On the pitch, it is not the perfect night. There are sparks from Ghana — Ajax midfielder Mohammed Kudus in particular impresses — but there is not much of a sense of structure yet, and that naturally includes him. Williams plays 88 minutes. A run in the first half should leave Williams with an open goal, but the ball doesn’t come to him, a simple pass not played and he can’t believe it. His disbelief lasts a while. Not long afterward, a pull-back from the right doesn’t reach anyone. Another one from the left in the second half draws a complaint. A third — this time given to him rather than given by him — draws applause. He’s getting closer.
The best chance he gets, after about an hour, draws a superb save from the Nicaragua keeper, Douglas Espinoza, but the assistant referee’s flag is up anyway. A superb surge and pass — an assist in waiting — doesn’t quite come off. When an assist does come off, a cleverly lobbed to the far post for what would have been Ghana’s second, it is ruled out for offside.
At times, there are visible flashes of frustration. For much of the match, Williams moves fast, but doesn’t get seen. He gives and goes, but doesn’t get back. Only rarely does the ball come to him. Integration is a process that is, of course, still incomplete. There is a moment at half-time that serves almost as a metaphor: he is heading off the pitch alone as the whistle blows, not noticing that instead of going to the tunnel, his teammates are gathering in a circle in the middle and someone has to call him back.
There is time, but not a lot of it. The World Cup starts in less than 60 days. It’s not easy to join a national team from a country you have rarely visited and where you don’t speak the language. Williams admits it’s hard to join a national team at all: he has played at the same team his whole life, never going outside the Athletic Club context. But the time was right. Time to take that step. He has danced for them, the classic initiation ceremony — “I made them laugh, which is the point,” he says — and there has been support. The experience has been worthwhile, that’s for sure. Something totally different. It has also only just begun. A World Cup is the reward, but it is bigger than that — deeper, too.
