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Opinion on Sports, Pakistan, and Pakistani Sports. |
Ten Reasons to Watch the Copa America
The four of you who read this, have mixed emotions when it comes to the Copa America. You ask why should you wake up in the middle of the night for football, no matter how good it is? For Asian viewers, the Copa America - which starts on the 1st of July - has never been the most attractive option. Here are ten reasons which the blog hopes would convince them to change their stance.
REVENGE OF THE MARACANAZO STARTS HERE
“Everywhere has its irremediable national catastrophe, something like a Hiroshima. Our catastrophe, our Hiroshima, was the defeat by Uruguay in 1950.” Nelson Rodrigues (writer)
The defeat to Uruguay in what was essentially the final of the 1950 FIFA World Cup (yes, Rodrigues did compare the death of over 100,000 people to his country finishing SECOND in the World Cup – their best performance till that time) changed the psyche of Brazilian football. Over the next sixty years they have relentlessly pursued global dominance – winning 5 world titles during that time. Despite that, the hole in their soul hasn’t been filled. Like a failed romantic who goes on a shagging spree, they still long for that first love. In 2014, when the World Cup is held for the first time in Brazil since 1950, they will have a chance to finally destroy their demons.
Unfortunately though, this will be the last time Mano Menezes’ young side will play a truly competitive competition before that. A bunch of friendlies, the Olympics and the Confederations Cup (a glorified friendly competition, in spite of the best efforts of the past two events) is all that stands between now and 2014. So, while Menezes might learn a lot from the Copa, the amount of faith his public have in him will be proportional to the quality of the performances in Argentina too.
MENEZES ATTEMPTS ALCHEMY
In addition to the credit he has in the bank, Menezes’ philosophy and viewpoints towards him would be adjusted by this tournament. Play bad and/or unsuccessful football and he wouldn’t have any more chances to save himself before the World Cup. In addition, the fact that Brazil has won four of the last five Copa Americas means that even a victory wouldn’t be considered out of the ordinary.
While his selections have been more adventurous than Dunga’s, the performances and the results have been worse. After a positive start (10 goals in the first four matches - which were all wins), Brazil have struggled of late - three goals scored in the last five games is proof of that. After a decade in which the number and quality of Brazilian fantasistas has declined - and the best prodigies, Robinho and Diego have faltered - the emergence of Ganso and Neymar might be a turn in the right direction, and would help Menezes. A lack of a world class striker (if Pato doesn’t get fit in time) also hampers Brazil’s chances. They have a world-class defence, but what is in front of them is for Menezes to ignite. The most likely option for him is to play a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 with Ganso advancing to join Robinho and Neymar, supporting the number-nine. This would perhaps be the first time in decades when Brazil goes into a tournament of this magnitude with a front-four, none of whom are established world-class players. Should Pato be able to play though, the team with a fluid front three, suddenly has a formiddable attack (like the ones we are told they have in Nike ads). But will they even need to be that good? Their main rivals for the competition, Argentina, have a porous and ponderous defence, after all. And the rest still lookworse than a weakened Brazil team.
In conclusion, it is vital for Menezes that Brazil wins or performs well in the tournament; despite the fact that he may not have the ingredients to do so.
LEO MESSI
It’s easy for the marketing-men in a tournament such as this; just stick a poster of Leo Messi in the Argentine shirt; and its job done, really.
But it is an important tournament for Messi. Despite being the undisputed best player in the world, his performances in the albiceleste have left his fans cold. A record of 17 goals in 56 games is well below par for his talents. Unlike his predecessor – who tried to make Messi into a version himself – Sergio Batista has tried to build the team around the Barcelona man. For both Batista, and his own sake, Messi needs to perform like he does for Barcelona. And should he do that, the Argentines might finally start to love him as they loved El Diego.
