As we head into a midweek international friendly fest, one game is getting more attention than it should. The Scottish (and the BBC) are embracing their hero and king of the cheats, Diego Maradona, ahead of tomorrow night's game with Argentina at Hampden Park. But there is still plenty of animosity towards the new Argentina coach. A former England captain doesn't forgive and neither do I.
First off this post is a bit of a rant and I have had enough coffee this morning to send an elephant to the 100 meter title. Still with me? Then read on.
There is no such thing as a friendly, especially this week with England taking on the auld enemy at the Olympic stadium in Germany. But as Capello's young team get a chance to impress against their biggest rival, another of England's rivals is being celebrated north of the border in what could be hailed as the friendliest of friendlies ever to be arranged.
Diego Maradona, known to me and most of my countrymen in such affectionate terms as 'that cheating bastard' is in Scotland for his first match in charge of Argentina. It's a real lovefest up there, But while a fat junkie cheat enjoys his welcome, Scotland number two (and traitor) Terry Butcher is still pissed at Maradona for 'that' goal 22 years ago. Aren't we all Terry! "I will never forgive him. It was not nice to lose under those circumstances. I was selected for the drugs test with Gary Stevens and Kenny Sansom and ended up in the room with Maradona and two of his pals. Our World Cup was over and they were celebrating. It's very hard to forgive and forget in the circumstances. But it was 22years ago. I think I'm 4-1 to get a red card in the tunnel - it would be the fist of Terry Butcher rather than the hand. I remember coming back in 1986 and moving from Ipswich to Glasgow and I think I saw more Argentina strips in Scotland than I did in Mexico." - Terry Butcher.
Butcher is not alone with his sentiments and quite frankly all the attention that the cheating Argentinean is getting on his inaugural trip as manager is getting on my tits. Let's all celebrate a cheat, a liar and man who claims that 'cheating' is a fair way to win a game. It's not surprising that the Scottish are treating Maradona like a God; there is nothing more pleasing to a Scottish man than to see the English lose.
Personally I am not against them having their fun as they will never be a concern to England or its fans. It's also likely they will never have the chance to be cheated out of a place in the semi-final of the World Cup. Celebrate your defrauding arse clown Scotland... enjoy!
Scotland's pleasure is not my concern; however, the attention it is receiving IS. Maradona's Scotland trip has featured heavily on the BBC website every day since he arrived. Take today for instance. Have a quick look of the BBC football home page and you will find a headline article, another on the time Alan Hansen played Maradona, SIX video features and a picture slide show! In fact it's looks like a Maradona tribute blog right now. I have never known such a slanted week of reporting. All for a drug addict and a cheat. Maybe we should celebrate Marion Jones, Floyd Landis, Jose Canseco, Jeffrey Skilling and NBA referees.
Oh Bigus, it was 1986, get over it!
It's not just the Hand of God that makes Maradona a cheat. He was banned for 15 months for taking drugs while at Napoli and again in 1994 when he was sent home from the World Cup after failing a drugs test. In fact if you Wikipedia 'cheating' Maradona is featured near the top of the page.
Yeah I'm bitter and I hate Maradona with a passion, but what kind of message do you send when you can be revered for taking cocaine and bringing the game into disrepute? Nice message to the next generation of footballers and the millions of kids reading and watching all this nonsense.
While the BBC spends its time glorifying a cheat there is a friendly of note taking place tomorrow in Berlin. England take on Germany in a far more important game, important for being a game between two of Europe's biggest teams with immense history, bragging rights on the line. Does anyone really care about the hiding Argentina will bestow upon the minnows of Scotland? Seriously... the game isn't even sold out.
Rant over, weight lifted, and now I will review your incoming abuse in the comments below.
-Bigus.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Not so friendly.
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44 comments:
what kind of message do you send when you can be revered for taking cocaine and bringing the game into disrepute?
Adrian Mutu doesn't see the problem here.
LOL. He isn't being celebrated like the second coming. Just quietly banging in goals while saving up his pennies to pay back Chelski.
Bigus, he isn't revered for being doing cocaine and being a cheat. He is being revered for being one of the most talented soccer players ever.
Yeah, he punched that goal in. But that's not why England lost. England lost because they let the same Maradona dance through your entire side to score one of the most incredible goals of all time. The winning goal. Focus on that winning goal rather than the flukey opener. England supporters have done a good job of convincing the world that Maradona beat them with the hand ball. This is not true. Maradona beat you with his brilliance later in the match.
Auto. Any goal can change a game. and that was ONE goal of the TWO that allowed them to win by ONE goal. We lost 2-1 and one of those goals was a hand-ball. How can you ignore that! We were cheated. If they had won 6-1 maybe it would be different. But they didn't, they won by ONE goal. But the above is more about the man and the way he is being treated, like a God.
I couldn't care how good he was. The man was a cheat on the pitch, off it and a man who endorses deception. A shit bag of a human being and one who does not deserve to be celebrated and looked up to.
Georger. He was banned twice for taking drugs. Enhancers and blow.
eh i dont know if ephedrine is really a performance enhancer but okay
well if people shouldnt look up to maradona then people certainly shouldnt look up to best's drunk driving police assaulting ass
granted its not like people paint pictures of the latter as christ
I have to agree with Bigus all around, and as a Frenchman you would normally assume I would side against England. In a 2-1 game in which the Argies' first goal was an admitted handball, that is absolutely a factor in how the match ended.
And Georger, how could speed not be a performance enhancer on the pitch?
i think im thinking of pseudoephedrine. which one is sudafed?
@Georger - they are basically the same thing. sudafed is pseudoephedrine, which is a chemical derivative of ephedrine, which is naturally produced by the body. They are all used to make meth/speed.
well in that case i take that back.
though you know a bit much about cooking meth
If I tell why I know so much about it, I would have to kill you.
