When the final whistle blew for a memorable Wolverhampton Wanderers victory, Matheus Cunha stood still as he had all afternoon, bending his knees a little, raising his fists to the sky and hunting on the verge of tears.
Usually, he did it with Captain’s bracelet.
The Brazil striker has the leader of the Molineux pack; Beacon of Hope of the wolves, their inspiration, their man, wonderful game.
Advertisement
This is not to minimize the influence of Nelson Semedo, the man chosen to wear the armband and a player who sets an example on a basis in terms of education, professionalism and attitude.
But in Fit Days, it’s 25-year-old Cunha who leads, and on the night of boxing day, the Wolves’ talisman led from the front, from the middle and from the wings in the well-deserved 2-0 opposite to Manchester United.
Cunha seemed to play in 3 positions at once: an artistic number 10, offering passes to his fellow forwards, galloping full-backs and marauding midfielders, a deep playmaker who dropped into the box to regain ownership and start the move, and a winger quick-footed in position play. to embarrass United defenders with ambitious turns, elusive speed adjustments and, on some occasions, scandalous retreats that United players of past generations would have deployed, but that this crop turns out not to be able to produce.
His performance included not just an ‘olimpico’ goal, a selfless assist in the final seconds to get Hwang Hee-chan’s goalscoring season up and running and some brilliant moments of skill, it also featured a whole load of shouting and gesticulating at team-mates who were not taking up the positions he wanted.
Matheus Cunha’s corner swings STRAIGHT IN and Wolves lead Man Utd ?#PLonPrime #WOLMUN pic.twitter.com/H0T3LvhzxG
– Amazon Prime Video Sport (@Primevideosport) December 26, 2024
And for U.S. readers:
? US Network | #Wolmun pic. twitter. com/qah9ymv7pt
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) December 26, 2024
At one point, he controlled to reproduce Rayan Ait-Nouri and Joao Gomes with a single wave holding the hand of a possessed boy.
The only surprising thing is that when Diogo Dalot let it fly in the first half with Manchester United’s most productive try on the line, it was José SA who snatched it away.
Advertisement
“He’s a bigger player, a special player,” new Wolves coach Vitor Pereira said in a post-match press conference after Cunha played the lead role in assisting the first Wolves owner since Sammy Chung in 1977 to win the first two top-flight matches.
“He can do things that can make a difference in the small details. We worked on this corner but you can work a lot and in the end, nothing happens. But with this kind of player, things can happen.
“I notice day after day the leaders of the team. They’re connected, they’re in communication, they can do anything and replace things. “
The dark cloud looming menacingly on the horizon is the likelihood that Wolves, in the all-too-distant future, will face an extended period without their main man.
The Football Association-convened independent regulatory panel has yet to meet to discuss Cunha’s punishment for his extraordinary loss of composure in the wake of the 2-1 defeat to Ipswich Town in the final game of Gary O’Neil’s reign.
But when it does, it is likely that the Wolves forward will be handed a significant ban. A minimum starting point would appear to be the three matches he would have missed had the match officials witnessed his initial clash with an Ipswich staff member and shown him a red card for violent conduct.
However, there is the possibility that more games will be added due to how the altercation has spread.
So Pereira’s coaching challenge is now two-fold. In the back of his mind, he must develop a plan for Wolves to operate without a player who has become the integral figure in their attacking plans — the man through whom everything good happens.
But in the short term, he must tap into the psyche of a player who yesterday seemed hellbent on propelling Wolves up the table before his temporary absence.
Advertisement
“He knows that he lost a little bit of emotional control,” said Pereira of the Ipswich incident. “But he’s a good boy — a very good person.
“And he has the strong personality of not staying at that time, but helping the team in each and every one of the games he plays. He went very well because in his brain he needs to help the team. He does not think of himself, but thinks about The team. “
Cunha’s role in Pereira’s flying start to life in the Premier League has been huge. He has scored in each of his last three league games, with only Henri Camara (with five in April 2004) enjoying a longer run for Wolves in the Premier League.
And his ability means that in the all-too-distant future, wolves will be forced to contemplate life without him, with donations from wealthier clubs inevitable.
In the short term, they will face an unwanted taste of what this will be like in the long term, and the fate of their season may depend in part on their ability to cope with it.
But for now, fans, teammates and the new Cunha coach can the emotion of sharing a stadium with a guy that reaches the heights that few players of the wolves in the Era of the Premier League have reached.
(Superior Photo: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)