BATISTA’S CONUNDRUMS
Argentina has produced enough players in the last eighteen years to produce two world-class teams. In that period they have not reached the World Cup semi-final, nor have they won the Copa America. It is surprising that in a period in which Colombia and Uruguay have won the continental title, Argentina – the most successful team in the competition’s complex history – have failed to win it. With the tournament being held on their own soil for the first time in twenty-four years, and with a seemingly poorer Brazil side, they might never get a better opportunity than this.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE CRAZY MAN IS GONE
In 2007, Chile finished 3rd in the U-20 World Cup. Generally the emergence of a generation (or performances in a youth tournament) is taken with a pessimistic outlook, for countries like Chile this spells a new order. Thankfully for them, the graduation of that squad to the main team was to be done by Marcelo Loco Bielsa.
Bielsa based his team around that 2007 team – realizing that the kids had the quality, and the eagerness to be a part of his system, he led Chile to second place in South American qualifiers for the World Cup. At the tournament proper they progressed the least, but won the most admirers. In a tournament blighted by negative tactics, Chile’s gung-ho, walk-the-ball-into-the-net approach made the world sit up and take notice.
Chile should have been the third horse for this title; both Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal (part of the junior team in 2007) have developed from potential world-class players into genuine world-class players. Aided by Mati Fernandez, Mauricio Isla and humberto Suazo, this should have been Chile’s best chance (they have only reached the semi-final once in ten years; and have NEVER won the tournament).
All this would have been a realistic ambition under the immensely popular Loco Bielsa. But his departure earlier this year has raised questions over whether this team can truly be a generation to savour (an Erancypat or the Totalvoetball) or a wasted one (Yugoslavia and Portugal from the late 80s; and apparently England too). These are the questions that his successor, Claudio Borghi, will attempt to answer in his homeland – he certainly has the tools to succeed.
WASHINGTON’S ARMY
While Chile may have the bravado, one must also not forget the best performing American team in South Africa last year. Oscar Washington Tabarez’s Uruguay side surprised all with their achievements last year. For arguably the greatest football nation on the globe, the good times were finally back.
Uruguay have the third-best odds for the tournament and rightfully so. They have always had their share of brutal, uncompromising defenders – but for the first time in forty years they have a trio of world-class forwards; and a tactical tinkerman who is the gift that keeps on giving for the football geek.
Can Uruguay win it? Why not? They are the only team who don’t have a defeatist attitude against the big two – not surprising, since it’s a country which has won as many World Cups as Argentina, and more Copa Americas than Brazil; while having a population the size of Faisalabad – and it has the talent to beat them. Cavani and Suarez have gone through the same journey as Vidal and Sanchez, so it’s fair to say that Uruguay are a better team than they were a year ago; and they didn’t do too badly then.
AN OPPORTUNITY WASTED
This was supposed to be about how Mexico could also be considered dark horses for the tournament - with their extraordinary victory in the Gold Cup, and an improving side.
But the country’s prioritization of the Gold Cup over the Copa America smacks of a small-team mentality. Selecting a squad - only two of which have more than ten caps - could be considered devaluing the competition; but considering the other teams on display, one can just turn to Mexico and say ‘your loss’.
Regardless of that, it would still be interesting to see how a group of rookies play against the best in the world.
THE FLAIR
It would seem, the remaining teams – the so-called minnows plus Paraguay – shouldn’t have much to offer. But such is the beauty of South American football that each team has something worth staying up the night for: Paraguay have a top-class strikeforce (and Roque Santa Cruz); Peru have Farfan and Vargas who can tear the opposition fullbacks apart; Venezuela have Juan Arango: the classic Latin attacking-midfielder, an endangered species; and Ecuador have Antonio Valencia and Felipe Caicedo: two brilliant players who only do the simple things right.
COLOMBIA’S TRAVAILS
Then there is Colombia. Essentially a minnow when it really shouldn’t be. The second most populous country on the continent, a country that has football as its primary sport (yes, one can write on Colombia without a cocaine reference).
Yet, they find themselves somewhat of a minnow. Why might that be? You could point to the failing domestic sporting and political structure; instability spanning decades, and the slow demise of the club game – after an artificial rise (*sniggers*)in the 1980s and early 90s. They still produce players as good as the Porto duo of Freddy Guarin and Falcao. But nothing epitomises their malaise more than the fact that Luis Perea is the second-most capped in currently active roster. Nothing can explain how he continues to be a professional an international footballer.
WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO WATCH?
Frankly, what else is there to keep the junkies happy? There are people who have been reduced to watching the u-17 World Cup – not to eye the next superstar; but because they need their football fix. The Copa America recalls a better time. A time when you could watch quality football every day – a time which finished about a month ago, actually.
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The Copa America starts on the 1st of July; if even after reading this, you don’t watch it then don’t blame the blog when you miss out on stuff like this, this or this.
Until then, follow the blog on Twitter, if you have such terrible tendencies.
The four artists and an untypical artisan form the midfield for the team of the 2010/11 season
Midfield:
The year was 2004. The big winners were Rafa Benitez’s Valencia, Jose Mourinho’s Porto and Otto Rehhagel’s Greece. With the exception of Valencia (on occasions), none of them played particularly attractive football. By comparison, the archetype of fantasy football - Madrid’s Galacticos - had collapsed spectacularly in the final third of the season. Mourinho’s arrival at Chelsea - and his perch-knocking of Arsenal’s Invincibles - seemed to be the start of a trend; teams increasingly playing the 4-5-1, with little creativity in midfield and the decline of both the classic number 10 and the attacking midfielder in the Zidane mould. Conservatism was in vogue.
Seven years on, one man has been at the heart of everything that has resisted this mantra – and has won. Xavi Hernandez is the ideologue around whom the greatest national and club sides of his generation have been built. His teams have shown that you can winning and entertaining are not mutually exclusive concepts. Averaging more than 125 passes per game, he is still going strong at the age of 31. So, quite rightfully, he should be the leader of this team too.
Secondly, the man himself is an example of the beauty of football: he is one-footed, not particularly quick, short and seemingly weak; yet every country and club are desperate to produce a clone of his for their team. He is proof of the fact that in football, unlike many other sports, one is not a slave to his birth.
Alongside him, one needs to have a protector. While there are those that are fancier, harder or more animated as ball-winners, or even technically better than him, the truth is that at this moment in time – as he proved in the CL Final – there is no one who shields a defence better than Sergio Busquets.
Busquets is an odd case. At first glance, one fails to see how he has managed to become a Blaugrana regular. But as one watches him over and over again, it is his footballing intelligence that is noticeable. His positional sense alone can allow Barca to shift from a 4-3-3 to a 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 and set a different challenge for the opposition. Is it much of a surprise that him and Pedro – two players that rely mostly on their brain – have become regulars under Guardiola while technical wunderkinds like Gio dos Santos and Bojan have floundered?
But the blog digresses. Busquets is the perfect modern ball-winner. When he doesn’t intercept, he wins the ball by the Deco method: get into a 50-50, fall down and win a free-kick. And as a passer, he is perfect for the role he plays: keeps it simple, hardly ever loses the ball and never allows the tempo to slow down.
Just for variety the third member of midfield is not from Barcelona. Nuri Sahin – like Xavi – was the heart of a team playing fluid attacking football with a high pressing game. With the injury to Sebastien Kehl at the start of the season, Sahin was left with a rookie in Sven Bender alongside him. Playing as the deep-lying-passer in a 4-2-3-1, he was able to dictate the tempo as Dortmund dominated the Bundesliga in a way not shown by a (non-Bayern) team in years.
After making his debut six years ago as a sixteen year old, he seemed to be flattering to deceive (although that was understandable given the pressure he was under as a home-grown prodigy of a fallen giant), but since the arrival of Jurgen Klopp in 2008, the rough diamond’s edges have been sharpened, culminating in this season, when he was the outstanding player in the Bundesliga.
Honourable mentions: Gokhan Inler and Arturo Vidal showed that there is life in the box-to-box midfielder yet. Xabi Alonso, Borja Valero and Luka Modric made their teams play, without getting the attention they deserve. Mesut Oezil and Santi Cazorla oozed class while making a chance-a-minute for their team-mates. And Nigel de Jong was brilliant as a heartless and reckless enforcer.
Support Strikers:
Well there are two of them. And yes, it is those two. Really, there should be no justifying their inclusion.
