Moments after Argentina had sent an arrow into the heart of England, Lionel Messi was photographed melting into the arms of the craggy Harry Kane, England’s leading player but, in the World Cup semifinal, a vanquished foe.
You would have thought the wheel of fortune had spun differently.
Kane is a decorated soccer player whose name, stoical demeanor and physique summon up Henry V, delivering Shakespeare’s famous St. Crispin’s Day speech: “If we are mark’d to die, we are enow to do our country loss; and if to live, the fewer men, the greater share of honor.”
Kane was standing tall in Atlanta, feelings imperceptible. Messi, though, was overcome with the emotion of having assisted on two lethal goals that put a metaphorical sword right through King Harry’s chest. It was as if Kane was comforting Messi.
Such are the moments of human emotions that accompany global soccer’s most thrilling tournament, perhaps ever. Back home, Kane already knew, a fine run to the semifinal by England would be seen as a failure, especially for the battlefield’s general, German-born coach Thomas Tuchel, never a beloved figure in the English press and whose overly defensive tactics had proven ruinous. But Kane knew how to play his part on this battlefield of mortal enemies.
Shakespeare had taught him where he had to put his focus: “What feats he did that day: then shall our names. Familiar in his mouth as household words: Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester, be in their flowing cups freshly remember’d. This story shall the good man teach his son.”
Exit King Harry, an actor whose part is over.
Messi battles on Sunday as the world champion Argentina takes on Spain. The other Argentinian players have said, in various ways, that they play so that Messi, who is 39, can keep playing. Argentina used plenty of the so-called dark arts in its victory Wednesday, but whenever Messi was fouled his teammates circled the offender like a security detail protecting a fragile deity. Messi is that to them, to Argentina, to a good chunk of the rest of the world.
Throughout this tournament, Messi often has seemed overwhelmed by his own apparent immortality. His face has looked quizzical and he often has turned skywards, like a character in Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” wondering how to get home, whatever that means for him. There would appear to be, to borrow from a Taylor Swift T-shirt, a lot going on with Messi at the moment. Therein, of course, lies his genius, especially now that his formidable physical prowess has to be cared for by the player’s astonishing on-field intelligence, which helpfully has peaked over the last couple of weeks, even if the same cannot be said for his body. Although we should all be so lucky.
Sunday, we are privileged to see all of this again as Messi’s Argentina takes on Spain: another seismic battle, another rush of emotion, another chance to watch a soccer god wondering when and how it will all end.
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