Month: December 2022

Su llegada a la Bundesliga fue casi tan fulgurante como su aterrizaje en lasemifinal del Mundial. Como si no se hubiera mudado. En la liga, solo no fuetitular en la primera jornada, contra el Bayern. Entró en el segundo tiempo ymarcó el único gol de su equipo en una dura derrota (1-6). Ya no salió delonce ni en la liga ni en la Champions. Es el máximo asistente de laBundesliga, con 9, y está entre los máximos goleadores, con cinco tantos.

Two-man club Keplerfilm, which saw the light in 2016, has wasted no time inshowing off their calling card: their first three feature films stood out forbringing major, current themes to the fore in an accessible way. The trophycabinet now includes a Golden Calf, a Golden Rose and a director’s prize fromthe prestigious Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

Derk-Jan Warrink (37) and Koji Nelissen (41) met each other at the FilmAcademy. They both made their flying hours at established production housesbefore they dared to stand on their own two feet: Warrink at Lemming Film,Nelissen at Millstreet and Johan Nijenhuis. The name Keplerfilm came up withthe two during a drunken night in the pub. “The astronomer Johannes Keplermapped all new stars in the seventeenth century. We try to do that too, onlyon a smaller scale,” explains Warrink.

Their first feature film, the magical realist Bulado , opened theNetherlands Film Festival in 2020, won the Golden Calf for best film andbecame an Oscar entry. For their spiritual coming-of-age drama set in Curaçao,director Eché Janga and co-writer Esther Duysker were loosely inspired by thetraditional stories of enslaved people who fled the salt mines.

The film was hailed as a successful exponent of a new, diverse generation ofmakers. “We found it bizarre that no film had yet been spoken in Papiamento,which is about the folklore and rituals on the island,” says Warrink. “Thosestories are also part of Dutch culture and deserve to be told.”

Blank card

The science fiction youth film received the same enthusiastic reception in2021 Captain Nova , about a girl who travels back in time to save the worldfrom an environmental disaster. The film won all major prizes at the Cinekidfestival, but was not given a chance in the cinemas; the day after thepremiere in early December, all cinemas closed due to the last major lockdown.Director Maurice Trouwborst and co-screenwriter Lotte Tabbers were also givencarte blanche for this ambitious project. “If there is one subject thatconcerns young people, it is climate change and its consequences,” Warrinkexplains. “But you shouldn’t make it boring or pedantic. We wanted to wrap themessage in an exciting story.”

The pain of minimal cinema numbers was eased by a sale to Netflix, with which_Captain Nova_ reached a potential audience of millions. Also third featurefilm Pink Moon about a father who wants to take his own life, was praisedfor its contemporary, philosophical theme and avoidance of flat melodrama.

Family movie Hotel Sinestra , which hits theaters this week, is Keplerfilm’smost conventional production yet. The comedy (cost: 3.5 million euros) isabout a girl (Bobbie Mulder) who wishes her parents away in a hotel in thesnow and gets her way. It is the first major audience film of _Mudguard_director Michiel ten Horn.

Pancake fight

“It can work out very well if you put an outspoken, more artistic directorwith a clear signature on a larger, more accessible project,” thinks Warrink.“You see that happening more and more in America now, at superhero studioMarvel, for example.”

The disappearance of the parents Hotel Sinestra leads to scenes thatespecially appeal to young viewers: an exuberant race with cleaning trolleysthrough the empty corridors, an old-fashioned pancake fight under a ricketyChristmas tree. But in the end, the absence of parents also has its drawbacks,because who repairs the electricity when it goes out or provides food when thepantry becomes empty?

There is a serious contemporary message under the infectious nonsense. “Manychildren are mainly prepared to grow older quickly,” explains Warrink. „Hotel Sinestra is a plea to take the time to be a child: dare to take risks,dare to play, dare to discover.”

Read also: which children’s films are there to see all at Christmas in thecinema?

Family movie

Hotel Sinestra Director: Michiel ten Horn. With: Bobbie Mulder, EliseSchaap, Jeroen Spitzenberger. Length: 85 minutes.

●●● ●●

Surcharge affair: the movie

Producer Keplerfilm and director Stijn Bouma are working on a feature filmabout the Supplementary Affair. Bouma previously made the acclaimed NPOdocumentary Only against the state in which five duped parents tell theirstory.

