EURO 2024: A tournament to say "Goodbye" to genuine football legends...
Nothing lasts forever... Don't you think so? And no matter what the context, this phrase will simply never lose its validity... This summer, we have had the good fortune to be able to witness two tournaments of high demand and quality, such as the Copa America USA 2024 and EURO GERMANY 2024. In Europe, there are the players with the highest and best ranking both in the FIFA ranking and in UEFA and other institutions that measure the quality of the players, as well as the national team where they play... Modric, Toni Kroos and now, yes, now as I write this post, Cristiano Ronaldo, are some of the biggest names in football saying "Goodbye" to the highest level of competition. A sad era indeed.
It is not the first time I write in this community. I have identified with Real Madrid all my life. I grew up admiring them and being dazzled by the stars that have always played for the club I love. .... It is inevitable not to feel sadness; precisely because of chance or because of the same demands and high performance, the three stars that I have highlighted in previous lines, all three have been outstanding in the team of my love... It's funny how life always seems to have a surprise up its sleeve? On the same day that my country is 90 minutes away, or a penalty shootout (Venezuela vs Canada) from being in the semi-finals again, CR7, my hero, is eliminated from the EURO by France...
During the previous match, against Slovenia, the situation was already bordering on the extremely dramatic... I couldn't remember two things that marked me emotionally. To see Cristiano Ronaldo crying like that, and to see him so markedly distressed and guilty about a game action such as missing a penalty kick... I'm sure those images went around the world and that we can all see it just by squinting for a moment.... I confess, when you admire someone so much, it's hard to let go of that feeling. Those who love Messi, Zidane, Maradona, etc., will understand what I am saying here.
Germany, hosts, along with Spain, the all-time winners of this competition, have been eliminated by their current contemporary Nemesis.... The "red" team, which has the 16 year old boy and Iñaki Williams Jr as impact figures, has given the blow on the table and has eliminated in Stuttgart the team of an absolute genius of this wonderful but at times extremely cruel sport? Kroos, captain, leader, recent winner of his sixth UEFA Champions League, and in his best form and level, both physically and mentally, also says "Goodbye" to the tournament, which oh cruel surprise, he could never win.... A guy who won everything he ever played in his life, except this tournament...
Football is like that. Harsh, at times incomprehensible, and with that touch of strange bitterness... One is always left with the feeling that those who are really good should have better finishes. However, in this sport not everyone can win, only one can win. Spain was better, with more and better variations, and except for some refereeing controversies, they insisted more, and that fact brought them better results... And what about the best player that a violent and unjust war could have created in Europe? Yes, I am referring to the enormous and inexorable Luka Modric... That in the group stage, and after those little random details of football, he was knocked out of the knockout stage by drawing against Italy.
Life is like that, guys and dear readers... I also confess, that yesterday (I am writing this post even though it is Thursday) I also feared the worst for two other legends... Who are not in the EURO 2024 but are in the Copa America USA 2024... Angel Di Maria and Lionel Messi... Who also had to go to a penalty shoot-out to find out who would advance to the semi-final... Argentina's virtuoso goalkeeper, for now, saved the chestnuts from the fire for the Argentina of these geniuses; who are still World Champions and reigning champions of America... Ironically, only time will reveal their fate. Those who are in Europe now are part of a past?
Old days were beautiful, truly virtuous, but they seem to have come to an end. It made us all extremely happy. A girl writes these lines... She loves good players and recognises them wherever they may be... Nostalgia is inevitable, that's obvious, but I also thank them. More than one generation grew up watching them, and applauding them... Today Cristiano, after the final goal in the penalty shootout of France vs Portugal, was looking at the sky while the scream of the French in the stands went down the stadium, in a cold, rainy Hamburg that witnessed the decline of a legend... Football, like life, gives and takes. That's the way things are, that's life...
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