”I know I’m at a certain age and this will be my last tournament for Croatia.”
Following Messi not long ago, Modric also announced this news before the opening of the Qatar World Cup.
As the first Ballon d’Or winner to break Melo’s monopoly, Modric’s career is legendary and exciting. Of course, he was called a “parallel importer” when he first arrived at Real Madrid and received a lot of doubts when he won the Ballon d’Or, but five Champions League champions, World Cup runners-up, big and small trophies and countless achievements have long proved his ability.
Just like a lot of old guys who are still playing like him, they are like old wine, more and more mellow.
This World Cup, we will see a lot of people’s curtain call.
In addition to Messi and Modric who have been identified, Suarez and Ronaldo, who have not yet expressed their attitude, will basically usher in such a result. The former confirmed at last year’s Copa America that it was the last America in his career. Cup, the latter, who has always been ambitious, only set his sights on the European Cup two years later.
Among the winners of the Ballon d’Or and World Player of the Year in the past few years, Lewandowski and Benzema may still be looking forward to the next World Cup, but it will also be very difficult, because Lewandowski, who was born in 1988, Fsky will be approaching 38 years old by then, and Benzema, who was born in 1989, will also be approaching 37 years old.
And Bell, who is the same age as the French, is actually not far from retirement.
If you count Higuain and Ribery who announced their retirement before the World Cup, you will find a very emotional phenomenon:
Each one is a big name.
Among them, Lewandowski, Modric and Bell have all led their national teams to the best results in history in recent years.
The former helped the team return to the World Cup after a lapse of 12 years. Modric even raised the best record in the history of the Croatian national team to the height of the runner-up. As for Wales, not to mention, this is only the second time Wales has participated. The World Cup race, the last time was in the distant 1958.
Ronaldo followed his big brother to the semi-finals, only slightly worse than the historic Portugal team in 1966; Suarez and his teammates also won fourth place in South Africa, which was Uruguay’s best result since 1970.
As for Messi, in the eyes of many people, the source of the gap between him and Maradona is just a World Cup, and Higuain, who had hoped to change this result, scored countless single-handed shots, but lost it that time.
Players born in the 1980s may be the most special group in the entire history of football.
When they were born, the world was basically at peace, and most people were not affected by war and other man-made disasters; when they were teenagers, they received youth training under the hands of traditional youth training coaches, and their basic skills were polished very solidly.
In the era of professional or first-team football, football has become popular all over the world with the popularity of the Internet, and there are countless competitors around, which has led to a great degree of competition; in the era of social media, post-80s players, especially After 1985, they entered the peak period of their career, which attracted countless fans and held them to the extreme height.
Of course, insiders can think that Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi are not as good as Ronaldo and Maradona, but on social media, Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi are “peerless arrogances”.
This phenomenon not only occurs abroad, but also domestically.
The two groups of people who can get the title of “Super Platinum Generation” are players born in 1981 and 1985. Among the 83 national youths, although the more famous name is “Four Young Masters Worshiping Money”, one of them, Wang Song, is still active in the professional arena.
This is a legendary player who has turned 39 years old.
Although Chinese football after 1985 has never produced so many outstanding players, there are still outstanding players such as Huang Bowen, Zhang Xizhe, Wu Xi, Zhang Linpeng, and Wang Dalei.
The quality and standard of these players are still much higher than their descendants.
Against this background, Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi have monopolized various awards, big and small, in football for a long time.
Although they have never won the World Cup, they have already surpassed Cruyff, Platini, Ronaldo, Zidane, Ronaldinho, etc. senior.
We won’t talk about whether this phenomenon is correct, but this scene is indeed the norm from 2008 to 2018, until Modric broke the norm with his outstanding performance at the World Cup in Russia.
Since then, Lewandowski and Benzema have successively touched the height of the Ballon d’Or, and the two talents of Melo have shown a clear downward trend on and off the pitch.
However, what is more interesting is that whether it is Modric who broke their monopoly, or Lewandowski and Benzema who have been in the limelight in recent years, they are still players born in the 1980s.
Modric was 33 years old when he won the Ballon d’Or; Lewandowski was 32 and 33 when he won the World Footballer twice; Benzema, the latest Ballon d’Or winner, was also the same this year. 33 years old.
The post-90s, who should have taken center stage in history, disappeared along with their big brothers.
Hazard, who was born in 1991, has been firmly seated on the Real Madrid bench;
Neymar, born in 1992, wasted his great years and talents;
Pogba, who was born in 1993, has made a lot of money, but apart from a World Cup title, he can no longer achieve anything.
Among them, Pogba, the youngest, is nearly 30 years old and has suffered frequent injuries for several consecutive years. As for Neymar and Hazard, not only are they older, but their physical fitness is also declining rapidly.
They can no longer become the leaders of international football, because behind them, Mbappe, Haaland, Vinicius, Chuameni and other players born at the turn of the century have emerged rapidly.
The baton that the post-80s players are about to hand over will skip over them and go directly to the hands of these young people.
So, we are going through the end of an era.
Compared with their predecessors, the post-80s players ushered in the popularity and emergence of the Internet and social media in their careers, which made their popularity much higher than their predecessors, and also allowed them to win more than their predecessors both on and off the court. more economic benefits.
Compared with later generations, players born in the 1980s have more solid basic skills and more comprehensive abilities. Whether they are playing in positions they are familiar with or not familiar with, they can play well. It has become a wise saying.
Among the many clubs, Real Madrid, which once owned Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema, Modric, Kroos, Marcelo, Ramos and other top post-80s players, naturally became the biggest winner.
Five Champions League champions in 10 years, naturally it is not surprising.
However, time is merciless and will not stop for their outstanding performance.
Even though their careers may still have a period of time, on a stage like the World Cup, this is likely to be the last dance of the post-80s players collectively.
Messi, Ronaldo, Modric and others are still the indispensable core figures of their respective national teams; Lewandowski, Bell, Suarez also need to continue to carry their national teams forward.
In this group of veterans, only Benzema is lucky, because he also has a group of excellent little brothers.
In more than a month, the Qatar World Cup will come to an end.
At that time, there may be a veteran who has performed well and the team is united and can achieve the good wishes of the World Cup, but from a rational point of view, it is likely that this cannot happen.
In this way, no player born in the 1980s can reach the heights of Ronaldo and Zidane who have repeatedly entered the World Cup finals and won championships, not to mention the heights that Maradona almost single-handedly helped Argentina realize its dream.
But they’re still good, maybe it’s just the stars that make it hard to focus on the brightest of them all.
No matter what the result is, please enjoy the last dance of the post-80s players.
(Muzi)