The director is now developing the film Oostvaarders , about a woman whocompletely loses her grip on her life due to the debts she built up as avictim. Her opponent is a social detective who goes to great lengths to provethe alleged fraud of benefit parents.

Bouma is writing the script together with screenwriter Roelof Jan Minneboo.Filming should start in mid-2023.

In addition to a feature film, two series about the Supplementary Affair arealso being prepared. Screenwriter Frank Ketelaar is developing a four-partdrama series. Videoland a series that sheds light on the affair through theeyes of a lawyer who assists a group of parents.

After a long wait, the second part is in the avatar series finally incinemas. Director James Cameron has been working on it since 2010 The Way ofWater , which is again about Jake Sully. But is the movie worth the wait?

de Volkskrant – four stars

” Avatar: The Way of Water looks even more beautiful, even deeper, evensharper, even warmer, even more tangible. Not only right in front of you, butalso around your nose. This is pure cinema: completely overwhelmed by thevisual pleasure, only being able to stammer ‘wow’ from your spacious cinemaseat. Staring into the gigantic deep yellow eyes of such a Na’vi, marveling atthe breathing of its blue skin.”

“It’s a shame that the director ever cast Sam Worthington in the lead role:not too remarkable an actor. But Zoe Saldana continues to grow in her game asthe fierce, hissing mother Neytiri. And also Sigourney Weaver, now acting asthe Na’vi- daughter of her (human) biologist from the first part, shows thatthe digital layer does not have to get in the way of acting: the mimicry ofher rejuvenated blue child’s face is eerily authentic.”

Read the full review here

NRC – four stars

“The time James Cameron takes to acclimate the Sullys to their new underwaterenvironment is dream-away cinema at its best: swimming with alien dolphins,with the turquoise water droplets crystal clear thanks to 3D projection at 48frames per second (instead of the usual 24) splashing around your ears. Youare dazzled by their brilliance. You can feel them. You can taste them.”

“Cameron stands in like Leonardo DiCaprio Titanic on the prow of this self-built megaverse. The Way of Water is a technical feat and a visualmasterpiece. Story and philosophy are sacrificed for this: the film ends in amilitaristic final battle for which Cameron borrows from his earlier films_Aliens_ , The Abyss , terminator and Titanic. The eco-engagement ofpart one has been replaced by worn-out Hollywood slogans such as ‘family is afortress’ and even ‘the sea gives, the sea takes’.”

Read the full review here

AD – four stars

“Director James Cameron is not exactly William Shakespeare and never will be.Just as the 2009 blockbuster goes Avatar: The Way of Water sometimes weigheddown by clumsy dialogues and stale tile wisdom. But what if you are presentedwith a three-hour spectacle that will make your jaw drop?”

“Granted, The Way of Water also makes great leaps forward in terms of plotand engaging characters. The somewhat boring Jake Sully (…) was not aprotagonist (protagonist, ed.) to fall in love with. Fortunately, the focushere is on his children, whom you do love more easily. They politely say “sir”to their father, but go on an adventure of their own when the family asks theMetkayina water tribe for shelter. “

“Stayed is the New Age drivel about trees – and now waves of water – withspiritually charged energy pathways. And even the most hardened climateactivist will once again chuckle at James Cameron’s primitive way ofaddressing his audiences about his environmentally oblivious behavior. Hisfilms have always something childish in their view of norms and values. Alsoon Pandora, the family is the cornerstone of society. “

Read the full review here

Loyal – four stars

“Visually, the film is unparalleled and groundbreaking. No film has ever soconvincingly created a completely computer-constructed world. Pay particularattention to the close-ups and the texture of things: from the faces, fromeverything that moves in the frame at the same time, to the foreground andbackground.”

“Just don’t expect the visual sophistication to be matched by plot anddialogue. The film is basically a long chase and the characters are barelygiven relief. Only Kiri, the eldest daughter of Jake and Ney’tiri, has theoutline of an intriguing character because of her strange bond with the GreatMother, the Gaya-like soul of the planet Pandora. All the other characters areflat and uninteresting, spouting dusty Death Eaters like “our family is afortress” and “a father protects his family, that’s what makes him givesmeaning.”

Read the full review here

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In August 2021, the large nationwide protest Unmute Us from about a thousandmusic organizations a plea to politicians: “Give us back the night!” Theparade in Rotterdam with hundreds of dancing people – dance fanatic, rockerand disco geek – arrives at Stadhuisplein with lots of cheers and thumpingbasses. There are performances. A lanky performer with straight, long blondhair named Prins S., frontman of the then relatively unknown formation PrinsS. en de Geit from The Hague, spews out the frustrations of the nightlifeworld with fiery eyes and inimitable dance moves.

