Ronnie, the 'Pool and African Football.
Monday, 04 June 07, 12:13 PM
Hot off the press!
RONALDINHO IS A LAZY GIT! SCREAMS BOSS
Brazil manager Dunga says Ronaldinho needs to train more. "Kaka is the best player at the moment, Ronaldinho has the ability to return to the top and Robinho could be up there. Ronaldinho lacks pace at present. He lacks that initial burst of speed that allows him to get away from rivals."
This echoes the sentiments of the Barcelona fans and press, who have accused the Brazilian of being overweight, unfit and missing training. I don't follow the Spanish leagues closely enough to pass my own opinion, but I don know that he is the top scorer in a team very close to winning the league title. Can he really have been that bad?
LIVERPOOL FANS ARE A BUNCH OF SAVAGES! SAYS UEFA SPOKESMAN
UEFA mouthpiece William Gaillard has caused possibly irrevocable damage to Scouse/Swiss relations today by saying Liverpool have the worst fans in Europe. 'This is not about saying Liverpool are the worst club,' lied the Frenchman, 'There have been over 25 incidents involving Liverpool supporters since 2003, some of them small, some of them worrisome.'
I feel sorry for Liverpool here. We have seen a suspension of all football in Italy after the murder of a police officer, anti-semitic Paris St Germain fans chasing a Jewish Hapoel Tel-Aviv supporter and being shot by a policeman trying to protect him and only recently a massive riot in Greece between Panathanaikos and Olympiakos fans. Who are UEFA trying to kid?
Admittedly there is a Liverpool fan in jail in Hungary for murder, but common consensus is that he is innocent, and another Liverpool fan has admitted carrying out the attack. I'm not saying Liverpool fans are saints, I'm just saying there are other areas where UEFA should be shining their Searchlight Of Justice. Football tribalism is sometimes an ugly fan, but I cannot see why UEFA have chosen to highlight Liverpool. But this is from an organisation that fined Luis Aragones a pitiful £2000 for calling Thierry Henry a 'black shit'.
AND FINALLY...
No screaming headline for my last point. Twelve football fans were killed in a stampede for free buses after a African Nations Cup Qualifier between Zambia and Congo in Chililabombwe. African football has a long list of stadium disasters, and it is something that needs addressing. Football is a global community, and many of the worlds most talented players are Africans. We should not forget the fans that make African football what it is especially with an African nation hosing the next World Cup.
Many African footballers are great philanthropists. Former Ajax and Arsenal player Nwankwo Kanu has set up the Kanu Heart Foundation in his native Nigeria, and George Weah was very nearly voted in as president of Liberia.
These solo efforts are good, but it is also the responsibility of the larger European clubs to help build a decent infrastructure, and with linkups such as that between Ajax and Ajax Cape Town, and Charlton Athletics links with ASEC Abidjan and their excellent community work in both Cape Town and Johannesburg it seems that progress is already being made, although probably for altruistic reasons as much as social ones.
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Africa Cup of Nations 2008
If Athens was bad, what's Luzhniki, Russia, for next years final going to be like ?
It's a tough call. I applaud Platinis plans to open up the Champions League to clubs from the Eastern European states, but worry that it will lead to crowd control problems. If staging the World Cup in South Africa acts as a catalyst for improving infrastructure I'm all for it, and it isn't unprecedented to move the finals at short notice, should the hosts not be up to the challenge. I believe the 1986 finals were due to be in Colombia, but moved to Mexico at the last minute. Could be wrong on that point though...
Football is a global community, so please allow me this apportunity to tell you about our project in The Gambia, West Africa.
We aim to raise the funds and expertise to establish an academy of football excellence to promote and nurture the talents of these future stars. It will also entail the scouting and recruitment of the young talents in the Gambia and the sub-region as a whole, we believe that every kid has a talent and to develop it the right structures and systems needs to be in place. The structures will take the form of classrooms, football pitches, dormitories, physic canters and administrative offices for the maintenance and upkeep of the academy. we are looking forward to creating a steadfast multi-talented soccer institute to nurture and distribute young talents.
Therefore to enhance skills performance we are hereby kindly soliciting the kind intervention of the local authorities, agencies, parastatals, and overseas sponsors to mould out and yield the future Drogbas, E’tos or Elhagi Diouf from our Academy of footballing excellence.
5 Comments
While there's no denying that Ronaldinho hasnt exactly set the la liga on fire this season, Barca will surely miss him for the crutial tie against Espanyol this weekend.
The funny this is that he receives plenty of passes when other players are in a much better position than him, in the hope that he produces a special moment. Without Eto for numerous games this season, he was instrumental for them and his timing of being banned for a game couldn't be worse.
Ronnie is the top scorer for Barca and they are tied in first place, but technically behind Real Madrid, because head to head is what matters in Spain. But there is something missing in Ronnie. Not sure if it is fitness, drive, or boredom. This team has won everything and there is a chance they will win nothing this year. Quite a shame.
It's a shame that Liverpool is always the scapegoat for overzealous fans or England "hooliganism". To me it is so exaggerated and unfair.
Violence needs to be reduced in all areas. Fifa needs to help fund proper security especially in those countries that are improverished. Fifa needs to step up instead of pointing the finger or pandering to big bucks.