The Sunday League five-a-siders had flown straight to Atlanta from Mexico City and were knackered. Planes had buzzed the top of Azteca all night and the fans seated at the top — where they were, with the precipitous view all the way down to the pitch — kept giving drinks to those who were flying by and everyone chatted in the sky for a moment and laughed because how could you not? 

Because of when you could feel the game tilt in a slightly sour direction; when you could see the hand of higher ups hanging like some sort of puppet string, and the lads began bantering with each other about being bailed out of some of their games the way VAR bailed Argentina out by denying Egypt one goal and ignored a similar possible penalty for Egypt down at the other end of the pitch, and what would that even look like when rendered small? The pub landlord wanting their fielded side to always win so that folks would come to the pub for both drinks and a challenge? Players running over to folks filming on the side of the pitch, demanding that the video be played back? 

“After this, let’s hit the town, yeah?” Jonesy said to the group. “I watched that Donald Glover show and want to see if he got it right.”

“The puzzle of encounter,” Steve-o said, a man from Yorkshire watching Egypt and Argentina play each other in Atlanta.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, Mo Salah ran down the wing.