On a cover of the Faithless dance hit ‘ God is a DJ sounded: “This is mychurch, the place where I process my pain. Loves have blossomed, I haveoutgrown the child in me, place of chaos and disruption, healing and relief,where you forget all your suffering when the bass enters your body. ‘ _And also: “I miss my church. Jesus is allowed a full room, but we are not. […] My religion has been on hold for a year and a half now.’_

“Were you there? O, sick say,” says Scott Beekhuizen (26), aka Prince S.,and then bursts out: “It was the first time we performed in front of anaudience.”

He added the protest text for a radio appearance that week 3FM. “It wasquite a wall of text that I quickly learned by heart. The next day we weresuddenly able to hear those at the Unmute protest. A rather overwhelmingexperience in that square. We had no idea that thousands of people wouldcome.”

As a caged nocturnal animal in the pandemic, the twenty-something could hardlyimagine it at the time: an ordinary life with encounters at night. Now hesays, over coffee in a grand café near his house in the center of The Hague,that it is almost impossible to recall how it was then, that sitting at home,the nightlife closed for so long. Because the pounding night poetry of histrio Prins S. en de Geit with producer Daniël Ortgiess and guitarist MarneMiesen – an endless stream of words on bouncing electro pop full of effects –made a big breakthrough this year.

Stroke

A then still online version of showcase festival Noorderslag introduced thatat the beginning of 2022: the long beat poet Scott Beekhuizen splashed off thescreen. It was a campy , crazy performance. His movements, the hilariousautotune-driven rap lyrics about ducks, sharing a bowl of mayonnaise or choicestress (‘Wat Jij Wil’). The imperturbable musicians behind it.

Many bookings came; the genius dry and rousing Prins S. en de Geit became asmall hype. Rightly so. Anyone who experienced the trio, for example at theLowlands festival last summer or in this autumn’s club tour, was automaticallysucked into the lyrical tornado.

It would have made little difference if things had turned out differently. Thedance act from The Hague was almost extinguished like a wet flare. In March,just after the Grasnapolsky festival in Groningen, guitarist/composer Marnesuddenly suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on the street and fell into a coma.“At first we thought he just suddenly died,” says Scott Beekhuizen.“Everything came to a stop immediately with squealing brakes. Nothing is moreimportant than that. Discussions arose with the family about what Marne wouldlike for the Goat. Fortunately, he would indicate this himself later, becausestep by step he came back. You two have to go on, he said.”

So Prins S. en de Geit stood as a duo in a full tent at Paaspop in April.“Insane but so loaded without him.” Already at Parkpop in June, Marne came towatch again, and the show at Lowlands was a victory in every respect: a dreamin the breakthrough, with a guitarist. Beekhuizen: “It was so hot and stuffythat I kept an extra eye on him.”

Scott Beckhuizen foreman of Prince S. and the Goat

Andreas Terlaak’s photo

On stage he is completely in his element as Prince S. (Scott). Dancing freelyand wildly, he sends the audience in all directions as an original charioteer.“I strongly feel that the people in front of the stage and I do it together.But the audience sets the vibe and builds their own moshpit. Things happenthat we all want.” When he performs, he enters a kind of trance. “After that,I don’t remember much about it. When I saw videos again I thought: oh yes, nowI understand why people say: what a strange fun band.

Break through the fourth wall

His stage experience – Beekhuizen trained as an actor at the ToneelacademieMaastricht – comes in handy. Although, laughing at that idea, he really breaksthrough the fourth wall. “With theater I find it very annoying if that fourthwall is not there. Very scary, so with an audience. In the freedom of PrinceS. I will indeed walk through it.”

In his own words, Beekhuizen did not come to fruition at the drama school. Hecalls himself a seven who tried to find his feet again and again, looking forthe identity that suited him. As a child in Leidseveen, he already had thefeeling of being an outsider. “All boys to football, all girls to dance. And Iwas the only one who also went to dance.” Besides, he says, he was fat. Whichearned him the nickname ‘the fat ballerina’.

It culminated in a high school eating disorder. “Losing weight became acontrol thing. I barely ate. Painful yes, childhood stuff. And somethingsimilar: anorexia mainly has a female syndrome. So I also had a girl disease.My parents have seen me struggle a lot.”