Pseudoephedrine and Speed are not the same thing. Come on. One is an over the counter medication, the other is an illegal drug. And if you've taken both you know that they are only chemically similar...not remotely the same in effect.
Bigus, Lineker scored in the 79th minute or so. Very late and after Argentina had been up 2-nil for 34 minutes or so. Sure, every goal matters. Sure, it was a handball. But the fact is that Maradona did not beat England on a handball. He beat England on the Greatest Goal ever. It is English revisionism to suggest otherwise.
one time when taking sudafed i starting wigging out and thought i was being attacked by a room full of computers. one of the worst days of my life. true story.
@Autoglass - they are not the same thing, but they are both stimulants, and pseudoephedrine is the main precursor in the production of methamphetamine. There is a reason that all products with pseudoephedrine are now carried only behind the counter at pharmacies.
The basic premise here is along the lines of baseball players taking "greenies" or "uppers" back in the day.
Pretty sure any time I've done blow, my performance hasn't been too enhanced... just ask my girlfriends at the time.
What...
oh sure when arsenal lose its a cocaine joke but when arsenal win its arsenal this arsenal that
/wanderingbear
Sorry, should I have started that by saying I was taking a break from puncturing my Martin O'Neil voodoo doll with 2-inch sewing needles to make a joke?
The best part about this is actually not giving much of a fuck about the Three Lions or Maradona. This must be similar to what Thanksgiving is like in a house split between Cardinals and Royals fans.
In the interest of equal time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk-kXwjASEE&NR=1
It was fucking awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3JogSTLxNo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqitJgMNIls
Njanka and Baggio have what to do with this?
Bigus thinks that they are better goals than Maradona's. Bigus has about gone around the bend on this. I love the lad to bits, but when he's made up his mind...
Auto, Roy, those are wonderful goals scored by players who didn't cheat.
No shit? Other players have scored awesome goals? Wow...
Tomorrow I shall post about how Geoff Hurst's shot never crossed the line, the German's were robbed, and that England's one World Cup isn't even deserved.
The subtext (or maybe subimplication) here always seems to be that if not for the Mano de Dios, England win this match and the whole World Cup. It was a quarterfinal. And if not for that goal, how do you know that Argentina don't go on to win 5-0? Take the goal away at the time and the entirety of the game is different. And "different" doesn't mean "England win."
Two World Wars and One World Cup? Not without some serious help on all three.
Baggio didn't cheat here either.
Winners do their business. Losers complain about what could have happened.
This guy also didn't cheat.
"Two World Wars and One World Cup? Not without some serious help on all three."
wow. i am in your debt sir that is the ultimate slam on england fans.
Mike, I am slightly surprised that I haven't been killed and that my apartment isn't yet on fire.
well the english cant hit the broad side of a barn in a shootout i wouldnt expect them to be any more accurate with a firearm
That's rich coming from a country who had to "cheat" to start a war so they could play with their fire arms. WMD anyone? Precisely. Back to the football...oh yeah, you're not much good at that either, so hardly in a position to dumb down Englands achievements. Get real.
really? REALLY?
I certainly hope so. That might be the best comment we've ever received.
How ironic. America also has to "cheat" by creating a sport where an American team is "world champion" every year, yet only American teams participate. As if it's not enough to cheat once, they do it again with baseball. You guys win the World Cup of "proper" football and I'll take my hat off to you..you will have competed against the best of the actual whole wide world. Of course I think I can say with a pretty astronomically high degree of certainty that that aint ever going to happen, so guess you'll have to keep cheating to crown yourselves world champions.
Who cares? Soccer's gay.
Matt, are you still bitter about the Revolutionary War or something? Maybe one of your relatives fell into the water during the Boston Tea Party?
So its wrong to call a team world champions of a sport when no other country even really plays the sport?
"Maybe one of your relatives fell into the water during the Boston Tea Party?"
LOL. That was funny Adam. May I just point out that the U.S only joined the war in the last month of1941. Your help was much appreciated however. Thanks for that. I am sure the French are more appreciative. Talking of French. If it was not for the Brits this blog would be in French and you would be called "Louis" or "Jean-Pierre".
Georger. Sing me your song when you win the World Cup.
"As if it's not enough to cheat once, they do it again with baseball."
so the candian teams that have played in major league baseball are american?
also the usa isnt the best team in baseball and lost the world baseball classic. so yeah, you dont know what the fuck youre talking about.
bigus you have to understand i deal primarily with fans of my age group, im 25, england fans my age have absolutely zero room to talk because in their lifetime england have been massive failures. the failures of england in that time with the talent they have pales in comparison to the united states.
england fans who werent alive when they won the WC are like southerners nowadays flying the confederate flag
"england fans who werent alive when they won the WC are like southerners nowadays flying the
confederate flag"
So Georger. let me get this straight. I am not in my 50's so I am not allowed to love my country? We may have failed but we have been in quarter finals. I'll take being one of the best 8.
"We may have failed but we have been in quarter finals. I'll take being one of the best 8."
So have the US (see: Korea, Japan 2002). In fact, we were also (possibly) done in by a dodgy non-call on a hand ball (Damn you Torstent Frings!), but we haven't turned it into our national identity.
Psst, Bigus. So has the US. Not in 2006, mind you, but we don't really count the European tournaments. It's 'cause our boys don't want to go out and conquer the continent again. It makes you lot feel bad.
Let it be known that PR has fleeter fingers than I do.
U75--that's alright, some folks prefer a man with a slow hand.
U75 and PR.
Woah there gents. Did I criticize the U.S national team? No sirs I did not. I just defended my right to love my country.
But while I am here. You had one qtr final. One swallow does not a summer make.
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