First there was the Mexican goalkeeper Antonio Carbajal. Then, after a long wait, Lothar Matthaus joined him in an exclusive club. A second Mexican, Rafael Marquez, became a third member. There is a case for saying Gianluigi Buffon had beaten him to that, though an unused squad member in 1998 only actually took the field in four World Cups.
But, after only three footballers played in five World Cups in the tournament’s first 90 years, there could be three in three days. One is Andres Guardado, a reminder never to underestimate Mexico’s capacity to take hardy perennials to multiple World Cups. And, with a certain inevitability, the other two, forever twinned in the imagination, invariably pitted against each other in this team sport’s most enduring individual rivalry, are Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
