tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post7833601875025478074..comments2024-01-28T03:56:39.351-08:00Comments on TOM CLARK: The meaning of world footballUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-52239148299585450062014-07-14T22:35:30.158-07:002014-07-14T22:35:30.158-07:00(As to the media, and its stars, it must be admitt...(As to the media, and its stars, it must be admitted that in the BBC studio talk bits, Rio Ferdinand showed that he is definitely a man who is loved by a shirt -- even if he is headed for, where was it, QPR? Or was it Palace?<br /><br />Second prize for fashion and first prize for studio cool, however, I would reserve for the infinitely suave Titi Henry. A cardigan! -- in a high tech glass-windowed studio in BRAZIL! The World Cup is taxing on a crumbling mind... for half a moment I thought I was watching a delayed broadcast of Masterpiece Theatre. Stylewise, the man has never yet put a foot wrong.)TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-65104869313780173862014-07-14T22:25:39.548-07:002014-07-14T22:25:39.548-07:00Manik,
Indeed it was impossible not to feel for M...Manik,<br /><br />Indeed it was impossible not to feel for Messi. At one point an unwelcome thought crossed the mind: "He's 31 now, after all..." But to write off his career and future on grounds of the Germany match would be a mistake. The ball is still his companion. <br /><br />I thought it disgraceful to attempt to compensate his legend by awarding him the hollow trophy for player of the tournament. I thought that rightfully belonged to James Rodriguez of Colombia, a baby-faced assassin who did countless wonderful things and never put a foot wrong. I was sorry to see Colombia and Mexico go out on dubious calls, as I was sorry about the departures of Chile and Costa Rica. These sides were a delight, but when the grinding-down was done, they were gone.<br /><br />I thought too much was made out of the turpitude of the greatest player in the world, who was playing for the least populous nation -- until he did that incorrect thing.<br /><br />Anyone familiar with the game would know that Chiellini is hardly a choir boy in boots -- just as it was widely understood, by the players themselves, two Cups back, about Materazzi, when Zidane did to that particular thug what many thought needed to be done. <br /><br />Yes, terrible about Brazil, a simulacrum of a folding chair masquerading as a national XI.<br /><br />A mere dozen years ago, in the Far East, Brazil brought a squad for the ages -- Ronaldo (the real one), the young Ronaldinho, the great Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos, et al.<br /><br />It seems to have been assumed that Big Phil, who tended that bunch, could make sparkling wine out of tepid water with this group. Right.<br /><br />Spain's poor showing was for me a greater disappointment, but Spain had brought great artistry to the game through two great tournaments over six years... whereas this Brazil crew had brought nothing, ever. Their most potent threat was the empty power of history. <br /><br />Aditya,<br /><br />Brecht had it down. Still, as we both know, it's the heroes who move the units. Tickets, celebrity kit, the whole immense marketing phantasmagoria.<br /><br />The hypocrisy of FIFA is of course enormous. Freddy Kanouté speaks truth to power. What an annoyance that is, to many. The double standard by which Nic Anelka is condemned while the under-21s prepare to show their stuff in Tel Aviv is merely another symptom of the inability of the grand technological superpowers of the West to perceive the increasing similarity of the methods of the territorial-expansionist racist genocide repeatedly wrought by Israel against Islam to those of the terror state from which these methods were learnt. <br /><br />As for the German "fan" displays at the Ghana match (as seen here), they were seen by few, and of course not shown to "the world" in the licensed broadcast (tv) media... but you know how it is. Those pesky, ubiquitous cameras in the hands of the citizenry. <br /><br />I found the only listenable commentary was the frantic, passionate, rapidfire, totally involved and involving Spanish language audiocast from the wondrous Andres Cantor's Radio Primera network. The dodgy video streams would lag and fail, but Andres never missed a beat. The spirit of the event was lifted by that -- in my tiny walkman earbuds, that is.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-79509241269150906562014-07-14T21:32:21.887-07:002014-07-14T21:32:21.887-07:00Kanoute, the Algerian national team remind me of A...Kanoute, the Algerian national team remind me of Anelka's "quenelle"--<br /><br /><a href="http://www.intifada-palestine.com/2014/03/football-association-gets-anti-racist-knickers-twist-quenelle/" rel="nofollow">Yet this governing body has been remarkably quiet about apartheid Israel’s inclusion in the European under-21 championship and hosting of the finals last year in Tel Aviv.</a> <br /><br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/news/9715577/Premier-League-players-call-on-Uefa-to-remove-Israel-as-European-U-21-hosts.html" rel="nofollow">Premier League Players call on UEFA to remove Israel as Euro U-21 hosts</a><br /><br />The broadcaster here did not even telecast the horror show of German fans, cheering their team on, against Ghana. Or did I miss that!<br /><br />Indeed, yr entirely human treatments of the game, in this post, and several others, teach one the meaning(s) of world football, in all the "utopian" waves of rise & eventual, poignant falls. <br /><br />And even more so, in times when the expansions of FIFA's "grass-root" programs in Third World Countries (the expansions of imperialism in the global world?) strengthen the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jun/15/football-socialism-crack-cocaine-people" rel="nofollow">convenient tirades against the game</a>.