Game’s greatest player will not see his legacy sullied by defeat to Spain but his team’s display destroyed the game
Playing on the grandest stage in sport for the last time, Lionel Messi seemed almost certain to provide one last memorable moment in this World Cup final.
Yet as the sun ducked behind the west stand of New York New Jersey Stadium on Sunday, it became clearer and clearer that Argentina had lost the magic they had carried through this tournament. And as Spain gradually wrested control, one was left to confront reality: Messi, and Argentina, had finally run out of time, having long since given in to their worst instincts in a 1-0 defeat.
Continue reading...The European champions conceded just one goal in the tournament and their success is a victory for a system
Release the pressure, let it out. All of it and all of them. Again and again they had come, again and again they had been halted but they would not be denied. A dozen different players had taken aim at Emi Martínez’s goal but somehow he was still standing and time was slipping away, yet Spain refused to do so, so they came some more.
And then, suddenly, only this wasn’t really sudden, the result instead of the purest logic, the clearest justice, Pedro Porro’s deep cross found Nico Williams at the far post and he headed back. The ball dropped deep inside the Argentina penalty area, bounced on the turf and just kind of sat there: waiting, willing someone take this moment.
Continue reading...Vice-president and second lady announced birth of Alec Neel Vance, their fourth child, in social media statement
Vice-President JD Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, on Sunday announced the birth of their fourth child, the first born to a sitting vice-president in more than 150 years.
Born on Sunday, Alec Neel Vance joins older siblings Ewan, nine; Vivek, six; and Mirabel, four.
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