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Tournament of the underdog
Such is the nature of
knockout tournament football that it is not the team with the most gifted
personnel or the finest style of play that necessarily triumphs in the end.
Often the trophy is lifted by the side that knows best how to survive.
Portugal
did not play the prettiest football at Euro 2016 nor did it possess the most
talented group of players, but its resolve and organisation were second to
none. Eder’s extra-time winner against France, in what was a dour final in
Paris, gave the Iberian nation its first major international trophy, ending the
pain of five semifinal exits and one runner-up finish in global competitions.
There is no denying that Portugal rode its luck along the way. It progressed to
the knockout stages by the skin of its teeth, after finishing third in Group F;
found itself in what was undeniably the easier half of the draw; and over the
course of the five weeks won only one match in regulation time. But all that
will matter little in the final analysis. The victory came as sweet relief for
Portugal’s captain and talisman, Cristiano Ronaldo, who was stretchered off the
pitch in tears in the first half. He would end the night sobbing on his
colleagues’ shoulders, but not for the reasons he may have imagined at that
stage. His efforts in Portugal’s success, having almost single-handedly dragged
it to the final, should cement Ronaldo’s legacy as one of the greatest
footballers of all time.
For France, though, the
loss came as a soul-crushing blow. Euro 2016 was played in the shadow of the November
terrorist attacks in Paris and the home team had continually spoken of helping
heal some wounds. The Stade de France, the venue for Sunday’s final, had itself
come under attack, during — hauntingly — a friendly match between France and
Germany. A French victory in the same arena would have been poignant. But it
was not to be. This result, however, must not detract from the host nation’s
performances en route to the final, or indeed the brilliance of its little
forward Antoine Griezmann, whose own sister, incidentally, survived the
massacre at the Bataclan concert hall. But Euro 2016, expanded to 24 teams to
much disapproval, will forever be remembered as the tournament of the underdog.
Iceland, a nation of just over 300,000 people, memorably advanced to the
quarterfinals while Wales, a deeply passionate, spirited side, made it as far
as the last four; both were appearing at the European championships for the
first time. Teams like Albania, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland
enjoyed fervid, heart-warming support in the stands; their presence was
impossible to ignore. Indeed there was much joy for the uncelebrated, right to
the very end.
Dour
(Usually Of A Person's
Appearance Or Manner) Unfriendly, Unhappy, And Very Serious:
The Normally Dour Mr James Was Photographed Smiling And Joking
With Friends.
By The Skin Of
Your Teeth
If You Do Something By The Skin Of Your Teeth, You Only Just
Succeed In Doing It:
He Escaped From The Secret Police By The Skin Of His Teeth.
Talisman
An Object Believed To Bring Good Luck Or To Keep Its Owner Safe
From Harm
Stretcher Sb
Off
— Phrasal Verb With Stretcher
To Carry A Player Off A Sports Field On A Stretcher Because They
Are Injured:
Caldow Had Been Stretchered Off With A Broken Leg.
Haunting
Beautiful, But In A Sad Way And Often In A Way That Cannot Be
Forgotten:
A Haunting Melody
The Haunting Beauty Of Africa
Poignant
Causing Or Having A Very Sharp Feeling Of Sadness:
The Photograph Awakens Poignant Memories Of Happier Days.
It Is Especially Poignant That He Died On The Day Before The
Wedding.
Fervent
Used To Describe Beliefs That Are Strongly And Sincerely Felt Or
People Who Have Strong And Sincere Beliefs:
A Fervent Supporter Of The Communist Party
It Is His Fervent Hope That A Peaceful Solution Will Soon Be
Found.
Calming the Valley
Burhan Wani, the
22-year-old “commander” of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen gunned down last week by the
security forces in Anantnag, was credited with mobilising a new generation of
the disaffected in Jammu and Kashmir. In the violent aftermath of his death,
however, young men and women have taken the fight to the security forces on the
street. Pitched battles have engulfed the Valley. Wani was obviously a prize catch.
His engaging manner had turned him into a legend before his death, as he
coasted on personal charisma and social media smarts to become the ‘poster boy’
of a new phase of Kashmiri militancy that is homegrown. But having got their
man, the security forces failed spectacularly in managing the situation. After
the death of over a hundred Kashmiris in the stone-pelting protests in the
summer of 2010, the J&K police and the paramilitary forces were said to
have evolved less lethal ways of bringing under control what is essentially
political mobilisation. The fact that so many civilians have been killed or
injured in the eye this month, with a high percentage having possibly lost
vision altogether, suggests that no care has gone into keeping the casualties low.
Faced with an attacking mob, policemen are bound to perceive a sense of siege.
But it is imperative that any response should be measured and never grossly
disproportionate to the cause of action — forgetting this lesson in Kashmir has
time and again led to the fuelling of a further cycle of protests, to
attracting more impressionable and aggrieved youngsters to attack symbols of
authority.
This is a cycle that
cannot be broken by brute force. The Central and State governments have reached
out to the Opposition and separatist leaders to dissuade young Kashmiris from
street violence. But appeals for calm must be strengthened with a demonstrable
capacity for a political conversation. When tens of thousands of Kashmiris hit
the streets in mourning for a fallen militant, there is a spectrum of political
opinion that presents itself. They can be dispersed with pellets. But if
‘mainstream’ politics does not speak to them, if their arguments are not heard
patiently to be countered or fleshed out, as the case may be, the calm that
eventually obtains will be an illusion. The Valley has been restive for more
than a year now. In this period, Wani is not the only militant whose funeral
has drawn people in the thousands. But after long, after more than a decade of
violence led by foreign militants, he was the rare local boy to be seen in a
leadership role. To put his mourners in a with-us-against-us binary would, as
Omar Abdullah has said, give him a recruiting power from beyond the grave.
Gun Sb Down
— Phrasal Verb With Gun
O Shoot Someone And Kill Or Seriously Injure Them, Often When
That Person Cannot Defend Himself Or Herself:
The Police Officer Was Gunned Down As He Took His Children To
School.
Aftermath
The Period That Follows An Unpleasant Event Or Accident, And The
Effects That It Causes:
Many More People Died In The Aftermath Of The Explosion.
Engulf
To Surround And Cover Something Or Someone Completely:
The Flames Rapidly Engulfed The House.
Northern Areas Of The Country Were Engulfed By/In A Snowstorm
Last Night.
The War Is Threatening To Engulf The Entire Region.
Lethal
>Able To Cause Or Causing Death; Extremely Dangerous:
Three Minutes After The Fire Started, The House Was Full Of
Lethal Fumes.
In The Car The Police Found Guns, Knives, And Other Lethal
Weapons (= Weapons That Can Kill).
A 59-Year-Old Man Was Executed By Lethal Injection (= By Having
A Poisonous Substance Put Into His Body) This Morning.
Imperative
> Extremely Important Or Urgent:
[ + That ] The President Said It Was Imperative That The Release
Of All Hostages Be Secured.
[ + To Infinitive ] It's Imperative To Act Now Before The
Problem Gets Really Serious.
Aggrieved
Unhappy And Angry Because Of Unfair Treatment:
He Felt Aggrieved At Not Being Chosen For The Team.
One Aggrieved Customer Complained That He Still Hadn't Received
The Book He Had Ordered Several Weeks Ago.
Dissuade
To Persuade Someone Not To Do Something:
I Tried To Dissuade Her From Leaving.
Flesh Sth Out
— Phrasal Verb With Flesh
To Add More Details Or Information To Something:
These Plans Need To Be Fleshed Out With Some More Figures.
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