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The Monday Miscellany
Mike Martin looks at another North v South Korea match-up and all the problems that come with such a fixture; Cristiano Ronaldo's 'slavery' plea; Scott Carson's imminent move to Stoke; and Barcelona's decision to block Ronaldinho from the Olympics.
The draw for the final round of Asian World Cup qualifiers has once again pitted North and South Korea against each other, along with all of the pitfalls such fixtures entail. Both meetings in the first group round were dull goalless draws. The North’s home game had to be played in Shanghai; a rare example of FIFA showing political backbone in the face of the North’s continued refusal to allow the Southern flag to be displayed or national anthem played before kick off.
Such rare spine from an organization that continues officially to refer to the South as ‘Korea Republic’ and the North as ‘Korea DPR’ (Democratic People’s Republic, for heaven’s sake?) in one of its typical political fudges of the sort that still sees Taiwan known as ‘Chinese Taipei’ and China as ‘China PR’ - and we all know Sepp Blatter loves a bit of PR.
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Although you have to wonder who was advising the FIFA president in that department when he referred to Manchester Utd’s insistence that Cristiano Ronaldo respect his (extremely lucrative) contract as ‘slavery’. A more injudicious word for the circumstance scarcely exists in the whole of the English language.
The whole saga is a bit like the Fayed v Hamilton libel case in 1999 in that it is difficult for any neutral onlooker to adopt anything other than a ‘plague on all their houses’ stance. Manchester Utd have unsettled plenty of other teams’ players in the past (Owen Hargreaves, anybody?), Ronaldo’s greed and preened self-image can invite little other than contemptuous ridicule while Real Madrid remain a club on whom the notions of loyalty, dignity or class are entirely lost. Blatter’s comments, as well as being distasteful, are also wrong in spirit.
If any party deserves sympathy it is the Manchester Utd support base who quickly forgave Ronaldo after the 2006 World Cup quarter final to-do with Wayne Rooney and egged him on to produce two of the best individual seasons Old Trafford has seen since George Best was in his pomp.
Still, the United fans need not be too downhearted. Ronaldo played well in fits and starts against Turkey and the Czech Republic at Euro 2008 but was as anonymous against Germany in the Basel quarter final mayhem as he was over-egged in the 2006 World Cup. And Nani, brought on as a substitute, did more to unsettle the German defence in twenty minutes than Ronaldo did in ninety.
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Is Scott Carson the future of English goalkeeping, or will he forever be the hapless figure beaten by two hopeful, improbable long-range punts from Niko Kranjcar and Mladen Petric at Wembley last November? We will certainly find out next season if his expected £4m sale to Stoke City goes through; there will be fewer more demanding jobs in the Premier League next season than that of Potters goalkeeper.
At least Stoke are showing a little ambition and foresight in his acquisition; the two things every promoted side need to move heaven and Earth to sign are a decent goalkeeper and a striker capable of scoring fifteen goals or more in a season. Derby County had neither last season.
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In the hope that you’ll have forgotten my assertion last week that Ronaldinho will not be joining Manchester City - the Eastlands side now appear to be favourites to sign him - let us instead concentrate on Barcelona’s peculiar decision to attempt to block him from playing for Brazil in the Olympics. The gold medal remains the only major international title Brazil have never won and is consequently taken very seriously in the South American nation. Barcelona may have UEFA Champions League qualifying games in August, but why they are threatening to withhold the services of a player they are trying desperately to flog to the highest bidder only they know, but it should be none of their business who an international side call up for a competitive tournament.
FIFA do not, technically, award the men’s Olympic football competition full international status as squads are limited to only three players over the age of 23 - a rule that remains a relic of the decision to allow professional footballers to take part from the 1984 Games onwards, the age restrictions coming in in 1992. During the amateur era, eastern European sides dominated as their state-sponsored athletes ran rings round non-professional sides from the rest of the world. 23 of the 27 football medals between 1938 and 1980 went to Eastern Bloc. This time around it should be more open, with Brazil, Argentina, Italy and the Netherlands hopeful of success while Belgium and Serbia both have youngsters with plenty of potential.
Some Premier League sides will lose players for the opening games of the season to the tournament in China; Manchester Utd will be without Anderson, Blackburn Rovers without New Zealand defender Ryan Nelsen while Liverpool could lose the services of three players, Brazil’s Lucas, Argentina’s Javier Mascherano and Dutchman Ryan Babel. Babel missed Euro 2008 through injury enabling him to join the Netherlands squad in China as the Dutch FA have ruled that no member of the European Championship squad can also be called up for the Olympics.
Tags: Asian World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo, Fifa, Monday Miscellany, Olympics, Ronaldinho, Scott Carson, Sepp Blatter
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