The teams that look least like the nations they represent are the most sensitive to criticism.

Ahead of today’s match between France and Spain, former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy commented that there was not much that was French about the French national team. Both the players and the media regard the remark as intolerable and have allowed 19-year-old Lamine Yamal to launch the counterattack.

He himself plays for Spain.

“If football can make a difference, it is through integration. France and we (Spain) are both examples of integration. That is what football is about,” Yamal said ahead of Spain’s World Cup match against France.

He was backed by France midfielder Warren Zaïre-Emery.

“This French team has players from different backgrounds and ethnicities. Just like the country. We are a united group, a united team, and that is all that matters,” Zaïre-Emery said. (NTB)

But how French they are can be debated. Several of the players cannot sing the national anthem. It is a very different kind of “nation” that is being spoken of, a borderless nation. In doing so, the traditional definition of what constitutes a nation has been abandoned and replaced with a new one. No one asks the voters, because it is taken for granted that the new definition is morally superior.