As the final whistle blew on a momentous Wolverhampton Wanderers victory, Matheus Cunha stood as still as he had all evening, bent his knees a little, raised his fists slightly to the heavens and looked close to tears.
It is general that he does so while wearing the captain’s armband.
The Brazilian striker has the Paleton leader in Molinine; The ray of the hope of the wolves, its inspiration, its kind of predilection for the great game.
Advertisement
That is not to downplay the influence of Nelson Semedo, the man chosen to wear the armband and a player who sets an example on a daily basis in terms of training approach, professionalism and attitude.
But on days when he is in good form, it is Cunha, 25, who leads, and on boxing night, the Wolves talisman led from the front, midfield and flanks in the deserved 2-2 victory. 0 over Manchester United.
Cunha seemed to play three positions at once: a creative No 10, providing passes for fellow forwards, galloping wing-backs and marauding midfielders, a deep-lying playmaker dropping into space to collect possession and start moves, and a fleet-footed winger ready to embarrass United defenders with audacious turns, elusive changes of pace and, on a couple of occasions, outrageous drag-backs that United players of earlier generations would have unfurled but which this crop seem incapable of producing.
Not only did his performance include an ‘Olympic’ goal, selfless in the final seconds to get Hwang Hee-Chan’s goal moving forward and some brilliant moments of skill, but it also featured a lot of shouting and gesticulations from teammates who weren’t taking 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 American readers:
? U. S. Network | #Wolmun pic. twitter. com/qah9ymv7pt
– NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportssoccer) December 26, 2024
At one point, he managed to reprimand Rayan Ait-Nouri and Joao Gomes with a single possessed hand gesture.
The only surprise was that, when Diogo Dalot let fly in the first half with Manchester United’s best attempt of the game, it was Jose Sa who clawed it away with a full-stretch save and not Cunha sprinting back to make a goal-line clearance.
Advertisement
“He’s a high-level player, a special player,” new Wolves head coach Vitor Pereira said at a post-match press convention after Cunha played a leading role in helping Wolves’ first coach since Sammy Chung in 1977 win his title. Two the first flight games in charge.
“He can do things that can make a difference in small details. We paint in this corner, but you can paint a lot and in the end, nothing happens. But with this type of player, things can happen.
“I notice leaders within the team day by day. They are connected, they are in communication, they need to do anything and need to replace things.
The dark cloud looming on the horizon is the likelihood that the Wolves, in the not-so-distant future, will face a prolonged era without their number one man.
The independent regulatory panel set up through the Football Association has yet to meet to discuss Cunha’s punishment for his usual loss of composure following the 2-1 defeat to Ipswich Town in the final game of Gary O’s reign. ‘Neil.
But when this is the case, the wolves ahead will most likely see a significant ban. A minimum starting point turns out to be the 3 games he would have missed if the fit referees had witnessed his initial confrontation with an Ipswich member and shown him a red box for violent driving.
There is a chance, however, that extra games will be added because of how the altercation became prolonged.
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 has to take advantage of the psyche of a player who seemed to boost the wolves to the table before his transitory absence.
Advertisement
“He knows he’s lost a little bit of his emotions,” Pereira said of the Ipswich incident. “But he’s a smart guy, a very smart person.
“And he has a strong personality not to stay at this time, but to help the team in each and every one of the games he plays. He played very well because in his head he needs to help the team. He does not think of himself, but the team.
The role of Cunha at the beginning of Pereira’s flight in the huge Premier League. He scored in each of his last 3 championship games, with only Henri Camara (with five in April 2004) playing a longer race for the Wolves in the Premier League.
And his talent means that in the not-too-distant future, Wolves will be forced to contemplate life without him altogether, with big-money offers from wealthier clubs inevitable.
In the shorter term, they will face an unwanted taste of what that future might look like, and the destiny of their season might hinge in part on their ability to cope.
But for the moment, the supporters, the teammates and the new coach of Cunha can the emotion of sharing a stadium with a guy that reaches the peaks that few players of the wolves at the time of the Premier League have reached.
(Superior Photo: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Steve Madeley has been a journalist for up to 25 years, adding up to a maximum of 20 years covering sports, basically football. Most of his career loyal to L’Express