|
| Trash talk of the town |
| Suveen K Sinha / New Delhi Jun 19, 2010, 00:48 IST |
|
The 2010 FIFA World Cup has failed so far to live up to the hype.
Feud is good, especially when it is between two of the greatest footballers and coincides with a World Cup which is failing to live up to the hype. Maradona and Pele have squabbled ever since Fifa created the ‘Player of the Century’ award in 2000. Maradona won the Internet poll and Pele the ‘experts’ and ‘Fifa family’ poll. The two were declared joint winners. That was merely the beginning of a fight for supremacy. The irony is that the salvos they fire at each other have little to do with their skills with a football.
In the latest round, Pele suggests that Maradona took up the job of coaching Argentina only because he was desperate for the money. That Maradona cannot be a role model for children because of his dalliance with drugs. That he is not even the best footballer to come out of Argentina, forget the world. (Many believe that Alfredo di Stefano, who played international football for both Argentina and Spain and inspired Real Madrid to five successive European Cups from 1956 to 1960, is the best the game has seen.)
Maradona, always the street fighter, responds with allegations that would be difficult to prove: That Pele lost his virginity to a man, that his good-guy image hides dark secrets, that he did not lift a finger to save former teammate Garrincha, who died after years of alcohol abuse and lack of money. If Maradona ran the world, Pele would be in a museum.
Unseemly as the feud might be, it provides a good distraction from the field. There is a real chance that this World Cup will kill attractive, attacking football and establish the supremacy of a packed defence. That would be exciting if you supported a large, stout sand-bag against a despairing boxer.
The wettest blanket was Switzerland’s victory over Spain. Spain, ranked the second best team in the world, had not lost to the Swiss in 18 previous matches, and this was only its second loss in 50 matches. Spain is the aesthete’s favourite to win this world cup. The team played exciting, attacking football, but invariably messed up its moves at the goalmouth. The Swiss played a simple game. They waited for the Spaniards to come into their arena and then crowded them out.
As of last Wednesday, the traditional powers had been either held to draws or won by small margins, with the only exception of Germany. In 16 games, only three teams had a victory margin of more than one goal. In all, just 25 goals had been scored at an abysmal average of 1.56 a match. The biggest talking point, other than Pele and Maradona, has been the Vuvuzela — sports venues around the world are trying to make sure that the air horn, which creates a constant drone like the sound of a swarm of bees, does not catch on beyond South Africa. Argentina livened things up on Thursday with a 4-1 victory over South Africa, but perhaps the time has come to accept that Messi is no Maradona.
(suveen.sinha@bsmail.in)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Read Business news in |  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Advertisements |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Content Guide