But he puts it into perspective: “Every child has his shit, right? I was alsothe sweet theater guy who loved to make music. And even though I never reallyfelt at home in drama school, I got through it. Although I found the method ofpeeling off emotions and breaking down psychologically unnecessary and unsafeon such a course. And again that normative nonsense of such a teacher in frontof the class: how men had to learn to be vulnerable and women could be ugly.”

Back in The Hague, Beekhuizen befriends musician Marne Miesen, an acquaintancefrom the art and theater corner in The Hague, in the Strijkijzer, the towerblock at Hollands Spoor station. “He insisted, let’s make something together.I had another text from the first year of drama school, The night. Daniel, achildhood friend of Marne, joined as a producer.

No label

The name of the band was a spontaneous addition of guitarist Marne. “The goathas a good vibe. We like goats. Modest but also showy.” Prince S. has been inhis head since drama school, „I already stretched the gender norm a bit. Ialso did a solo as an androgynous pop star. As Prince S. I feel freedom to dowhat I feel, and that is as fluid as anything. I’ve tried to put myself inthat box of man for a long time. I am now more x than m, but there is no needto label it.”

Prince S. makes striking observations in songs and humorously fillets painfulsituations. The wrought-up beats form a contrast. On the newly released album_Standing Red Going Hard_ it bounces from ‘Children’s Farm (Keiblij)’ to thenervous hardstyle lesson ‘Kan je Niet Maken’. ( ” Make a fuss about pastbusiness/Can’t fix it/At a party the whole dance floor vomited/Can’t fix it”).

A love for language started in high school. Out of frustration, becauseBeekhuizen is dyslexic. “So I found language very stupid at first. But stupidpuns got me a long way. I like rhyme, multiple meanings in words. Spinvis’poetic songs took me a step further. Similarly, the language love of Drs. P.and hip-hop.”

Thematic was ‘ The night ‘ “with all its ambiguity” a first common thread,but many of the other songs on Standing Red Going Hard “really just based onmisunderstandings”. If they send each other a word or a phrase like ‘thefrayed edges of the guest list’, it will be misunderstood by the other. Anddoes it become something, “because it tickles”.

At the upcoming Noorderslag festival, mid-January in Groningen, Prince S. andthe Goat may present themselves again. In the spring, the trio continues itsclub tour. “I hope so,” says Beekhuizen. “I don’t dare to count on it yet.Anyone who broke through in the pandemic knows: Covid has made everythingconditional.”

Prince S. and the Goat : 26/12 Second Christmas festival, TivoliVredenburgUtrecht. Spring tour from 30/3, Paard Den Haag. Inl:prinssendegeit.nl

Barbara Quee (39) can’t believe her luck. Born in Colombia, who was adopted bya Dutch couple in 1984, she has found her biological mother. The mismatch istherefore due to the television program Traceless definitively proven.

Barbara Quee is the whistleblower who, together with her friend and partnerFiona Teggatz and journalist Kees van der Spek, brought to light a number ofmismatches in October of this year. Traceless. The KRO-NCRV program traceslost relatives and ensures reunification. The RTL5 program Scammers dealtwith van Van der Spek exposes the Colombian fixer Edwin Vela as a fraudster.Vela, who years before Traceless but also worked for the Wereldkinderenfoundation, linked adoptees to the wrong biological parents.

‘Criminal purposes’

Barbara Quee is a victim of Vela. She participates in 2005 Traceless. Thebroadcast states that her biological mother has been found. However, Quee istold that her mother has gotten into trouble. “During that broadcast I wastold that she could not come into the public eye because she would be inhiding from the police. That would have to do with her identity, which wouldbe used for criminal purposes. A story that left me with a lot of questions.Why could Traceless find her and the police can’t? Traceless would goafter two brothers, but I never heard from them again.”

She lets it rest, but in 2008 she meets another adopted boy (Diego), also avictim of Edwin Vela. ,,I started a new search, via Vela to whom we had totransfer money every time. It felt like a second chance. I asked _Traceless_for support, but that ultimately did nothing.”

