15 July, World Cup Final: Emmanuel Macron and Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, President of Croatia, sharing a box and embracing each other.  Vladimir Putin and Gianni Infantino, President of Fifa, in a separate box; Infantino signing footballs.

Marine Le Pen tweeting that she was très fière! of the victorious French side.  Top scorers include Mbappé, four goals, born in what Trump would call a “no-go zone;” Pogba, one, Muslim of Guinean descent; and Umtiti, also one, of Cameroon.

14 July, Third Place Final: England defeated by the Belgians — London, if you will, by Brussels.  Southgate, in neo-Victorian beard and waistcoat, looking crushed and suddenly very young.  Three days and a continent away Jacob Rees Mogg, in neo-Edwardian accent and posture, rejects the Brexit White Paper.  The god forsaking Antony:

When suddenly at the midnight hour / A troop is heard passing / with exquisite music, with shouts
Do not mourn in vain your fortune failing you now / your works that have failed, the plans of your life
That have all turned out to be illusions

11 July, Nato Summit, Brussels: Trump attacks Angela Merkel for backing the Nord Stream 2 project, the Baltic pipeline expansion that has divided Europe.  In every World Cup stadium huge Gazprom banners, advertising Nord Stream AG’s major shareholder.

7 July, Quarter Final, Croatia v. Russia: Vida, having scored in extra time and in the decisive PKs, dedicates his victory to Ukraine.  Snowy-complexioned, muscular, with a blond Cossack top-knot, he looks like a Right Sector poster come to life.  Fifa’s Facebook page is swamped with “Glory to Ukraine!” posts.  Later he’s caught on tape crying “Burn Belgrade!”

22 June, Group E stage, Switzerland v. Serbia: The two Swiss who score, Shaqiri of Liverpool and Xhaka of Arsenal, are not men of the Alps.  They are ethnic Albanian Kossovars.  They celebrate their victory with the double-handed eagle symbol, enraging the Serbs.  The Swiss side is full of ethnic Albanians, Croats, Macedonians, Bosniaks; not a single Serb.  The whole match seems somehow fated.

18 June, Group G stage, England v. Tunisia: The national flags come out on the pitch for the national anthems.  St. George’s cross faces off with the red crescent.  Football lapses briefly into the 11th century — as, every so often, it does.