IRESH ZAKER

For me, the best thing flowed on the internet yesterday was footage of Morocco’s Sofiane Boufal dancing on the pitch with his mother in celebration after his team’s famous victory over Portugal in Saturday’s quarter-final game. The short clip encapsulates so much of what is good about the sport in general, and this World Cup in particular.

The ongoing wholesome narrative of familial devotion that Moroccan players have represented has been brilliant throughout the tournament. A poignant reminder: the best of football comes down to our love for the sport, and for each other.

Then there is the theme of confounded predictions and defied expectations brilliantly continued by Boufal and company. Finally a blueprint, provided by the Atlas Lions, for how supposed underdogs can set up against technically superior opponents.

If Boufal gave us the good, then Bruno Fernandes and Pepe, for all their talent, definitely provided one of the low points of Saturday’s proceedings. Their insistence that the Argentine on-field referee somehow tilted the field to favour Morocco, so that his home country might eventually have a softer opponent, was laughable; especially given the Portuguese coach Fernando Santos stated in no uncertain terms that the refereeing had little to do with his team’s result.

While Bruno and Pepe cannot take the shine off Africa’s greatest moment in history, they get absolutely no justification for trying as well.

Moving on, one has to feel for Harry Kane. Whatever one’s opinion is of England and Tottenham, it is tough to argue that their captain is a class act. For him to bear the brunt of England’s latest heartbreak seems karmically unfair. It was a cracker of a match, which shouldn’t have been decided by a penalty miss by one of the sport’s finest ambassadors.

Now, to the topic of football not coming home. The insistence that England is somehow football’s home is completely ridiculous to me. I mean, they weren’t even the first country to play the game. To claim that they have a greater ownership of the sport than other nations smacks of colonial hubris.

Football is a global sport, and we are all its owners. So, regardless of who win the World Cup, the trophy is coming home. Wembley is not the game’s only address!

Finally, a word for this World Cup’s latest fallen superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo. Alas, there was no last-moment magic from him; though he did come close with an assist, minutes from time.

However, his earnestness on the pitch, along with his heartbreak after the match, reminded us that in spite of his prima donna image, Ronaldo remains a footballer at heart.

A better end for him would have been good to see but, in the end, his tears weren’t too steep a price to pay for the image of mother and son dancing together to celebrate their greatest moment of glory.