But the blog will wdo so anyway. They scored 71 goals in the league – 106 in all competitions. For comparison look at the top league scorers in Europe: in England only Manchester United (78) and Arsenal (72) scored more; in Germany only Bayern Munich (81) scored more; and in Italy and Spain, no team scored seventy goals.
Even then, there will be those who will point to the strength-in-depth of La Liga. For them, here is a reminder: the two of them have scored 33 goals in 42 Champions League matches in the last two years, and are the two highest scorers in that too (Messi has twenty, Ronaldo thirteen. The leader behind them is Samuel Eto’o with ten). The blog thinks that rather than whinging over the tiniest details, we should be savouring the age of Messi – with Cristiano Ronaldo playing the chief supporting role.
Honourable Mentions: Well, Alexis Sanchez was only one player who came even near to those two for brilliance and putting the fear of god into defenders. There was also Mario Goetze: 2nd in the Assists charts for Bundesliga as an eighteen year old – but one capable of doing this.
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The final parts (striker and the manager) shall be up over the next two days or so. In the meantime, if you really want even more of the blog, you can always pop down to twitter where the blog is procrastinating away like there’s no tomorrow (or today, for that matter).
The best back-five in Europe in 2010/11
Goalkeeper:
Before the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Manuel Neuer was behind Rene Adler for the German national team’s number 1 slot. A year later, it would be difficult to find a better non-Spanish ‘keeper than him.
While he may have come to the (English) world’s attention only after an extraordinary performance against Manchester United in the Champions League semi-final, he had already pla already sealed his move to FC Hollywood after a perfect audition back in December. Over the past two years Neuer has been near faultless while displaying almost every attribute imaginable in a keeper: he’s 6’3”, built like an ox, sweeps like a gazelle, has cat-like reflexes and dominates his area like an over-eager lion. Quite simply, he is the complete package. Bayern have finally found a proper successor to Oli Kahn; only this one might be even better than the original
Honourable Mentions: The safe, yet spectacular, Victor Valdes continues to be the unsung hero in the greatest Barcelona team ever. And Edwin van der Sar might have cost Manchester United the Champions League, but he did win them the league.
Fullbacks:
On the right side of defence, there really is only one option. Apart from the support strikers, there is no other position on which one man lords over the rest. While Sergio Ramos and Maicon have regressed, and Philip Lahm has plateaued, Dani Alves continues to defy logic with his Speedy Gonzales impersonations.
He has gone from a playmaking right-back cum attacking midfielder – a total footballer if ever there was one – at Sevilla, to a classical wingback at Barcelona without losing his effectiveness. Last season, only Xavi had more assists than him; this season only Mesut Ozil and Leo Messi have more. In the three years before that he had been second, third and seventh in the assists charts. In total he has provided 59 goals in the last five Liga seasons. For someone who doesn’t know how to cross, that’s a pretty impressive record. Combine that with being part of the best defence in Europe, and it’s easy to understand why one cannot look beyond him as right-back.
On the other side, there seemed no outstanding candidate. Eric Abidal played his best football at centre-back this season, and the outstanding candidates from pervious seasons (Evra and Clichy) were liabilites at times.
In the end - almost by default - Marcelo was selected.
The Brazilian has come a long way from being jeered by his own fans (as he came on as a sub) just over two years ago. Even under Pellegrini, his lack of positional sense meant that he was playing as a midfielder – and excelling at that (finishing fourth in the assists charts with 9). Under Mourinho he has eradicated most of his defensive frailties, while providing the perfect foil for Cristiano Ronaldo to shine ahead of him.
Honourable mentions: Philip Lahm continues to be sole steady thing at Bayern Munich. Eric Abidal was brilliant at both left-back and in the centre. And Christian Maggio allowed Napoli’s 3-5-2 to succeed.
Centre-backs:
This was the first of the positions with far too many options to choose from. Even in this, though one player, rose above everyone else this season (sometimes literally). Nemanja Vidic was the saving grace for the worst Premier League winning team in at least a decade. A lone ranger, who grabbed his team-mates by the collar, and dragged them to the title (with the help of the forwards and Nani, of course). And if you were his team-mate, you would have went along. Nobody will say no to someone who looks like he does.
