You may notice that the players are not as...well, French looking... as you might have expected. (In fact, I'm not sure when this picture was taken, but the guy on the end wearing the #10 was replaced by Kylian Mbappe.) France has been opened up to immigration from some of its former colonies in the Francophone world, and the result is a French National Team that will be starting players with the names Pogba, Umtiti, N'Golo Kante, Matuidi and Mbappe. (Croatia's team is almost entirely home grown.) Other European teams had similar racial and ethnic make ups.
This is significant because of remarks that Trump made in his recent blundering tour through Europe. He chided Europe for taking in so many immigrants, because it was "destroying your culture." Cultural purity is some of the most obvious code for racism, in fact it barely qualifies as code. In fact, urban Europe, like urban America, is a mix of races and ethnicities. While soccer fans have a history of racist chants and nastiness, perhaps - like Trump - they are the last wails of a dying racist order.
I picked France to win it all from the start, and I picked Germany and Spain to win it the last two Cups, so I have my streak riding on the line here. But there are other reasons why I'll be rooting for Les Blues today. They are the future of Europe.
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