The diary of the desert World Cup: Qatar is looking for the superstar

These World Cups are in desperate need of legend moments and Qatar are desperately looking for the tournament's superstar.

The diary of the desert World Cup: Qatar is looking for the superstar

These World Cups are in desperate need of legend moments and Qatar are desperately looking for the tournament's superstar. Messi could be kicked out today, Lewandowski just doesn't snap and Germany doesn't score the goal anyway. Who is left? Of aging megastars and goals against background noise.

Sure, France whirled Australia upside down and the English poured the Iranians a lot. The closing stages at Portugal-Ghana also offered goals and spectacle. But otherwise? The World Cup in Qatar offers a lot of idle and rather meager games. After the first week of the tournament, it's time to see who has what it takes to become the star of the desert world championships.

Because Qatar desperately wants this superstar. It is not for nothing that Kylian Mbappé and Co. denounce buildings in large format. If the tournament is to be a success, legends are needed. Moments fans will never forget. The referees may also have been instructed to count every little thing as at least one minute of stoppage time. So that the very late drama can still give birth to one or the other superstar.

If you are looking for a World Cup star, looking into the storm is of course the first reaction. Scorers have always been the greatest of tournaments, from Pelé to Gerd Müller to Ronaldo (Luís Nazário de Lima).

One that not many had on their list before the tournament is Cody Gakpo because he's not a classic striker either. However, his two goals in two games come as no surprise. The 23-year-old has scored nine goals and provided 12 assists in 14 games for PSV Eindhoven this season. This makes him the best player in the Eredivisie, Premier League, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Serie A and La Liga according to statistics. His strengths are his speed, his finishing ability, his eye for crosses and key scenes and his sheer height of 193 centimeters.

When Gakpo received offers from top European clubs in the summer, he asked the Bonds coach for his opinion. Van Gaal advised the striker to stay with his hometown club for another year in order to keep his place in the national team. Of course, the assessment of the coach - also a star of the tournament, Spain national coach Luis Enrique called him the most influential coach of his life - should once again be correct. PSV are rumored to agree to a €50m offer for Gakpo next summer, while Manchester United, with Dutch coach Erik ten Haag, are said to be interested. With this World Cup, the price of the offensive man will certainly not go down.

Certainly only die-hard Ecuador fans had bet on Enner Remberto Valencia Lastra as the top scorer of the first week. His three goals give the South Americans their first chance of progressing since 2006. The 33-year-old Valencia is a superstar in his home country, a kind of life insurance: For Ecuador these six goals are the only ones at a World Cup since Valencia's first goal. Snapping six times in a row for a nation at the intercontinental tournament was previously only achieved by the great Eusebio for Portugal, the Italian Paolo Rossi and Oleg Salenko for Russia. The whole of Ecuador is now hoping that Valencia, who has been knocked down several times by Qatari players and then had to be carried off in the game against the Netherlands, is not seriously injured and is happy to continue snapping.

The 33-year-old is a typical "journeyman", i.e. someone to whom the word mercenary does not apply, but who jumps back and forth between clubs, leagues and continents in his career and never gets anywhere. The striker has been playing for Fenerbahçe for a number of years now and is the top scorer ahead of Schalke legend Haji Wright (more on him below). But he doesn't have star potential. But he plays for Ecuador, a team that should be even further away from inner peace than the DFB-Elf when it comes to the award of the World Cup title and the associated hero status. Of course also because the team is missing a striker. One like Robert Lewandowski, who always scores under Hansi Flick – and, admittedly, all other Bayern coaches – and who is also in top form at FC Barcelona.

However, none of this helps him in his search for his first World Cup goal. Lewandowski failed from the penalty spot against Mexico and will remain a marginal figure in the history of this World Cup. After all, he is better off than Neymar. Brazil's anti-hero also proved his toxic relationship with the World Cup in a stunning opening game against Serbia. Opposing defenders target him, kicking him out of the tournament for now.

Can Haji Wright become a World Cup star? Unlikely. The US striker is known in some circles in Germany as a Schalke legend. Together with the somewhat more successful Weston McKennie, he was hired at the Knappenschmiede in 2016 and quickly fell into oblivion. A few appearances for the Royal Blues in the Bundesliga, a season at SV Sandhausen and then with best wishes to VVV Venlo. From there to the Danish Superliga, SonderjyskE, finally a few goals. Another transfer to the diaspora of European football. But Antalyaspor in Turkey puts him back in the US spotlight. Nine goals in twelve games for the Schlaks, who suddenly sees himself against Harry Maguire and John Stones in the Al Bayt and remains as inconspicuous as he was in Sandhausen and Schalke.

England's Harry Kane remains an eternal bore, BVB midfield star Jude Bellingham falls dramatically in the game against the USA. He is overloaded with expectations everywhere, the reporters, who report on nothing else, announce the share price of the 19-year-old in real time, but he also does not play in the storm at all, unlike Kylian Mbappé.

The Frenchman threw up such a violent sandstorm on his left flank against Australia that defenders were even less able to follow him and his dribbling than usual If he continues like this, he could eventually overtake record goalscorer Miroslav Klose and his 16 goals. At the 2034 World Cup, a then 35-year-old Mbappé would have scored 20 goals if the quota had remained the same.

Perhaps aging Ronaldo will also benefit as his rival Messi falters with Argentina? In his first game, CR7 unleashes the biggest hysteria of this tournament so far. Just like Qatar wants from legends. But maybe his World Cup star will be lost completely as soon as it comes against elite defenders and the Portuguese has no choice but to pull another snack out of his pants on a PK and thus trigger storms of enthusiasm among the fanboy journalists .

And if a lot of players are eliminated due to the exclusion principle, then in the end there are only a few left who can make this tournament theirs. In addition to Gakpo, Mbappé and the German noble joker Niclas Füllkrug, who tried to conquer the world in the 1-2 draw against Japan, the Brazilian Richarlison in particular stood out on the first day of the game. With his scissor strike against Serbia, the Tottenham Hotspur striker not only scored the best goal of the tournament so far, but is also capable of uniting an entire country.

In this World Cup of brutally loud background noise, the dispute over the jersey in Brazil goes down a bit. Whose is this? The protesters who do not accept the voting out of the right-wing populist Jair Bolsonaro and wear the Selecao jersey with Neymar's number 10 during their blockades or the rest. "He is the idol that the Brazilians deserve after all the suffering," it says about the player , who campaigns against racism, poverty, police violence, against the destruction of nature and for the rights of the LGBTQ community.

It would also be a sign in this desert spaceship Doha. A turning point is coming. Very slowly.