When I was younger, I wanted to be the captain on my football team because back then, I assumed that the armband was given to the best player.
asserted
armband → want → player
It was a goal of mine for so long that, even as my youth teams won tournaments and trophies, and I won top scorer and best player awards, I still felt unsatisfied because someone else always had the armband.
asserted
someone → win → armband
Whenever I saw another teammate sprinting around with the armband on, I took it as an indictment.
asserted
I → see → indictment
I had forgotten this childish way of thinking until France v Belgium in the Uefa Nations League last week.
asserted
I → forget → League
Ousmane Dembélé, who was wearing the armband for France, was particularly active.
asserted
who → wear → France
Had it not been for the wastefulness of his teammates, he would have had several assists during his time on the field.
asserted
he → have → field
That time came to an end in the 60th minute, when France manager Zinedine Zidane decided to make changes in order to galvanize his team.
asserted
Zidane → come → team
Dembélé was doing well, but Belgium were nullifying the threat that he presented.
asserted
he → do → that
They would double or triple team him, knowing that he wasn’t the best passer and that he would often dally on the ball.
asserted
he → double → ball
Those extra touches and extra dribbles allowed the Belgium defenders time to close in, or to recover before the pass made it to a teammate.
asserted
pass → allow → teammate
On came Michael Olise as Dembélé’s direct replacement, with Dembélé handing Olise the captain’s armband.
asserted
Dembélé → come → armband
There’s a clip online of the moment zoomed in, which shows what the broadcast cameras seemed to miss.
asserted
cameras → ’ → what
When Dembélé gave Olise the armband, Olise accepted it with a look of confusion, seemingly not understanding why he was being given the honor, since he is not usually the captain or vice-captain.
asserted
he → give → honor
Seeing this, I remembered that I used to believe that the best player on the team is – and should be – the one who wears the armband and in that moment, the exchange made perfect sense.
asserted
exchange → see → sense
You can always tell the quality of a player by how the crowd reacts to them.
asserted
crowd → tell → them
When Olise came on, the crowd roared, behaving as if victory was inevitable, even though France were down when he made his entrance.
asserted
he → come → entrance
Whenever he touched the ball, they rose and took a deep breath in anticipation.
asserted
they → touch → anticipation
He had wowed them throughout the World Cup, where he provided seven assists and innumerable moments of magic, and he had already scored a late goal to beat Belgium at the end of September.
asserted
he → wow → September
The French crowd expected great things, because he had delivered for them over and over again.
asserted
he → expect → them
The first goal would actually come not from Olise but from Désiré Doué, who had subbed on for Bradley Barcola before Olise came on.
asserted
Olise → come → Barcola
But once things were back level, Olise took over and ended the game as a contest.
asserted
Olise → take → contest
In the 80th minute, he beat his man with ease down the line and cut the ball back for Rayan Cherki to slot past the keeper.
asserted
Cherki → beat → keeper
Seven minutes later, he got the ball on the right side of the box from Doué.
asserted
he → get → Doué
Surrounded by several defenders who were grabbing him all over, he managed a weak shot with his right foot that took the goalkeeper by surprise and went in the bottom left corner.
asserted
that → surround → corner
Then three minutes after that, in the 90th minute, he made a run through the middle where Doué once again found him with the ball.
asserted
Doué → make → ball
With one touch Olise slotted the ball home through the keeper’s legs.
asserted
Olise → slot → legs
He didn’t just win the game, he turned a tough match between two of the best teams in the world into a rout in the span of 10 minutes.
asserted
he → win → minutes
Olise is often accused of performing nonchalance.
asserted
Olise → accuse → nonchalance
Maybe that’s true, and maybe it’s a case of social anxiety and shyness being so unusual in the professional football ranks that fans have to see it as something insincere.
asserted
fans → ’ → something
Regardless, if you watch Olise play closely, beyond the YouTube highlights of isolated moments, it’s impossible to accuse him of nonchalance.
asserted
it → watch → nonchalance
His playing style is one of ease and grace, but that is not a consequence of pretending not to try.
asserted
that → pretend → ease
His style is so similar to that of Zidane, in the sense that the grace comes from both a sense to entertain the crowd but also from an economy of movement.
asserted
grace → come → movement
If the danger of Dembélé comes from the innumerable ways that he can beat you, options that are so numerous that they tend to sometimes weigh him down when he tries to do too much, Olise beats defenders and teams by doing the simple things extremely well.
asserted
Olise → come → things
When he controls the ball, he sets it to lead up to his next move.
asserted
he → control → move
When he runs with the ball, he pushes it with the exact amount of force that allows him to either get by the defender or set up a pass.
asserted
him → run → pass
And when he’s presented with a number of options of what to do in front of goal or to find a teammate on the run, he usually chooses the best one.
asserted
he → present → one
That doesn’t mean that everything he does ultimately leads to success – his inability to score during the World Cup eventually made it seem as though he were under a curse – but he is usually making the right choices with the ball at his feet.
asserted
he → mean → feet
Armbands don’t actually signify the best player on the field or in the world.
asserted
Armbands → signify → world
Rather, that conversation is now centered around the Ballon d’Or.
asserted
conversation → center → d’Or
Players and their teams openly campaign to be crowned, and fans of each player attack the other sides, with each denigrating the opposing side’s favorite player in order to boost the campaign for their own.
asserted
each → campaign → own
…and 10 more, not listed.
The Aporia
