Friday, June 09, 2006
Is anyone who plays for a 'lesser' footballing nation any good unless they play in England?
This post could also have been titled: The Dumbing Down of World Football.
The British media seems incapable of recognising the notion that a football team has 11 players. So far the prime victim appears to be Ivory Coast. Listen to the commentators: "Ivory Coast have a good defence with Eboue and Toure and then don't forget about Didier Drogba up front." OK so Ivory Coast are ok, especially with all those players who play in England. Aruna Dindane? Didier Zokora? Who the f*ck are they? If you don't play in England you don't count.
However, it isn't really England is it? But moreover the cosmopolitan, virtually international, massive money, corporate Premiership. I have yet to hear the BBC or Talksport (my two preferred mediums) rave about Dennis Lawrence (Wrexham) or Chris Burchill (Port Vale) of Trinidad and Tobago. Incidentally Lawrence is 6'7" and Burchill is white. Two quite interesting facts.
So with unerring predictability there were numerous mentions of Paolo Wanchope (ex Derby, Man City and West Ham) and his long fucking legs. Really high-brow commentary.
I'll predict that anyone who can hear the commentary this afternoon between England and Paraguay will be regaled with tales of Diego Gavilan (ex-Newcastle), although to be fair they will probably be equally as knowledgable about Roque Santa Cruz (Bayern Munich). Also expect Ghana to be Essien (Chelsea) inspired and for Japan and Mexico to be fired up by Hidetoshi Nakata and Jared Borgetti respectively (both Bolton).
The British media seems incapable of recognising the notion that a football team has 11 players. So far the prime victim appears to be Ivory Coast. Listen to the commentators: "Ivory Coast have a good defence with Eboue and Toure and then don't forget about Didier Drogba up front." OK so Ivory Coast are ok, especially with all those players who play in England. Aruna Dindane? Didier Zokora? Who the f*ck are they? If you don't play in England you don't count.
However, it isn't really England is it? But moreover the cosmopolitan, virtually international, massive money, corporate Premiership. I have yet to hear the BBC or Talksport (my two preferred mediums) rave about Dennis Lawrence (Wrexham) or Chris Burchill (Port Vale) of Trinidad and Tobago. Incidentally Lawrence is 6'7" and Burchill is white. Two quite interesting facts.
So with unerring predictability there were numerous mentions of Paolo Wanchope (ex Derby, Man City and West Ham) and his long fucking legs. Really high-brow commentary.
I'll predict that anyone who can hear the commentary this afternoon between England and Paraguay will be regaled with tales of Diego Gavilan (ex-Newcastle), although to be fair they will probably be equally as knowledgable about Roque Santa Cruz (Bayern Munich). Also expect Ghana to be Essien (Chelsea) inspired and for Japan and Mexico to be fired up by Hidetoshi Nakata and Jared Borgetti respectively (both Bolton).
