Distractedly: A World Cup Final Summary from a Jewish Perspective

Football is a Team Sport

If there is one important lesson that can be learned from this tournament for life, it is the need to play together as a team. This World Cup proved more than its predecessors that there is no longer exclusive power for playmakers, and the big stars went home without bringing the trophy with them.

With all due respect to huge football stars like Ronaldo, Messi, and Mbappe, and the younger ones like Haaland, Bellingham, Vinicius Junior, and Lamine Yamal (who was crowned in the final as the youngest player on the Spain national team to win the European Champion and World Cup Champion titles), each of them individually could not defeat strong teams.

They had brilliant moments in the tournament, but at the decisive moments, they had to cooperate with others and bring them into situations that would win games.

It is also important to remember the less successful moments of the football superstars:

• Messi and Mbappe, who fought throughout the tournament for the title of "all-time leading World Cup goal scorer" (which Mbappe won due to the unforgettable third-place match in which he scored 2 of France's 4 goals compared to England's 6 goals), both had embarrassing moments they will want to forget when they missed penalties in front of a stadium full of cheering fans and felt very bad about themselves.

• The personal disappointing tournament ending of Cristiano Ronaldo (41), who became a tragic hero when there were games in which he did not score at all and was ultimately eliminated with Portugal in the round of 16 after a stinging loss to the new world champion Spain, finishing without a World Cup trophy in his career but with a lot of respect. Perhaps Ronaldo had a little comfort in the fact that at least Messi did not lift the trophy but Yamal did, and perhaps he does not care at all anymore.

No Rain In Spain

The truth is that the analyses of the big stars the day after the final are no longer really important. What matters is which team played correct and smart football from the start, and in the case of this tournament, it is definitely the Spanish team that made the successful long journey until lifting the trophy.

Even in the biggest game of all, they maintained composure against the outgoing champion Argentina, managing to completely block their players from threatening the Spanish goal even once in the entire game.

At the end of regulation time, by the referee's decision, they also dealt with extra time in numerical superiority after Fernandez received a second yellow card that turned into a red and sent him off.

It is very difficult to beat the Spain national team when it has 11 players against 10, and when one of the Spaniards is the excellent goalkeeper Simon (who conceded only one goal in eight matches of the Spanish team), it is impossible even for Messi. From this event, we learned that after all the strategies, commentaries, and moves, in the end, what is needed is great luck and one moment of distraction from the opponent's goalkeeper.

After a few more nerve-racking and hair-pulling minutes, the whistle arrives, followed by the bursting joy of victory and lifting the trophy to the sky (before the Spanish team catches a flight to celebrate with all the Spanish fans, that most of them don't like Israel, but she deal's with it well and there's no hard feelings).

See You in Spain

Many football fans around the world, who went through a lot of sleepless nights due to the time differences because of the tournament being held in the USA, are waiting impatiently and perhaps already counting the days until World Cup 2030 in four years.

The tournament is expected to take place in Spain (which will host it as the world and European champion), as well as in Morocco and Portugal. To mark 100 years of FIFA's great football enterprise, three special matches will be held in Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina.

Will we see Messi on the pitch again in the latter country, or will he watch the match from the luxury box after his planned retirement sometime in the coming years?

Will our eyes behold Ronaldo in Portugal, most likely also from the stands because at age 45 it is not reasonable that he will still be an active player?

What is certain is that Yamal, Mbappe, and a few other new young players who dream of being Messi one day will probably make some noise in the next World Cup tournament.

Everyone ultimately needs to aspire to be part of a winning team, and hope that what happened to Ferran Torres will happen to them, by being the person who arrived at the place and the moment needed to score the most important goal in the tournament and win big. And if he could do it - anyone can.