Rajoy returns for the World Cup: "What matters is to score more goals than the opponent"

BarcelonaMariano Rajoy knows what is expected of him and does not hesitate to give it to his followers. "In football, what really matters is scoring more goals than the opponent. If you don't, you lose. Or, at best, you draw." Yes, the former Spanish president returns to sports commentary for the World Cup and, again, in the digital media El Debate, which four years ago — also for the World Cup and, later, for the European Championship — already opened its doors for him to publish his analyses of the Spanish national team's matches. Rajoy does so without pay and, in fact, without writing: he sends audio notes when the matches end so that the media's editors can transcribe them. He did so this Monday after the draw of La Roja against Cape Verde.

"Spain was unable to score a goal, nor did it concede any, and therefore, the result was 0-0." Obvious statements are his trademark, and in his debut article, titled "Better times will come," he provides ample evidence of this. "For the first time, the World Cup is being held in three countries" and "the number of teams increases from 32 to 48" are some examples. But Rajoy has decided this time to take more liberties than on previous occasions and is beginning to cultivate the genre of opinion, even though, at times, he continues to seem to say one thing and the opposite in the same sentence: "I have more than serious doubts that we will be able to enjoy the first-round matches, but I am not joining those who think that many matches will provoke the same interest and enthusiasm as some from the Turkish league".

Rajoy remains optimistic despite Spain's draw, even though the opponent was probably the weakest in the group. "The selection of Cape Verde, with all due respect, is not the Brazil of '70 (Pelé's 'canarinha' won their third World Cup) nor anything resembling it." Be that as it may, the Galician politician prefers not to take risks in his assessment: "The match will not go down in the annals of football history, neither for good nor for bad." A victory on the second matchday against Saudi Arabia will serve to reassure fans and journalists, according to Rajoy, and thus "it will prevent some from starting to give instructions to the coach." If they do, however, he warns them that it will only be a waste of time: "It is evident that he will not read them".

A little politics

Once published, his World Cup chronicle was like a kind of oasis on the website of El Debate, monopolized by a whole string of news linked to the alleged corruption of the PSOE. Rajoy prefers to avoid politics in his articles, but this time he has made an exception and calls on readers to support the Spanish team because, according to him, "it is one of the few instruments of union among Spaniards that we have today". "And we need this union, because those who have the obligation to do so have opted for the complete opposite, to divide us", he concludes.

On Sunday, the second opportunity to read Rajoy will arrive, who, knowing how fond he is of sports —his newspaper of reference while he was president was Marca— has probably taken the opportunity to take a break from his obligations during the World Cup month. His summer will be more peaceful than that of some other former president and also than that of many of his collaborators from his time in Moncloa, who these days are responding as defendants for corruption in the Kitchen case, from which he, once again, has escaped.