Quote >>> My mother always thought I died shortly after birth. So it’s all very> intense for her>> Barbara Quee

With her friend Fiona Teggatz, Barbara Quee starts her own research agency,the Buscas Tu Familia En Colombia foundation. They bring to light anothermismatch, that of Kristian van der Mark. Van der Mark was also once coupled byVela to a mother and a half-brother who turns out not to be a brother twentyyears later. His mother disappeared during the Traceless recordings. AfterVan der Spek the mismatch in October in his broadcast _Scammers dealt with_shows, KRO-NCRV is investigating ‘sixteen cases from the program _Traceless_involving a Colombian fixer (Vela)’. The broadcaster confirms two ‘mismatches’of Dutch people who are not linked to the correct biological parents inColombia.

Read also: Victim of Spoorloos charlatan: ‘Transferred a few hundred euros toso-called half-brother’

Real mother

Barbara Quee is still looking for her real biological mother. Around thebroadcast of Van der Spek in October offers Traceless her the opportunity todonate DNA for the database My Ancestry. On November 10, she receives agratifying message. “My DNA material matched that of a brother in Colombia. Acomplete surprise. I was so happy. A day later we were already emailing.”

Her brother appears to have an adoption file with their mother’s identitydocuments. “My brother had never gone looking for himself, but with thosepapers Fiona and I quickly tracked her down,” says Barbara. Last weekend shereceived the happy news: a DNA test offered 100% certainty. “We have beenvideo calling. I definitely plan to visit my brother and mother in Colombia. Ihave heard parts of her story. She always thought I died shortly after birth.So it’s all very intense for her.”

It still irritates Barbara Quee that Derk Bolt, the presenter of _Traceless_it on the talk show _Khalid & Sophia _recorded for Edwin Vela. “He doubtedthat Vela had cheated someone, but that is now clear.”

KRO-NCRV: ‘The mother we found earlier was not the right one’

In a statement, KRO-NCRV says that ‘Barbara is very happy that this has put anend to the doubts about her origin and search’. “At the same time, we are alsovery aware of the fact that the lost time can unfortunately no longer be madeup,” said the broadcaster.

Following the TV broadcast Scammers dealt with of Kees van der Spek, whobrought mismatches to light together with Barbara Quee, the broadcasterreceived questions about the outcome of searches by Traceless between 2002and 2010 in Colombia. “That is why we have appointed company detective agencyHoffmann as an external independent investigation agency to investigate whathappened during and around searches in Colombia, in which a local aid wasinvolved.”

“Our first concern was and is the well-being of former participants involved.In recent weeks we have had intensive contact with all former participants ofcases in which a local aid in Colombia has been involved in the past. Ifdesired, we took DNA material from these participants. We will – as far aspossible – also take DNA from family we found in Colombia to get completecertainty. We also have contact with former participants who have expressedquestions or doubts in response to our call, and we make every effort toanswer those questions and offer support where possible.”

,,A first result is a DNA match of former participant Barbara Quee. Becausethere were no further leads in her search, we took DNA material from Barbaraand sent it to an international DNA database. From the analysis of thedatabase a full relationship was found with a brother. She subsequently foundher biological mother in Colombia herself. This has established that themother we found earlier was not the right one.”

,,Of the total of sixteen cases in which the local aid has been involved, itis now known that there is no match three times and two times a match has beenconfirmed by previous DNA research. With the current investigation, we hope toget answers to why things went wrong in the past.”

Y la gran pregunta: ¿puede llegar Jordi Fernández a ser el entrenador jefe enla NBA? “Yo me siento preparado. Para mi ahora es un buen momento, aunque nosolo depende de mi. Haber cubierto todos esos pasos es muy importante, pero nome gusta saltarme etapas y pensar en lo que no es mi trabajo ahora mismo. Aquitengo mucha responsabilidad. Cuando ficharon a Mike Brown [9 de mayo]el estabacon Golden State en las finals [como asistente de Steve Kerr] y yo hice muchastareas que nunca había hecho. Eso me ha ido muy bien. Esas experiencias valenmucho. Hay que valorarlo”, afirma el badalones. A su favor juega su perfil deentrenador forjado en la cultura estadounidense. “En la parte profesional mehe criado y formado en Estados Unidos. He hecho cada trabajo que te puedasimaginar en un cuerpo técnico. Y los años te dan el respeto. Es aprender sobretu trabajo y sobre la cultura del país, no solo el idioma. Es un proceso muycompetitivo. Cada vez que subes más hay menos posibilidades de seguirsubiendo. De mi posición solo hay 30 trabajos en el mundo. Hay mucha presión”,cuenta el español, que llegó solo a América y ahora, a punto de cumplir 40años (27 de diciembre), vive con su mujer y dos hijos nacidos en EE UU. “No meconsidero americano, sino adaptado. No se puede ir a una cultura distinta y noquerer adaptarse. Es como ir a España y querer cenar a las seis. Yo soyeuropeo, tengo mi identidad, vengo de un baloncesto distinto, pero heaprendido como funcionan aquí las cosas. Si eres capaz de entender eso, tepuede ir muy bien. Si no, no tendrás éxito”, añade.

