There are few geniuses in the profession called "journalism", but if you want to find such - these are the headliners in the English tabloids. Maybe not those who no longer set a national agenda, but still those who know how to summarize it in a completely minimalist way.
"WON LOVE" - shouted the headline of the "Sun" next to the picture of Bokayo Saka, the exciting star of the English table leader Arsenal, who scored twice in the 2:6 victory over Iran - a pun on ONE LOVE, which is the slogan that FIFA banned from the captains of the national teams Europeans to present on the film The Captain, in protest of the state of LGBT rights in Qatar.
But the "Sun", in its wisdom, remembers that there is also something left to fix in England before Qatar is fixed.
Do not make claims before doing a home inspection.
Qatar, photo: Reuters
Saka was among the black players who missed the penalty shootout against Italy in the previous Euro final, and was later subjected to a horrific racist attack on social media.
In the year and a quarter that have passed, fans in the stands of the English league in the stadiums where Saka played have been divided between emotional gestures of support - even from rival fans - to the continued ugliness of singing "You let your country down".
England had three more black scorers in that win.
Marcus Rashford - beloved by the public, thanks to a public campaign that led to feeding hungry children at a time when schools were closed due to the corona epidemic.
Heads of government, royalty, kings and princes have already expressed their appreciation.
On the other hand, Raheem Sterling - hated by the yellow press, because he often points out the gap between the coverage of black and white stars.
And Jude Bellingham - just a super player, who might one day bring her a trophy.
Bokayo Sake.
Archive, photo: Reuters
The black diamond of France
Only 87 minutes, less than a football game, the train travels from London to Lille in France.
The crowd that fills the bar on the night of the game against Australia is in love with Kylian Mbappe.
Besides the official anthem at the start of the game, they often burst into spontaneous anthem singing.
The line L'étendard sanglant est levé (we will fly the bloody flag) they improvise: L'étendard sanglant Mbappe, which is "our bloody flag is Mbappe".
Not the most logical, but rhymes.
And this wonderful player - we will be lucky if we see five more like him in our lifetime - answers them with a beautiful goal and the total and complete destruction of the right wing fortifications of the Australian defense.
When Vio Anderson became England's first black player in November 1978, it was a few months after Guadeloupe-born Marius Trezor became France's first black captain at the World Cup.
There have been blacks in the French national team since Arby Banbarak, the "Black Diamond", in 1938.
Mbapa
Already celebrated in the previous World Cup, photo: T.F.P
Football is a measurable thing.
In the last four decades, when England is just beginning the integration of its football and for France this is a fact of life - France won the World Cup twice and the European Championship twice, and was in the final of these stories.
Its stars have always been the symbol of French integration - Fontaine and Coupe in the 50s, and since then Zidane, Henry, Benzema - the list is endless.
And now Mbappe, whose parents are from Guadeloupe and Martinique.
England during this period reached one European final, last year, and lost it.
But football is not a metaphor for life, or at least it doesn't have to be.
The British government is headed by a dark-skinned man, the son of Indian-African immigrants.
And in France - the extreme right against immigration came very close to power.
Australia first
I watch the game in London in West Finchley.
Iranians, English, blacks, whites, Indians - all sitting together.
Everyone agrees on one thing: FIFA and Qatar and the Iranian government and the referee and the VAR - they can all go to hell.
On the other hand, in the huge commercial complex on the edge of the Eurostar station, huge commercial spaces are standing empty and for rent.
The economic crisis hit on top of Brexit's damage, but the city was already ethnically torn long before that.
Lille was one of the centers of the ethnic riots of 2005. North African and Turkish areas of the city are considered not to be entered.
On the other hand - the hooligans of the local football club, the "Ultras LOSC", are a racist extreme right-wing group.
A nice bar, even called "The Australian", hosted me for a game against Australia.
The crowd is almost entirely white.
The atmosphere is pleasant, because the enemy on the field is Australia.
Australia is much loved here due to the monumental contribution of Australian soldiers to victory in both world wars.
"We won't see the game against Tunisia (such a game is planned later in the tournament) in a common bar with Tunisians," a French fan tells me candidly, when the score is already 1:4 and everything is festive.
were we wrong
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