Alongside him is a man on his way to becoming the most complete German centre-back since Matthias Sammer. Mats Hummels is big, organizes the defence well, fast enough to cover the few mistakes he makes, and technically good enough to play in midfield for a big club. No wonder then that Bayern decided to let him go, and keep Demichelis and van Buyten.
Honourable mentions: Alongside Hummels, Neven Subotic was equally brilliant when defending. Thiago Silva was the cornerstone in Milan’s first scudetto for seven years. At Manchester City, it was Vincent Kompany (a man bought before Sheikh Mansour’s arrival) who was the best performer. And the Barca duo of Eric Abidal and Gerard Pique played as the centre-backs of arguably the greatest club side ever should.
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In the meantime, if you really want even more of the blog, you can always pop down to twitter where the blog is procrastinating away like there’s no tomorrow (or today, for that matter).
Match-by-match thoughts on armageddon
La Liga Clasico – It’s like Oprah: Everyone wins
The results are in, and the winner is… everyone! Or so it would seem.
Mourinho won since he stopped the juggernaut. Guardiola won since his side extended their superiority and the unbeaten record. Barcelona won since they are now more or less champions. Madrid, finally know that they can look the blaugrana in the eyes without having to dislocate their neck muscles. Messi and Ronaldo won since they broke their ducks. And everybody lost, since no one’s victory was overwhelming.
The sycophants can keep harping about the unchallenged orgasmic brilliance of the dream team, while the Neanderthals can be confident in their belief that violence can solve anything. The only real winners (apart from the league winners) might be the Madrid players if they were finally completely behind their coach.
Three observations from this contest though. Firstly, Barcelona defy most rules of modern football in general (the focus on footballers over athletes, for instance). They also defy the universally accepted notion that you need a big squad to compete on all fronts. If accepted logic is to be applied, the Barcelona players should be unable to run at this point of the season considering their bench strength. Perhaps they will get found out eventually, but until then we can all support their stance of laughing in the face of establishment.
Secondly, the role of Pepe was expected but the blog would still prefer a four-man attack from Madrid. Finally, Ozil has to play each of the remaining matches. Playing on the right-wing, he was at last able to escape the attention of Busquets (who has been hounding him since the semi-final last summer). Now if he plays on the right, Madrid can play with Di Maria on the left and half-false-nine up top. The blog would still prefer two wingers.
Copa Clasico – Dominant no more!
“If a chairman sacks the manager he initially appointed, he should go as well. “ Brian Clough
It was seventh time lucky for Florentino Perez as finally a coach hired by him won silverware. For once, there were clear winners and losers; Madrid, Ronaldo and Mourinho being the former. For all the negative press that tactics (or any form of intellectualism) gets in anglophone football, it was Mourinho’s tactics (and Undiano Mallenco’s lenience) which stifled Barcelona and allowed Madrid to earn this victory.
The match was won by balls wide and over the top from Madrid, using pace and width (which brought the brilliant winner), and more than anything by Pepe playing like the Duracell bunny.
His deployment ahead of Alonso (and sometime even ahead of Khedira) was a surprise the blog couldn’t have predicted without the help of morphine. The role of a ‘defensive-attacker’ has been gaining credence in England thanks to the likes of Park Ji-Sung and Dirk Kuijt, but this was perhaps the first occasion that a ‘free-role’ was given to a player as part of the defending team.
With the two biggest clashes of the season still left, the suspicion is that Mourinho has played all his cards but those cards have now left Barca reeling. With half of the apocalypse over, the two teams find themselves on equal footing. And quite frankly, the blog is already bored of it.
Champions League Clasicos
It’s over. And thank heavens for that. Madrid won a battle, but Barcelona won the war. Considering Mourinho got three out of the four results he would have wanted, his rant and juvenile conduct after the first leg of the Champions League semi-final can be understood – but certainly not appreciated. Beyond that, the general perception is that both sets of players should be ashamed of the past four matches. After all, what we learnt was: Barcelona are constantly smug, cheating and moaning, yet are a delight when they play football (unless they are defending a lead); and Madrid are defensive, paranoid and classless, under the guise of pragmatism, despite having an awesome attack. But is any of this news to anyone with even a passing interest in La Liga?
