TOPIC – Silver win
Sport is a distillation of microtragedies and megaecstasies enmeshed with whirring limbs, glistening sweat, unabashed tears and booming laughter.And football presents a wider canvas for all these attributes, which were exhibited at Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana Stadium late on Saturday night. When the Copa America final that pitted eternal rivals Argentina and Brazil wound to a close ootballers and fit to join a pantheon headlined by Pele and Diego Maradona, until now Messi had one missing link a cup triumph for Argentina. After his 34 summers, that aberration was finally erased once his team defeated Brazil 10 in a scrappy contest with the odd streaks of brilliance. Messi, miracle dispenser with FC Barcelona, was seen by his countrymen as the prodigal son, who never delivered, and they embalmed for posterity their affection towards the late Maradona. Messi and his fellow Argentines constituted a dysfunctional family of unspoken hurts. All that anguish could dissipate thanks to the latest victory which came after a 28year title drought for the Albiceleste. Their 15th Copa America trophy put them on a par with toppers Uruguay, well ahead of Brazil with nine. Incidentally, Copa America with its 1916 inception even predates the FIFA World Cup, which commenced in 1930. Argentina and Brazil have embellished the championship’s storied history and in South America with its seizetheday spirit, novels infused with magical realism and samba dance, football is seen as an extension of aesthetic joy. The final though did not live up to that esoteric aim. There were sparks marred by some rough tackles. Messi was not in his elements, marked tightly and weighed down by expectations, he even missed scoring his team’s second goal in the closing minutes. But having drawn the Brazilian defenders towards him all through the game, Messi created spaces that his teammates could exploit. Even in that missed goalscoring opportunity, Messi seemed keen on doing an assist rather than performing the deed and this is the mark of a man desperate for affection from his squad and country. The match was by then firmly in Argentina’s grip thanks to the 22ndminute goal slotted by Angel Di Maria, who capitalised on a longpass from Rodrigo De Paul. A stung Brazil, especially Neymar, mounted rapid sorties on either side of halftime. Two attempts were adroitly foisted by Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and when the Selecao seemingly breached the citadel, it was deemed offside. Argentina and Messi were destined for their shot at glory in a 10team intracontinental tournament, which despite other simultaneous global attractions like the Euro and Wimbledon, had its own effervescent charms.
WORDS AND MEANINGS
- Enmeshed (adjective) – Caught as if in a mesh
Synonyms – Ensnared, embroiled, corkscrewed, interlaced, tangled
Antonyms – Autarkic, befuddled, bemused, emancipated, extrinsic
2. Glistening (adjective) – Reflecting light
Synonyms – Sheeny, burnished, scintillating, coruscating, lambent
Antonyms – Dreary, matte, dismal, etiolated, sombre
3. Aberration (noun) – A disorder in one’s mental state
Synonyms – Anomaly, oddity, deviance, aberrance, hallucination
Antonyms – Middling, accord, accumulation, virgin ears, criterion
4. Streaks (noun) – An unbroken series of events
Synonyms – Smears, striations, flecks, smudge, daub
Antonyms – Plethora of, scads of, significant portion, broad assortment,
5. Prodigal (adjective) – Recklessly wasteful
Synonyms – Wastrel, squandering, bounteous, exuberant, munificent
Antonyms – Niggardly, prudent, chintzy, scrimping, abstemious
6. Dissipate (verb) – Move away from each other
Synonyms – Dispel, fritter, lavish, deplete, splurge
Antonyms – Garner, amass, aggregate, assemble, hoard
7. Predates (verb) – Be earlier in time
Synonyms – Antedate, precede, outran, devours, gulps
Antonyms – Dates back, follow, antedates, post-date
8. Aesthetic (noun) – A philosophical theory as to what is beautiful
Synonyms – Elegant, exquisite, splendid, ravishing, bootylicious
Antonyms – Grotesque, repulsive, fugly, huckery, hideous
9. Esoteric (adjective) – Marked by secrecy or privacy
Synonyms – Abstruse, arcane, recondite, cryptic, enigmatic
Antonyms – Facile, fathomable, stereotype, apprehensible, blazed
10. Adroitly (adverb) – In a clever or skillful way
Synonyms – Deftly, dexterously, adeptly, nimbly, shrewdly
Antonyms – Grimly, clumsily, ineptly, amateurishly, gawkily
11. Phlegmatic (adjective) – Showing little emotion
Synonyms – Stolid, serene, nonchalant, indolent, unruffled
Antonyms – Fervent, vehement, ardent, agitated, fervid