Is there a hug for Sorloth?

Football is a game of 'what ifs', but none of them, no matter how significant, ever make it into the history books. There are no alternate realities, only one, even if it can be told in different ways. Between all these versions lie the facts—the stories that should be passed down from generation to generation, albeit with some creative license. It is in this realm that heroes are born, and without them, it takes us longer to become better human beings.

In the Norway-England match, more than Bellingham's brace or Nyland's mistake—atoned for with those who matter most, his wife and children, in a group hug where each held the other to keep them from falling into the abyss—what lingers is the crossroads where Sorloth went astray. The question, "What if he had passed to Haaland for a 2-0 lead?" echoed with every roar of the Three Lions until the final whistle.

And we tend to defend them. If it were a midfielder, it would be unforgivable, but a striker, who feeds on the goals he scores, is allowed a considerable dose of selfishness. It's true that decision-making can be coached, but the one who decides is the one with the opportunity. A manager can pick a player who always makes the right call, and yet, in one game, he can still get it wrong.

Sorloth choked on that hunger in a forced one-on-one, where O'Reilly only had to bet on the most likely outcome. He closed down his stronger foot, and the chance was lost.

Some blame the presence of two strikers on the pitch at once—that theory of egocentrism. With a two-on-one advantage, Sorloth backed himself. He hadn't scored in the World Cup yet and couldn't face another day of regret. However, it might not have been just that. Could it be that the giant simply froze, overwhelmed by the gravity of the moment?

Where the dregs of humanity are allowed to be themselves without restraint, threats and insults followed. No one offered him a hug to hold him back from his own abyss. Sorloth seemed too selfish to have truly been so.