football debate - Recent posts
Viewing all posts which authors have tagged ‘football debate’.
You can also subscribe to this tag's feed.
Colombia has long been an under-performer in international football, and although improvements have
happened in the last 20 years, this continues. It does not help that the Colombian national team
often has been the subject of scandals, and it was also a recent scandal of the woman beater
Hernán Darío Gómez that led to his dismissal, and Colombia looking for a new coach.
I have always thought that one (of the many) reasons that I did not become a footballer was because
I am too intelligent. In fact, as has often been the case, with some notable exceptions (Jorge
Valdano, Socrates, Ruud Gullit....), intelligent footballers seems to be more the exception that
the rule, and at a time when the media scrutiny is so intense, the demand on a bit of brains in
footballers
Tonight is the Spanish Copa de Rey semifinal between Valencia and FC Barcelona. FC Barcelona
defeated Real Madrid in the semifinal, after which it has been widely proclaimed that FC Barcelona
will now win the tournament. Only the most die-hard Valencia fans believe otherwise. I don´t
believe otherwise.
The last round of matches of the group stages of the 2011-12 Champions League had a couple of
surprises.Firstly, Manchester United was elminated for the first time in the group stages of the
tournament since the 2005-06 season. More surprising than this fact is nevertheless that it
happened against the underestimated FC Basel in the last match of the tournament, where the English
side needed only
Every year, around these dates, which incidentally includes my birthday, the Champions League is
entering the last round of the group stages. And often, around my birthday, my favorite team of
Valencia is eliminated from the Champions League.Yesterday was no exception; leading up to the
match much of the talk had been about the pressure on Chelsea.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter has made another brilliant comment, this time about the scourge of
racism in football, saying that on-the-pitch racism is inexistant.Already Mr. Blatter has been
harshly criticised, but I would like to give my support to the FIFA President by reminding him of
other things that do not exist in football: HomophobiaMatch fixingDopingSexismCorruptionBad
language and
Yesterday I had the pleasure of watching England defeat Spain in a match that put into display the
weaknesses of the defending world champions. Undoubtedly Spain is the best footballing nation in
the world, and they play a positive football style that closely resembles that of FC Barcelona.
That said, they do not have the attacking power of the Catalonian side - that is, they need a Messi
(who
I managed to watch the Valencia-Barcelona match in Miami Airport while waiting for a delayed
flight.Valencia had started the league well with three straight wins, while Barcelona had lost
points to Real Sociedad. But this remained Valencia's first big test, and it did not go as bad as
some would expect, as Valencia was the better team in the first half, and were ahead 2-2.
Last week Denmark won a crucial home victory, 2-0 (two goals by Nicklas Bendtner! I didn't know the
guy could score any more!), against Norway on the way to the EURO 2012. Denmark now has all the
cards to qualify, while Norway has to be very lucky if they are to be in Poland/Ukraine next
summer.As is often the case in these matches, the build-up was further motivated by the neighbourly
rivalry
I have always been anti-Madridista, and wished that the team would lose. However, this has not
always been easy, as I have had to recognize a team with enormous merits, not only winning titles,
but also putting pride in being fair. It has always been a team characterized by many gentlemen who
have been involved in the club for whom I can only have the greatest respect: Jorge Valdano,
Vicente del
In life there are many things you cannot choose: you cannot choose your parents, where you are
born, even whom you love is a difficult one: against all logic, a man may fall madly in love with
some third-rate, cranky, controlling, selfish, unfaithful and evil bitch with a minority complex.
Football is most often a mere reflection of life itself, where a man walks from happiness to
sadness, from
The Colombian national coach, Hernán Darío Gómez, has come into controversy in his country after
he was caught beating up a lady in a nightclub in Bogotá last week. He has offered to step down
after the scandal, but incredibly as it may sound, many people want him to stay on as coach.Before
I want to give my suggestions for what excuses this guy could use to get away with such a crime, I
must say
I was recently in the most wonderful country in the world, Colombia, where the U-20 World Cup is
currently taking place. The atmosphere is great as Colombians greet the world with their usual
smiles, hospitality and friendliness.Except if you are Argentine... I had made nothing of an
incident between the Argentinean team during a match against Egypt and the fans in Medellín until,
last Saturday,
Sometimes there simply is no justice in football. Sometimes the one team that plays like a bunch of
violent shits wins, and this has just happened with Paraguay, who has made it to the final of the
Copa América by not winning a single match in ordinary time. Instead, they retort to
defensiveness, dirty tricks and filthy provocations to make it to the penalty kicks, where their
only "good" player
Some people are calling this a historical Copa América. Admittedly, the tactical standard has been
high, and all teams have proven good. That said, the semifinals of the Copa América will not be
some that will catch the world's attention, nor live on in the memory of football fans. It is not a
tournament that has been characterized by the technical skill and flair that South American
football is
Lionel Messi has been very criticised for his role in Argentina's debacle at the Copa América, so
I thought I would give Mr. Messi some help in providing some excuses for the performance:5) "I get
confused when not playing in blue-red stripes"4) "mumble, mumble, mumble"3) "What do you expect? I
am a dwarf!
Mexico lost its third consecutive match of the Copa América today, and was for the first time ever
eliminated in the first round of this tournament. However, there is much reason to be optimistic
about the future if you are a fan of the North American nation. Just before the Copa América
Mexico was awesome in winning the North American Gold Cup, with an excellent side with great
attacking power.
I do not know how it is to have Venezuelans on top of me. Maybe I should ask Brazil's and
Paraguay's national teams? They are trying it right now!Group B in the Copa América is on fire.
The two huge favourites tied 2-2 earlier today in a match that Paraguay should have won. As for
Argentina, this tournament is turning into a huge disappointment for the large collection of
Brazilian superstars,
In my view and experience, football breaks down barriers of nations, race, class, age, and well...,
gender!However, in spite of advances over the years, football culture remains very
male-chauvinistic, perhaps blocking the complete breakthrough of women's football (I think the main
problem with women's football is that it is not as technically good as men's, but it surely could
be!
I must admit that although I greatly admire Lionel Messi, and probably agree that he is the most
noteworthy player in the world, I am not wholly in agreement about winning the FIFA Balon d'Or
today.I am not sure what the criteria for the title are, but if they indeed are the player that
seems to do the most amazing things on camera - the one that most looks like a Playstation player,
it is indeed
