INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Enrique Rodó’s essay Ariel from 1900 pits the creative, spiritual ideals of Latin America against the primitive impulses of North America, picking apart the latter’s “trained brutality,” “insensibility to soft tones,” and “cult of bigness.” The roles were spectacularly reversed in the World Cup’s clash of Americas on Friday.
It was Paraguay who took a distinctly primitive approach to defending, clumsily bumbling around SoFi Stadium without any discernible impact on the remarkably penetrative and persistent waves of U.S. attack. “They were floating,” Paraguay boss Gustavo Alfaro gushed after the contest.