Score a hit thanks to a series in which your music is not even used: Lady Gagahas done it. Her number Blood Mary from 2011 storms the charts thanks to adance scene in the popular series Wednesday , in which the song is not heardat all. What’s up with that?

” I ‘ll dance dance dance with my hands hands hands above my head headhead“, zingt Lady Gaga, terwijl Wednesday Addams met haar armen in de luchtdanst. Wie de video’s op TikTok ziet, weet niet beter dan dat actrice JennaOrtega daadwerkelijk op dat nummer heeft staan dansen. Maar kijkers van deserie weten beter: onder de scène was eigenlijk een ander nummer gemonteerd.

Toch staat TikTok er vol mee. Talloze gebruikers van het platform maken huneigen creaties met het nummer van de zangeres en de danspasjes van Ortega.Bloody Mary past volgens hen beter bij de moves van Wednesday dan het nummerdat de makers van de serie hebben gebruikt.

In de originele scène is namelijk het in 1981 door The Cramps uitgebrachte_Goo Goo Muck_ te horen terwijl Wednesday de dansvloer onveilig maakt.

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How far will Gaga go for extra streams?

At the time of writing, 1.8 million videos of the scene have been shot with asped-up version of Blood Mary. It’s not the original version of the songthat fits the dance scene perfectly, but a faster one in which Lady Gaga’svoice sounds like she’s taken a deep breath from a helium balloon. Manyartists follow the trends on TikTok and officially release the acceleratedversion, but Lady Gaga herself has not (for now) succumbed to additionalstreams with a mutated version of her work.

The original version is therefore going through the roof on Spotify. Justafter the release of Wednesday , in November, the song has started to rise.At the beginning of that month Blood Mary streamed about 60 million times onSpotify, but that number is now about 100 million. And about 2.5 million areadded every day. The song is currently one of the thirty most listened tosongs on the platform worldwide.

Blood Mary was already popular in 2011. The song then appeared on the album_Born This Way_ and was a fan favorite. The singer wrote the somewhat ominoussounding electropop song from the perspective of the Biblical figure MaryMagdalene and addressed Jesus Christ. The song never became a single andtherefore has no music video. Following up on Running Up That Hill (A DealWith God) from Kate Bush, that through Stranger Things (and a touch ofTikTok) became one of the most listened to songs of the year, Lady Gaga alsoowes a resurrected hit (partly) to Netflix.

Lady Gaga has enough experience in the music industry to know that you have tostrike while the iron is hot. The singer has therefore quickly recorded herown version of the dance, which has appeared on both her own Instagram pageand that of Netflix. The pop star has not forgotten how to keep a hype alive.

And for those worried about the popularity of The Cramps, that one Goo GooMuck and thus actually provided the scene with music: that is not necessary.Tens of thousands of videos are being made on TikTok in which the song from1981 is used and it is also on the rise on Spotify. In front of _Wednesday_the number was forgotten. The counter now stands at fifteen million streams,and many are added every day.

And Argentina no se habla de otra cosa. El triunfo contra Croacia el martesorganiza el debate público, las familias discuten donde verán el partidodefinitivo del domingo y los políticos hablan bajito para no llamar laatención. Es tanto el ruido que pocos se enteraron de que el presidente,Alberto Fernández, celebró este miércoles los tres años de su Administración ylos 39 años del regreso a la democracia.

Marruecos llegó hasta las semifinales defendiendo mucho y bien, pero, sobretodo, desplegándose con un ardor guerrero sin igual que iba mucho más allá deuna cuestión futbolística. De nuevo con una masa en las gradas que solo admitecomparación en el anfiteatro argentino, los muchachos de Regragui sudan comomaratonianos y van a todas. No hay via para la negociacion. Si Mbappé gana lalínea de fondo, Amrabat se tira con las dos piernas en una decisión que solotenía dos soluciones: blanca o negra. Marruecos no negocia y Amrabat, elpivote al que en Italia le apodaron El Monstruo, menos.