<br /><br />What do they know of Football who only Football know?<br /><br />The latest Pepsi ad (latest, here in India, where one usually lags behind the Western trends) showcases footballing icons showing off the "tricks", while a street singer collects pennies playing the David Bowie tune "We can be Heroes . . for just one day"<br /><br />One is reminded of Brecht's lines, <br /><br />Andrea: Unhappy is the land that breeds no hero.<br />Galileo: No, Andrea: Unhappy is the land that needs a hero.<br /><br />Thanks for this great post, along with yr insightful assemblage of the heart wrenching Israel-Gaza conflict.<br /><br />adityahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16078144194220301083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-78337452356114685652014-07-14T00:25:32.616-07:002014-07-14T00:25:32.616-07:00Tom,
In the end it was asking too much of messi.T...Tom,<br /><br />In the end it was asking too much of messi.The question shall remain,of whether he can be counted alongside Pele and Maradona.He hasn't particularly shined in the knock-out stages.What is fact is that for the second World Cup in a row Shweinsteiger got the better of messi.Shweinsteiger I believe deserved a lot a more credit than he usually gets(because he plays a holding role).<br /><br />Germany had to come of age.But what remains as the glaring,most astounding picture of this edition is the self-destruction of Brazil,a team of players crying at half-time,resigned to their fate,to their inability to make sense of the massacre in heads only hours ago, covered in the FORCA NEYMAR caps..I have never seen anything like it.manik sharmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18055072451804840121noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-73309160372031906032014-07-13T17:07:15.861-07:002014-07-13T17:07:15.861-07:00All right, Lio had an unhappy day. But was it real...All right, Lio had an unhappy day. But was it really necessary for all those tv cameras to iterate his unhappiness over and over, while everyone sat around waiting for Joe the Bloater to deliver the FIFA hardware?<br /><br />Muchas lágrimas, pero...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmEbfo59aaE&feature=related" rel="nofollow">Paloma San Basilio: No llores por mí, Argentina</a>TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-37385261189181233882014-07-13T14:59:18.761-07:002014-07-13T14:59:18.761-07:00Thanks to all... and what can have happened to tha...Thanks to all... and what can have happened to that angel... caught in the air traffic outside the stadium?<br /><br />Qué lástima!TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-10909728681374781302014-07-13T12:30:45.776-07:002014-07-13T12:30:45.776-07:00Romero's goalkeeping, that is, and Mascherano&...Romero's goalkeeping, that is, and Mascherano's defense. Won't comment on Krull as ogre in the net.Be the BQEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11621320435990191224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-75593768872294524732014-07-13T11:42:59.735-07:002014-07-13T11:42:59.735-07:00Tom,
Thanks for a great post. I guess many sports ...Tom,<br />Thanks for a great post. I guess many sports show us humans defying what seem to be the limits of the human machinery, whether Van Persie's header against Spain, Mascherano's great play in goal, the way Messi lines up a shot or the angel falling from heaven unscathed. It is the beautiful game with many not so beautiful shadows--the obscene amounts of money, the racism. Getting ready to turn on the match. No way to know at the moment whether Messi will run to the crowd with fingers pointed to heaven or just walk away. Be the BQEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11621320435990191224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-71738816761041375862014-07-13T10:07:03.793-07:002014-07-13T10:07:03.793-07:00Loved this, Tom. Thanks you.Loved this, Tom. Thanks you.Robbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12312524900784740898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-52969432226008704632014-07-13T08:37:26.941-07:002014-07-13T08:37:26.941-07:00It's good to see there's still space for f...It's good to see there's still space for flare and imagination in the game. <br /><br />Kanouté reminds us of a time before <br />it all got lousy with money.<br /><br />Fifa has a lot to answer for, I think.Mose23https://www.blogger.com/profile/01100756913131511440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-43269076834336179142014-07-13T05:42:52.667-07:002014-07-13T05:42:52.667-07:00Great post, TC!
I know nothing about football but ...Great post, TC!<br />I know nothing about football but since the Argentina / Netherlands match last Wednesday and the wonderful reactions from our team, I can confess I'm very in to the game. I even wrote a post about Mascherano and all his "great deeds".<br />In fact it doesn't really matters to me if "we" win, I'm already happy with our team and what they transformed in our society, right now.Juliahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16419101761966668410noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-22620865169484075432014-07-13T00:44:24.482-07:002014-07-13T00:44:24.482-07:00Keep in mind -- that's a long fall from the h...Keep in mind -- <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f1OOKJR9pw" rel="nofollow">that's a long fall from the heavens</a>, and she's a pretty big angel. Totally uninjured. Hops right up for the embrace. Lio!<br /><br />And I ask you -- could Jesus have managed that?TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.com