German players made it clear what they thought about armband bans. They dominated Japan and lost while Belgium were battered but beat Canada. Spain went for the conventional and simply seared Costa Rica.
Protest
Germany's players covered their mouths for their team photo before their opening World Cup match against Japan to protest against the organisers Fifa for forbidding them and six other teams from wearing armbands in support of LGBTQ+ rights. German football federation bosses were right behind the gesture. “With our captain’s armband, we wanted to send a signal for values that we live in the national team: diversity and mutual respect ... human rights are non-negotiable," the federation said. "That should be obvious. Unfortunately it still isn’t. That’s why this message is so important to us. Denying us the armband is like muzzling us."
Suffering for a cause
A lot has been said that none of the teams in Qatar were willing to make a stand before Qatari authorities over the issue and take the punishments and sanctions that Fifa was threatening if the captains wore the "OneLove" armband. Well, the Germans have offered the template. They failed to capitalise on their early dominance in the game against Japan and lost 2-1.
الشماتة
That's the Arabic for Schadenfreude.
Don’t take the lead
The putative big teams such as Argentina and Germany have clearly got this whole Qatar 2022 approach wrong. They’ve scored the opening goal and then proceeded to lose to supposedly lesser opponents. France showed the way on Day 3 by letting Australia score the opening goal and then thrashing them 4-1. Germany did not take heed. Belgium's line on Day 4 was intriguing. They allowed Canada space to outplay them but won 1-0. Belgium boss Roberto Martinez said: "We need to be criticial of ourselves, analyse the performance and to make sure that we improve in the next three days. But doing that with the three points is better ... after seeing what has happened so far in the tournament." Dry Martinez.
Humour
Politics in sport, the environmental disrespect of air-conditioned stadiums, attitudes to migrants and gay rights ... an accretion of issues have dogged this World Cup. So it was refreshing to savour some humour. Seconds after Carlos Soler had rammed Spain’s sixth goal past the Costa Rica goalkeeper Kaylor Navas, the assistant referee held up the panel showing there would be eight minutes of stoppage time. What? Really? Had Costa Rica not suffered enough? Obviously not. Alvaro Morata promptly knocked in the seventh for Spain. Another kind of suffering.
