“Damn me, Uxbridge, if I ever saw 30,000 men run a race before!”
Those words from the British commander, the Duke of Wellington, in the movie epic “Waterloo,” speak to why the World Cup final this Sunday should feature England versus France. Because just as Napoleon’s once invincible Old Guard collapsed under withering British (and Dutch and Belgian and Prussia) fire 203 years ago on those sloping fields in Belgium, France must collapse under withering set pieces from England on Sunday in Moscow.
But to meet France on that Moscow field, England must first beat Croatia on Wednesday.
That’s an important consideration because while they deserve much credit for their World Cup journey thus far, Croatia lacks the quality of the England team it faces today. It would be a travesty if Croatia made it thru to the final in England’s rightful place. But with composure and ferocity, England will prevail.
They’ll prevail, because the poetic justice of an English team beating France in Moscow cannot be overstated. After all, it was only 206 years ago that at least 400,000 of Napoleon’s vast 680,000 man Grande Armée was wiped out on the winter retreat from Moscow. In a predictably Russian act, the Russians burned their own capital down in order to deny Napoleon’s capturing forces a winter redoubt. Their expectation of victory was rendered into ashes and then frozen limbs.
But I digress.
The necessary showdown on Sunday not simply about history. It’s about the rightful clash of two highly talented teams of young, aggressive and very fast players. In France, Kylian Mbappe’s pace is matched to Antoine Griezmann’s shot making. In England, Raheem Sterling’s pace finds it’s match in Harry Kane’s composure. But if they play each other in the final, these two teams will surely put on a masterpiece performance for the world. A contest that attracts fervor in Paris and London, and Toulouse and Manchester, but also in Moscow and Washington D.C., and Tokyo and Nairobi.
It’s time for a new Waterloo, a time for England to defeat France on the grassy fields of Moscow.
