All posts tagged: Cubarsi

Olise, Yamal, Cubarsi and a semi-final that previews football’s next decade

Olise, Yamal, Cubarsi and a semi-final that previews football’s next decade

Behind France’s relentless attack is a 24-year-old conductor with dreadlocks and instincts that seem borrowed from another era. Behind Spain’s impenetrable defence is a 19-year-old whose composure belongs to a man twice his age. The France versus Spain semi-final in Dallas is many things at once: a tactical chess match, a collision of European giants, a game that deserved to be a final. Above all, it is a window into football’s future. Some of these players are already superstars. Kylian Mbappe is only 26, arguably not yet at his peak. But it is the names beyond Mbappe that hum with possibility, players who could fill the vast space Messi and Ronaldo, Modric and De Bruyne will eventually leave behind. ALSO READ | Deschamps’ magic square: How Mbappe, Dembele, Doue, Olise are crushing opponents Michael Olise is the fulcrum of France’s machine. Before this World Cup, he was known chiefly to European football devotees. Now he is unmissable, a playmaker of equal parts intuition and intelligence, running the French show with his passing, movement and energy. …

Spain’s backline bulwark Pau Cubarsi will make life tough for Belgium

Spain’s backline bulwark Pau Cubarsi will make life tough for Belgium

All eyes were on the curly-haired wunderkind Lamine Yamal during a training session at La Masia. But the eyes of Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez wandered to a lean, tall figure with boyish looks. He summoned a youth coach by his side and told him he wanted the boy to train with the senior team the next week. On the day of training, when Xavi entered the training ground, he was there with a warm smile and introduced himself in a firm tone: “Hi, I am Pau Cubarsi.” Xavi was impressed. “He had none of the shyness you think of when a teenager called for his first training with the senior team,” the manager recalled to Spanish outlet MARCA. In months, along with the wunderkind Xavi had visited the academy to check out, Cubarsi became a regular in the senior team. After his debut, a Copa del Rey game against Unionistas de Salamanca, Xavi told the media: “With Lamine Yamal, he would mark an era.” He was only 16 then, but in Xavi’s assessment, he was …