LONDON — At halftime in East London, West Ham United midfielder Dimitri Payet was waiting inside the players’ tunnel for the Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart.
Payet was there for one reason — to hug the goalkeeper and congratulate him on the save that Hart pulled off 15 minutes earlier that prevented a certain goal by Payet.
The gesture — private, yet public, because there are television cameras everywhere nowadays — reminded me of the time when Pelé embraced Gordon Banks after the Brazilian’s downward header was scooped up off the goal line by the English keeper at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico.