Let me start this blog by saying that I have immense respect for David Beckham in lots of ways. He is one of the finest crossers of the ball I have ever seen and no-one should doubt his immense commitment to excellence as a footballer and his workrate and professional conduct can hardly be faulted. That said, I cannot understand the wave of criticism directed at Stuart Pearce for leaving him out of the olympic squad.
The man is 37 and is playing in a poor league and has been doing so for a fair few years now. He doesn't get back into the England squad so why would he be one of three overage players allowed in the team GB squad. I don't know that I'd select Ryan Giggs either, but the fact is Giggs is playing in the Premiership for the runners up and plays a pivotal role, still. David Beckham, for all his stirling qualities, is not and the olympics is a tournament that people want to win. Why pick a player on sympathy and respect for a tournament? That's what testimonials are for, or final games of seasons for an emotional send off in front of the fans. When Robbie Fowler left Liverpool second time around he was rightly left out of the European Cup final because he was not as good as the other options but was given an emotional send off in the final Anfield game of the season. That's the right way round.
Sunday 8 July 2012
Spain the best ever?
Well the Euros are over and Spain's final triumph was majestic and magnificent. The tournament was certainly a vast improvment on the tedium of World Cup 2010 and was a showcase for great football. So are Spain the greatest international side of all time? For me perhaps the biggest moment in defence of that argument was five minutes from the end of the final they had clearly already won and on comes Juan Mata for his only appearance in the Euros. Now Juan Mata is a bloody good footballer. A seriously amazing footballer in fact who would get into any international team one would think...except spain have six midfielders better and therefore a world class player was not required until five minutes from the end of a final they'd already won and they were essentially giving him a runout. And just to prove it further...he scored! Their depth is truly astounding.
I always find the argument of whether a team is the best ever utterly pointless yet I can't quite resist it. I mean when you consider that different eras mean completely different football in terms of pace, fitness etc and these teams don't get to play each other. You can't compare Brazil 1970 with this Spain team. I mean you literally can't but even analysing it is relatively pointless. But as I say I do enjoy the debate so I would hedge for Spain on the grounds of their ability to keep the ball and their ability to score the kind of team goals that other teams can only dream of. That's what defines greatness for me, the ability to do something different. I always rate Thierry Henry as the most remarkable player I've ever seen (I include Messi in that) because of his ability to do anything, almost anything.
I always find the argument of whether a team is the best ever utterly pointless yet I can't quite resist it. I mean when you consider that different eras mean completely different football in terms of pace, fitness etc and these teams don't get to play each other. You can't compare Brazil 1970 with this Spain team. I mean you literally can't but even analysing it is relatively pointless. But as I say I do enjoy the debate so I would hedge for Spain on the grounds of their ability to keep the ball and their ability to score the kind of team goals that other teams can only dream of. That's what defines greatness for me, the ability to do something different. I always rate Thierry Henry as the most remarkable player I've ever seen (I include Messi in that) because of his ability to do anything, almost anything.
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