I include a few sport articles on here every now n again when I deem them interesting enough... Heres one...
This was written after the semi-finals and appeared in the Cape Argus.
MUCH as everybody hated to admit it, for once Jose Mourinho had a point. Naturally, it was buried under the obligatory narcissism and masked by the stench of countless red herrings, but it was still in there somewhere.
“I don’t know if it is the publicity they give UNICEF, I don’t know if it’s their friends at UEFA, but Barça have managed to get all this power – and no-one else has a chance,” he said last week.
Seriously, how do Barcelona get away with quite so much? Is everybody browbeaten into a polite acquiescence to their antics because they have a children’s charity on their shirts? Surely if it were that easy, the Catalans would stick a dog collar on their new kit and have done with it.
But there is no escaping the fact Barcelona have a “holier than thou” attitude that conveys to the rest of football it really should genuflect when in their presence. Oddly, UEFA seem happy to oblige.
Anything that drops from the lips of Mourinho must automatically be treated with a degree of suspicion, since he has cast too many stones at too many people on too many occasions for his views to be accepted at face value.
But last week he was trying, in his own scattergun fashion, to point out how the game appears to have bought into Barça’s own boast that they are “more than a football club” – and that the authorities seem loath to tackle their excesses because of this.
Few would argue with the assertion that Barça are the most talented team in the world, but dare to point out they also rank among the game’s most accomplished cheats and that is endorsed with considerably less enthusiasm.
After last week’s Champions League debacle at the Bernabeau, Mourinho neatly slotted into his customary role of pouting pantomime villain bearing the brunt of worldwide criticism as his counterpart, Pep Guardiola, polished his halo nearby. But Barcelona are not some angelic collection of pure football aesthetes innocently tiptoeing their way around the “enemy of football”.
They dive and feign injury more than most, not just in overheated handbag-waving battles against their Madrid rivals either, but in any game where their rhythm is upset and their supremacy challenged.
At the Bernabeu, Pedro fell over more often than a drunk stepping off a spinning merry-go-round with an inner ear infection. Dani Alves spent so long rolling on the turf he became the first player to be stretchered away with third-degree grass burns.
Yes, the Madrid histrionics were bad, but Barcelona’s were worse. Seldom has one seen a team pressure a referee as they do, not even Manchester United in their infamous confrontation with Andy D’Urso.
Barça attacked the official mob-handed, waving imaginary cards in his face and surrounding him in an obvious attempt to intimidate again and again. Skipper Carles Puyol is the arch proponent of this repulsive tactic, leading his teammates in a strategy that is as co-ordinated and rehearsed as any set-piece.
Guardiola has claimed that his players are role models and not cheats, but viewers of the second leg in Barcelona last night would not agree following the antics of Javier Mascherano.
The former Liverpool midfielder-turned-defender went to ground far too easily and then rolled around theatrically.
Is it just that the wondrous skill of Lionel Messi is supposed to excuse everything else Barça do? It seems to be enough for most people, but it shouldn’t be.
Many regard it as “gamesmanship” but the rest of us ignore the euphemisms and call it what it really is – cheating.
Football is nothing if it continues down this road. It will be reduced to the level of pretend pillow fights. Contests have as little credibility as those bogus American wrestling competitions where steroid-fed lumps of mahogany pretend to grapple with one another.
The prevailing cynicism right now is actually quite abhorrent. We expect it from Mourinho, but when the best collection of players on the planet routinely fake, deceive and think nothing of the embarrassing spectacle they are making of themselves and the sport, then modern-day football has a serious problem. – Daily Mail
This was written after the semi-finals and appeared in the Cape Argus.
MUCH as everybody hated to admit it, for once Jose Mourinho had a point. Naturally, it was buried under the obligatory narcissism and masked by the stench of countless red herrings, but it was still in there somewhere.
“I don’t know if it is the publicity they give UNICEF, I don’t know if it’s their friends at UEFA, but Barça have managed to get all this power – and no-one else has a chance,” he said last week.
Seriously, how do Barcelona get away with quite so much? Is everybody browbeaten into a polite acquiescence to their antics because they have a children’s charity on their shirts? Surely if it were that easy, the Catalans would stick a dog collar on their new kit and have done with it.
But there is no escaping the fact Barcelona have a “holier than thou” attitude that conveys to the rest of football it really should genuflect when in their presence. Oddly, UEFA seem happy to oblige.
Anything that drops from the lips of Mourinho must automatically be treated with a degree of suspicion, since he has cast too many stones at too many people on too many occasions for his views to be accepted at face value.
But last week he was trying, in his own scattergun fashion, to point out how the game appears to have bought into Barça’s own boast that they are “more than a football club” – and that the authorities seem loath to tackle their excesses because of this.
Few would argue with the assertion that Barça are the most talented team in the world, but dare to point out they also rank among the game’s most accomplished cheats and that is endorsed with considerably less enthusiasm.
After last week’s Champions League debacle at the Bernabeau, Mourinho neatly slotted into his customary role of pouting pantomime villain bearing the brunt of worldwide criticism as his counterpart, Pep Guardiola, polished his halo nearby. But Barcelona are not some angelic collection of pure football aesthetes innocently tiptoeing their way around the “enemy of football”.
They dive and feign injury more than most, not just in overheated handbag-waving battles against their Madrid rivals either, but in any game where their rhythm is upset and their supremacy challenged.
At the Bernabeu, Pedro fell over more often than a drunk stepping off a spinning merry-go-round with an inner ear infection. Dani Alves spent so long rolling on the turf he became the first player to be stretchered away with third-degree grass burns.
Yes, the Madrid histrionics were bad, but Barcelona’s were worse. Seldom has one seen a team pressure a referee as they do, not even Manchester United in their infamous confrontation with Andy D’Urso.
Barça attacked the official mob-handed, waving imaginary cards in his face and surrounding him in an obvious attempt to intimidate again and again. Skipper Carles Puyol is the arch proponent of this repulsive tactic, leading his teammates in a strategy that is as co-ordinated and rehearsed as any set-piece.
Guardiola has claimed that his players are role models and not cheats, but viewers of the second leg in Barcelona last night would not agree following the antics of Javier Mascherano.
The former Liverpool midfielder-turned-defender went to ground far too easily and then rolled around theatrically.
Is it just that the wondrous skill of Lionel Messi is supposed to excuse everything else Barça do? It seems to be enough for most people, but it shouldn’t be.
Many regard it as “gamesmanship” but the rest of us ignore the euphemisms and call it what it really is – cheating.
Football is nothing if it continues down this road. It will be reduced to the level of pretend pillow fights. Contests have as little credibility as those bogus American wrestling competitions where steroid-fed lumps of mahogany pretend to grapple with one another.
The prevailing cynicism right now is actually quite abhorrent. We expect it from Mourinho, but when the best collection of players on the planet routinely fake, deceive and think nothing of the embarrassing spectacle they are making of themselves and the sport, then modern-day football has a serious problem. – Daily Mail
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