I was going to get up at 5am to watch the Olympic Football Final. I didn't, and I'm very glad of that. Instead, I decided to record it. That way I could skip over the uninteresting bits. You know - the goal kicks, the throw-ins, the injuries, the times Mascherano is on the ball. Unfortunately in this case, the uninteresting bits took up most of the 90 minutes. Not because Mascherano continuously had possession, but because it was just not a good game, for a variety of reasons.
For one, it kicked off at 12 in the afternoon under a blistering sun. Just about the worst time to play a football match. Also, the pitch was bobbley, and really, really slow. To give you an idea of just how slow, if the pitch were a football player, it would be Darren Fletcher (and in the words of J.D., oh he's slow). And when a pitch is bumpy and slow, it's just not possible for players like Riquelme and Messi to strut their stuff. Especially Riquelme. He's motionally challenged already so having a slow pitch to boot just makes him hugely ineffective. His little passes were just getting held up on the turf, and without those he hasn't got much else to offer.
Messi made some obligatory nice runs, but again he lost the ball more often than not. He was of course a threat and an occasional joy to watch, but his performance certainly wasn't up to the standard of that against Man Utd last season (that move on 3:05 is just magic. Scholes didn't even have time to put one of this trademark 'tackles' in).
One player I was quite impressed with was Angel Di Maria (pictured above), who clocks in at Benfica when he's not donning an Argentine shirt. He scored a beautiful chipped goal to settle the tie and light up an otherwise dim affair, and looked reasonably impressive throughout this match, and even the tournament (Yes, I watched other games in this tournament. Woe is me).
Nigeria were stereotypically African, as you might expect from, well, an African team. They were quick, strong, mobile, good in build-up play, and then absolutley horrible within a 30 yard radius of the goal. One time a player of theirs shot from almost the endline, and as you'd expect from that position, the ball just sailed high and wide into the stands. How long will African teams continue to show such naievity in front of goal? Because if they ever become clinical, then Pele's prediction of an African team winning the World Cup by the year 2000 will no doubt come true. Wait - what year are we in now?
Overall, it was a bad final, which is just typical of finals in football tournaments. Except in other tournaments like the World Cup and the Champions League, the outcome actually matters, making the game bearable (although only just in the case of Liverpool-Milan in '07). I mean does anyone outside of Argentina really care that they won an Olympic gold medal? Were the 88,000 people in the stadium there to see the football, or were they there to see large women throw heavy things across some grass a little later on? Given the quality of the final, I think I'd actually have preferred to watch the latter.
Not to worry though. There's plenty more football on show today, with a toss up between Boro v Liverpool and Spurs v Sunderland in the afternoon, followed by Arsenal v Fulham in the evening. But to kick all of that off, there's Football Focus - the show where grown men sit on couches in the most suggestive of manners. I swear one of these days they'll cut to Lee Dixon and Mark Lawrenson on the couch, and the two of them will just be lying on top of each other making out. A disgusting image I know, but don't say I didn't warn you.
For one, it kicked off at 12 in the afternoon under a blistering sun. Just about the worst time to play a football match. Also, the pitch was bobbley, and really, really slow. To give you an idea of just how slow, if the pitch were a football player, it would be Darren Fletcher (and in the words of J.D., oh he's slow). And when a pitch is bumpy and slow, it's just not possible for players like Riquelme and Messi to strut their stuff. Especially Riquelme. He's motionally challenged already so having a slow pitch to boot just makes him hugely ineffective. His little passes were just getting held up on the turf, and without those he hasn't got much else to offer.
Messi made some obligatory nice runs, but again he lost the ball more often than not. He was of course a threat and an occasional joy to watch, but his performance certainly wasn't up to the standard of that against Man Utd last season (that move on 3:05 is just magic. Scholes didn't even have time to put one of this trademark 'tackles' in).
One player I was quite impressed with was Angel Di Maria (pictured above), who clocks in at Benfica when he's not donning an Argentine shirt. He scored a beautiful chipped goal to settle the tie and light up an otherwise dim affair, and looked reasonably impressive throughout this match, and even the tournament (Yes, I watched other games in this tournament. Woe is me).
Nigeria were stereotypically African, as you might expect from, well, an African team. They were quick, strong, mobile, good in build-up play, and then absolutley horrible within a 30 yard radius of the goal. One time a player of theirs shot from almost the endline, and as you'd expect from that position, the ball just sailed high and wide into the stands. How long will African teams continue to show such naievity in front of goal? Because if they ever become clinical, then Pele's prediction of an African team winning the World Cup by the year 2000 will no doubt come true. Wait - what year are we in now?
Overall, it was a bad final, which is just typical of finals in football tournaments. Except in other tournaments like the World Cup and the Champions League, the outcome actually matters, making the game bearable (although only just in the case of Liverpool-Milan in '07). I mean does anyone outside of Argentina really care that they won an Olympic gold medal? Were the 88,000 people in the stadium there to see the football, or were they there to see large women throw heavy things across some grass a little later on? Given the quality of the final, I think I'd actually have preferred to watch the latter.
Not to worry though. There's plenty more football on show today, with a toss up between Boro v Liverpool and Spurs v Sunderland in the afternoon, followed by Arsenal v Fulham in the evening. But to kick all of that off, there's Football Focus - the show where grown men sit on couches in the most suggestive of manners. I swear one of these days they'll cut to Lee Dixon and Mark Lawrenson on the couch, and the two of them will just be lying on top of each other making out. A disgusting image I know, but don't say I didn't warn you.
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