Alexis Mac Allister: History maker, world champion, Brighton player
The first World Cup I remember was the 1978 tournament in Argentina. Like Qatar, it was the subject of huge criticism and controversy. The reason being the actions of the military dictatorship that had taken power in Argentina four years earlier, and which four years later would go to war with Britain over the Falklands.
None of that really registered with me and my fellow 10 and 11-year-olds swapping Panini stickers in a sun-soaked playground that June, marvelling at the exotic hairstyles and moustaches of players from around the globe… and Scotland.
England had again failed to qualify, and save for the likes of Archie Gemmill and Kenny Dalgleish, our domestic league was not represented.
For us, the triumph of 1966 and heartache of 1970 didn’t feature in our lived experience. The “years of hurt” lay firmly ahead of us.
1978 was a tournament on the other side of the planet, contested in enormous stadium bowls where waterfalls of confetti and streamers rained down from two or three tiers up.
Even in the background of the crackly, telephone-line commentary, the noise of the Argentinian fans was other-worldly. The atmosphere and the passion for football something else entirely.
It was about as far away from the three sheds and a terrace Goldstone Ground as it was possible to get. 1978 was of course the summer before the season when Brighton would achieve promotion to the First Division.
But even with Alan Mullery and his Seagulls about to soar to heights never seen before, that World Cup in Argentina, with Kempes and Passarella, Van De Kerkhof and Rummenigge, Rossi and Zico, was impossibly glamorous, foreign and remote.
One of those Argentinian medal winners, Osvaldo Ardiles, along with compatriot Ricardo Villa, would be amongst the first to play in the English top flight the following season with Spurs.
It would be more than a decade before such players were commonplace in what became the Premier League. Five years on from Argentina 1978, Albion’s legendary FA Cup Final side contained no players who did not originate from the UK or Ireland. Astonishingly to the modern fan, even Manchester United only fielded one, the Netherlands’ Arnold Muhren.
Much has been said of what Albion fans who lived through the subsequent two decade decline and near demise of the club would have made of where we are now.
Comfortably in the Premier League top 10, an exciting Italian manager, a recruitment system the envy of not just the ‘Big Six’ but Champions League sides across Europe.
And an incredible eight players at the World Cup, a number greater than Liverpool sent. It could have been more had Jakob Moder been fit, or had Hansi Flick had the good sense to call up Pascal Gross. And of course if Lewis Dunk had travelled with the England squad.
As I wrote two weeks ago when the group stages finished, Kaoru Mitoma, Moises Caicedo, Pervis Estupinan and the others have made their mark on the world stage.
They will have added many tens of millions of pounds to their value and possibly hundreds of millions to the overall value of the current Brighton squad.
Now Alexis Mac Allister has written club history as the first Brighton and Hove Albion player to not only feature in a tournament final but return with a World Cup winners medal.
One commentator said he was in prime position to succeed his teammate and captain Lionel Messi – now arguably the greatest player of all time – as the holder of Argentina’s legendary Number 10 shirt.
Mac Allister’s recently extended contract may not be a barrier to a departure in the close season and Moises Caicedo may not be around for very long either. Liverpool, Chelsea or Newcastle will continue to circle like sharks.
As we have seen, new rising stars are always in the sights of the Albion’s much-admired recruitment and backroom teams.
This World Cup will have made the Amex an even more desirable destination for young players in nations across South America, Africa, Europe and the Far East.
If we can hold onto our World Cup stars through January’s window, the possibilities are thrilling, because if an Albion player can lift the World Cup then anything suddenly seems plausible.
Europa or Champions League qualification could be, should be, within our grasp. All of this beyond the wildest, craziest dreams of those kids exchanging Argentina ’78 stickers 45 years ago.
First though, let’s all savour that moment as World Cup winner Alexis MacAllister takes to the pitch at the Amex when he returns. History maker, world champion footballer, Brighton and Hove Albion player.
Warren Morgan @WarrenBHAFC
