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Sunday, March 05, 2006
Taneo: Madrid’s Real troubles
By Paul J. Taneo
Free-for-all
In one basketball-crazy and future-demented Philippines, rarely do you find an individual who so knows his football.
Making his world premier in Free-For-All, let me introduce to you newyorksubway1@yahoo.com. Sorry, no first name, or last name for that matter.
His learned letter came like a stab of steel, a silver bullet in the dark. He talks of football and this column’s gaffe.
Without further ado...
Do your really think Ronaldo (not Rolando, duh!) will be out of Real Madrid next season? Just because he does not feel the loved? Who cares?
Have you seen Real Madrid’s form? And I mean not just lately. Maybe not. After all, football does not sell so much to us Filipinos compared to basketball. But growing up as a Bosconian, I like football and Real Madrid is one of my top three teams.
You can even find me in Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, if I am not watching Real live on Canalplus. And believe me, these Galacticos are not fun to watch anymore.
Makes me want to switch my jersey to that of the Catalans! OK, granting Barca is playing sweet music on Rijkaard’s notes and Ronaldinho’s brilliance (not to mention the emergence of Messi), Real can forget the Primera Liga. But how on earth can you swallow a Champions League defeat to Arsenal, when Henry couldn’t even manage a goal passed lowly Blackburn? Pathetic.
Imagine this: Though still crafty in midfield, age is catching up with Zizou, Becks is OVERrated, Raul a perennial underachiever and then there’s Ronaldo. What can I say, the guy is like out of shape for a striker.
So can you blame the faithful for their lack of love for these Galacticos? All fans they say are analysts in their own right, and damn they know their football.
Even up to now, Real fans are still wondering why the hell the team let go of Makelele. Just visit any pub (for a tortilla and a beer, San Mig, if you want is here) in Madrid. Kind of makes you think if Real is serious with football.
OK. So Real Madrid sucks. So why keep the team? That’s because for all the mediocrity and sub-par performance of the Galacticos, Real Madrid is...drum roll...now the richest club, finally surpassing Man U. Even an early exit in the Champions League this year will not dent their earnings. Heck, for the past three years, Real has not won a single hardware. So why are they earning so much, you say?
Well, just extrapolate where my 120 euros of Owen jersey went, and Owen is even not strutting his stuff in Spain anymore.
Just imagine how much crazy the cash registry goes for the likes of Zizou, Beckham and Ronaldo. To tell you frankly, Beckham does not fit in Real Madrid but still he is there trying to get that long pass to somebody. But who cares?
Right? As long as he generates a lot of media attention and of course money – just like Ronaldo. So do you still consider him out of Real next year?
Unlikely.
The Winter Olympics...You are kidding yourself! The Winter Olympics are never an agenda, to my knowledge, in Philippine sports. Why should we bother? We never even get a good performance in the Asian Games, let alone the Summer Olympics.
Perhaps Filipinos abroad with enough resources to finance themselves, can. But if you are talking about building a program which requires more funding than for the Summer Games, that I should say is a waste of money. Better have a livelihood program which can augment the lives of our Filipino brothers who are unfortunately foraging amongst the detritus for morsels.
That’s what you get by having to write a name a hundred times in a column you struggle to finish before sunup when half your brain is asleep then have nobody to copyedit what you wrote later. You sound like you had a good night’s sleep and I could harp on your misspelling and grammar slips but I won’t. And don’t worry, I copyedited it for you.
As to the Winter Games, of course I am kidding. Even a vigilante riding shotgun on a motorcycle with his mind clouded with dreams of death wouldn’t be that dense no to see the joke.
Thanks for writing, NYS. Keep it coming from Sunny Spain or the Stifling New York Subway or wherever you are.
BY THE WAY. I hope more people saw the recent Slovakia upset victory over France at the Stade de France in a friendly match. It is always a thrill to watch a stronger team get its nose bloodied by a weaker opponent.
The game illustrates the importance of every possession in football. That one careless header and flick of the foot can mean the game.
A scoreless first half controlled by Les Bleus did not prepare anybody to the surprise of Szilard Nemeth’s long volley to the far post that had France goalie Fabien Barthez sailing in the air helplessly. It started with a header by the Slovaks in midfield countered by a French defender and followed up by another French header that inadvertently sent the ball to Nemeth who streaked forward for the goal.
France equalized, kept on playing brilliantly, missed several chances, but the Slovaks by just playing to their strengths scored again for the final scoreline.
In this game, playing very well is not always enough. But work ethic can mean the difference.
(paulotaneo@yahoo.com)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (March 5, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
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