El golpe inicial les obligó a salir de la cueva y amasar lo que no quisierondurante casi todo el campeonato: la pelota. Francia, que funciona a otravelocidad que el resto del mundo, les llevó al filo en varias contras. Acambio, los norteafricanos replicaban con Ziyech o Ounahi, ese del que LuisEnrique se sorprendió tras el duelo de octavos. El atacante del Chelsea,mientras, cogió el partido por la Pechera tras el descanso. Un gran peloteroal que, tres meses antes del Mundial, le pasaron la mano por el lomo parasurfear todos juntos la ola de la bahía de Doha, muy cerca de su hotelblindado de West Bay.

Mas informacion

Él simbolizó los nuevos aires que corrieron en la selección con la llegada alcargo de Regragui. En gran parte, fue una operación de salvar al soldadoZiyech , and read mazmorras del bosnio Vahid Halilhodzic. Y él asumió elliderazgo en la carga a la puerta gala en la segunda mitad. Casi todo pasabapor él, inclinado en el costado izquierdo. No les sobraron las ocasiones aMarruecos y Francia, sin importarle ese guion, bien abrigada, vivía con laespada afilada. No se sentia incomoda.

Así discurría la trama en el último cuarto del choque, con la intriga de lasventajas mínimas, hasta que regresó a escena el actor secundario El Yamiq, denuevo en la foto del 2-0. El defense pucelano falló en una salida de balón yMbappé se lo hizo pagar con sangre. Le llegó la pelota dentro del área yescapó de la carcel de defensores marroquíes que le acosaron para que KoloMuani fulminara la noche.

Los jugadores de Marruecos acabaron derrengados sobre el césped, exhaustos,mientras su grada rompió en aplausos. A la espera del duelo por el tercerpuesto del sábado, en el imponente Al Bayt, en el desierto de Jor, acabó lahistoria más emotiva de Qatar. Aquí hincaron la rodilla los Leones del Atlas.

Marruecos progresó en el Mundial y asombró a todos con su huge desplieguefísico, y fue precisamente el físico lo primero que le falló. Ya sufrió por elparte médico en cuartos contra Portugal y ayer, ante Francia, perdió a Aguerden el calentamiento, a Saiss en el minuto 21 ya Mazraoui en el descanso. Tresde los cinco defensas que Walid Regragui había dispuesto. Con la salida deSaiss, se resituó en línea de cuatro. Muchos imprevistos en un equipo que,lógicamente, no iba sobrado y que se vio castigado en la zona en la que másseguro debía sentirse.

“Hemos tenido varios lesionados y eso no ha ayudado. Había demasiadosjugadores al 60% o 70%. Con todos en forma, les habríamos creado másproblemas. Queremos digerir esta derrota, pero sentimos que podíamos haber idomás lejos. Los pequeños detalles deciden los campeones”, expresó elseleccionador, que lamentó también que el 1-0 para el minuto cinco les sacó derueda. “Didier [Deschamps] es muy listo. Hoy tuvimos mucha posesión y noscastigaron cuando la perdimos. Ante una selección como la francesa, el másmínimo error se paga”, admitió Regragui, que se presentó como un tipo“ambicioso”. “Si no llegábamos a semifinales, sería un fracaso y me iría”,aseguró. Llegaron y todos dan por descontado que continuará. “Ahora queremosterminar terceros”, añadió.

Los novatos como Koundé no sienten dudas: “Estamos con confianza. Tenemos unequipo que puede competir contra cualquiera”. And esa línea estaba tambiénAurélien Tchouameni: “Es un sueño jugar una final de la Copa del Mundo. Vamosa hacer todo para demostrar nuestro nivel”, dijo. “El vestuario está contento,vamos a estar en una final. No es facil tener esta opportunidad”.

Pese a la confianza y al entusiasmo, todos coincidieron en subrayar queconsideran sus opciones en la final muy parejas con las de Argentina, yDeschamps explicó que para ambas selecciones se trata de un reto un escalónpor encima de lo que han necesitado hasta ahora: “Vimos a una Argentina muyfuerte contra Croacia, pero en otros partidos no lo fueron. Nosotros no fuimosperfectos against Inglaterra, ni against Marruecos. En la final, los dosjugamos con un equipo mejor que aquellos con los que nos hemos enfrentado en