Modern times

As in the award-winning film work by the brilliant Charles Chaplin from which I borrowed the title, we are witnessing a revolution, not industrial but football, where everything is disrupted and people have nervous breakdowns, even though they fight to get a place, in this case in the stands, to continue suffering and enjoying.

Today's football watches in disbelief at the systematic attack of the weakest towards the powerful, nothing can be taken for granted before the start of each game.

For example, a button is enough, my grandmother said and quite rightly so, but here and now I am going to give more than one example of what I am developing; Let's start with last night's surprise at the last minute: Brazil couldn't beat Costa Rica, which didn't score a goal in more than 90 minutes. "Disappointment" is the main headline in all the newspapers and specialized media in the country of the five-time champions.

Earlier, Italy had to suffer until the last 30 seconds of an 8-minute extension to get its ticket to the second phase of the Euro Cup. Croatia is certainly not Costa Rica but this version of the Croatian team is not even remotely similar to that of the last two World Cups.

A day before, Germany also had to suffer until extra time to get a draw with Switzerland. In this case, they were not eliminated, but second place in their group would bring them much more dangerous crosses.

Uruguay took longer than necessary to win 3-1 against Panama, they only had a one-goal lead until after 85 minutes of play despite dominating at will. We know that 1-0 is risky, but luckily for the celestials everything was resolved satisfactorily in the final 5 minutes.

So we could continue with other results that are generally called surprises, but those surprises are more frequent in each tournament.

Despite the hundreds and even billions of dollars that the most powerful countries on the planet allocate to develop talents and have competitive teams, the less fortunate manage to be closer every day, in some way that seems enigmatic and incomprehensible, to them. they improve. For now, it is certainly not enough, but the conclusion is inevitable.

It happens that this is a collective game and despite the talents that emerge, matches are won and lost 11 against 11. Of course, it is undeniable that great figures can unbalance, but that does not make a tournament as tough and even as it is. America's Cup, a Euro Cup, or a World Cup. I believe that the enormous challenge for the most capable is to become leaders and collaborate from that position in creating a set of wills that goes beyond the game to transcend and achieve victory.

That is the secret and I am not saying that it is enough, sometimes it is not enough, but they will be there, in the definition of the important things.

It is likely that the supposedly weaker teams still lack a driving leader, not because they do not have talented players but because there is a time of maturation, of understanding, which can often consume generations.

There is still a lot of water left to run in both tournaments, probably one of the favorites will end up winning both competitions; but it is no longer enough to impose itself with just the colors of the shirt.

It's not bad at all, it gives hope and a concrete goal to all those who for now are only satisfied with watching the usual guys do the Olympic laps and lift the trophies.