Hushing, talking and proposing
Watching Antoine Semenyo, and thinking, maybe we should have given Dave Hockaday another chance. Are these the fantasies a World Cup is supposed to give us? Maybe Leeds fans have no other kind.
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The World Cup has arrived in England at last, as it should: with a disappointing goalless grind shown to the nation in a primetime heatwave. The optimism made by scoring four past Croatia evaporated like a Cornetto on pub garden concrete.
A few forlorn souls were trying to keep morale up in the hot post-match night. Small groups of Declan Rice-a-likes on the suburban streets of Leeds, still box-fresh in their matching England tops, were defiantly singing about Eng-er-lund to any passing lamppost.
They met the moment and its need, which was dirge on top of dirge. England were so slow against Ghana it only made their efforts to speed things up look sillier. Taking free-kicks really quickly is not the same as setting a fast tempo, because one of those things requires thinking and the other is just about wiggling arms and legs frantically, trying to disguise how slow you're really playing behind busywork.
England had Elliot Anderson in midfield, soon to be £110m of Neil Kilkennyish pointing and shouting, when what they needed was Ao Tanaka, who made Japan's third goal against Tunisia the other night by dropping deep and playing a pass through two lines, taking out four defenders, all while keeping his index fingers down by his sides.
While watching Ghana makes me want to think about Tony Yeboah, the reverie I was taken to was about Aston Villa playing Leeds in 2016, Jordan Ayew for them then, Jordan Ayew now holding off England defenders at the World Cup. We had Chris Wood for us in those Villa games, and he has two assists for New Zealand in this tournament. Are these the fantasies a World Cup is supposed to give us? Maybe Leeds fans have no other kind.
Speaking of, the other standout flashback of the game — and some games are only good for nostalgia — was Dave Hockaday being interviewed about his part of the rise of Antoine Semenyo. Which proves that not all nostalgic flashbacks are fun ones. This does let us wonder what more Hockaday could have made of Nicky Ajose if he'd been kept around, whether he could have unlocked Adryan's flair if he'd still been in the job when he turned up. We'll never know, and like Virgil van Dijk twitching whenever Hockaday talks about trying to buy him for Leeds, it might be better not to dwell on it.
Semenyo had flashes of doing a lot of everything for Ghana, and the second round of group games has pushed individualism to the forefront. All the stars are here: Erling Haaland still the most relatable of them, having a tantrum about a missed chance against Senegal until, as he span like a toddler, the next chance came into view and he scored it. Norway seem to be enjoying themselves with their longboat dance and that's good, because they're basically Leeds in red shirts and ought to be treated as such.
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