. But aiming is not trained. In the punishments, Moriyasu’s troops aimed at him to the moon.
All this to comment on Spain-Morocco, a battle of absolute dedication that ended in an unknown dimension where talent is a slave to luck.
The Thousand Touch team didn’t display the overwhelming hierarchy attributed to them, but they did dominate an opponent who knew how to defend and counterattack to the last breath. When the referee blew the whistle, the Moroccans were unable to do the same.
No one knows what the magic of the twelve steps will bring. Spain didn’t score a single penalty, somewhat tragically normal (at this time the technique is to resist spasms).
Playing with the solvency of someone who doesn’t know the error, Bono, the Moroccan goalkeeper, stopped two shots.
As fate likes complications, the final cast depended on Achraf Hakimi, who was born in Spain and made his Real Madrid debut. Could he eliminate his host country? The epic suggested a crisis of conscience, but number 2 took the ball by storm with the calm of a whistler, fooling Unai Simón with the softness of teachers.
Football knows no euthanasia. Nobody there demands a dignified death. But the definition in penalties redeems the most lost: In that moment, everyone has the right to fail.
The complete correspondence of Caparrós and Villoro during the World Cup in Qatar
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