Something is still creeping me out a bit. During the national anthems FIFA has these kids come out with the teams and stand in front of them, and during the Croatian anthem, this Damien-looking kid looked directly into the camera and started lifting his eyebrows with this knowing smile. This 7-year old looked like he used his brief appearance on TV to simultaneously ask like three hundred million women all around the world if they were up for it. That will definitely pay off for him in another 10-15 years.
But with this kick-off, the Brazil-jocking can begin in earnest now. This wouldn't bother me, since Brazil is actually pretty damned good and definitely the world's consensus favorite, if it wasn't for three things. 1) It's relentlessness, 2) the claustrophobic hyperbole that surrounds them, and 3) it's the people who know fuck-all and don't follow the game who won't shut up about them. On the plus side, players like Kaka and Ronaldinho are two of the absolute delights of the sport, and the enthusiasm that goes with them is great, especially after a nasty game like France-Switzerland. And mainly I'm still just irritated because at the 1999 Women's World Cup opener, all the atmosphere came from the Americans, Danes, and Mexicans, and all the be-seens in yellow shirts just sat like lumps in their chairs. So to be clear: it's the fake Brazilians who annoy me.
Case in point, two figures quoted during the game were a supposed $100 million dollar valuation of Ronaldinho on the transfer market. The guy's currently the most marketable player in the world, and the best player, which does not always coincide, so I could see a definite case for him getting an outrageous fee, and I could see him being worth a small fortune to a club in terms of results and marketing. What I don't really get is who the hell they think would budget $100 million dollars for a player? Besides maybe Chelski, but Roman Abramovich, might order a hit on Jose Mourinho if he didn't win more than a league title with Ronaldinho, based on the number of people he's had murdered with less money at stake (allegedly). Chelsea doesn't have the global presence and marketing to recover that investment, so it would be down to Roman's cash. Otherwise there's Real Madrid, who have gotten in rough shape with the strategy of blowing their whole budget on superstars and won't make that mistake, Manchester United is flat broke, Liverpool and Arsenal don't have finances like that, French and German clubs' financial controls are too strict, so it's down to selling him for $100 million dollars to Milan or Juventus, which is like 150% more than either of them has ever payed for a player. That's 5 million dollars more than Chelsea splashed out for Andrii Shevchenko and Michael Essien combined, and they couldn't even realize the whole valuation of a player like that.
Of course, that pales in comparison to the reported contract offer of $120 million dollars over ten years for Ronaldo by, wait for it... Red Bull New York. Ronaldo would definitely put them on the map, and I could see it as a long-term investment in the franchise, being able to put his jersey up on the wall somewhere, and I assume most of that money wasn't guaranteed. Red Bull says they talked to him, but deny they offered $120 million dollars. I have no idea why somebody would report these numbers seriously.
The actual game was pretty damned good. The Croatians took it right to Brazil for 85 minutes, only getting sloppy at the close of the first half. They gave Kaka a nice wide open space to settle and fire, and Brazil went up 1-0 in the 44th minute, which turned out to be the deciding goal. Solid win for Brazil, who set the all-time record for consecutive World Cup wins at 8, beating Italy's record of 7 back in the '30s. The last World Cup game they did not win was to France in the '98 Final. Brazil have made three consecutive finals, but they're 1-1-1 with a solid win over Germany and that total embarrassment by France.
What was cool to see was both the Croatians hanging with them, and the way the Croats can receive the ball in a dangerous position, and turn and fire before anybody has a chance to realize what's going on. You never see their shots coming, it's incredible. If they weren't all aimed directly at Dida, they'd have done pretty well. Ridiculous play of the game was Roberto Carlos taking a free kick from deep in his own half. He kicks it all the way across the field, where the first guy who can get to it is Prso, who takes off towards goal. Roberto Carlos really looks like he's past his sell-by date. These guys are beatable, but it's really difficult, and the Croatians proved both of those points. This was the unofficial game for first place in the group, since it's unlikely that current group leaders Australia are going to hold on against Brazil.
Man of the match definitely goes to the guy who ran onto the field wearing a Croatia jersey, and went unnoticed while the game was going on, except for one Croatia player who did a double-take at a teammate wearing jeans.
Group F
Australia 3pts +2
Brazil 3pts +1
Croatia 0pts -1
Japan 0pts -2
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