The blog – unlike most of the Anglophone world – refuses to blame the players for what went wrong. Both sets of players were acting out their manager’s instructions. Whatever they did beyond that – and whatever it was that grated the neutral – was a by-product of the constant and unrelenting pressure put upon these young men by their clubs, their fans, and particularly their media. It is they (alongside the Pakistani military and the ISI) who should be blamed for everything that went wrong.
Beyond that though, there are more questions raised than were answered: how can either club – particularly Madrid – continue to talk about how they are a gentlemen club* - or are more than a club - considering the unprecedented levels of infantile behaviour after the third Clasico? Sure, there has been diving, cheating and kicking before, but not in recent memory have we had two groups of players as good as this against each other. It wasn’t what happened which disappointed the neutral – it was what it overshadowed, the ‘what ifs’ if you will. Both clubs continued to throw shit at each other, hoping some of it might stick – while forgetting that it was they who were getting their hands dirty. The answers lie in their histories
: They will use selective memories, and act like they never did anything wrong, and were the victims of conspiracy.
Positives
There were some positives from the games still though. Lionel Messi continues to prove that he is a once-in-a-generation footballer. Madrid might be a better match for them having learnt that stability is the key to fluidity – and that it is rather difficult to beat Barca even when you park your bus. The support given to Mourinho could make Madrid a more stable (or normal) club, while alienating a lot of its fanbase and destroying Floretino Perez’s designs of making Madrid a universal ‘brand’. And the criticisms after the Champions League match at the Bernabeu might be the turning point which forces the players to play to their abilities rather than play as if they are in the West End or at Twickenham. In short, there were more positives than people realize.
Negatives
Sadly, we have to talk about the negatives too. Firstly, the reaction from the British media was one that reeked of hypocrisy. There has been insecurity within the Premier League cheerleaders regarding La Liga and Spain since the summer of 2009 (Barcelona’s dismantling of Manchester United and Real Madrid acting like a kid in a candy store; sandwiching Spain becoming champions of Europe and the world). Of course, it would be unfair to generalize here, but the glee and the shock (added to the holier-than-thou attitude) by the English has been slightly discomforting. In all the finger-pointing, hypocrisy was conspicuous (see exhibit A). To be fair, at least the English derided both teams equally - unlike their Spanish counterparts, who continue to play fire with their vitriol, smugness and, again, the hypocrisy. Then there are question marks over how the racheting up of this rivalry will affect the Spanish national team, and if it does, would the damage be irrepairable. Although if you wanted someone to bring together a disparate group of footballers together, you could do a lot worse than Vicente Del Bosque.
And finally there were the fans. No, not the ones in Iberia who – despite the best efforts of the newspapers – carried out all the celebration and mourning like civilized adults; it was the fans on the internet who continue to act like they are experts on Spanish football history – the civil war, in particular (which is only second to Pakistani politics in the number of faux-experts it has) – which surely was one of the negatives around these group of games.
Via Facebook:
Was sitting in the library wearing his Real Madrid shirt when he was approached by a stranger who said ” I am sorry, i saw you outside, i just had to come and say BARCA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOO!!!! The Good Guys Always Win!!”
This incident, which happened an ocean away from Spain encapsulates everything that is wrong with this rivalry, and too many of its foreign fans.
It is time football fans grew up.
And now, to have some rest. After all, less than a hundred days to the next Clasico. As the kids nowadays say, FML.
—————————————————————————- Please, do NOT google Madrid gentlemen club. You (may or) may not get what you are looking for. Apart from that the blog can be followed on Twitter now; just dont expect too much enthusiasm towards Madrid and Barca.
‘Poor old Diego [Maradona]. For so many years we have told him repeatedly, “You’re a God”, “You’re a star”, “You’re our salvation,” that we forgot to tell him the most important thing: “You’re a man”.’ Jorge Valdano
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