So it’s easier to get dropped from your national team than it is to get a yellow card these days. And that’s all to the good, in my opinion. I hate it when referees try to inject themselves into the game. I prefer it when nature, and the intensive care unit, are allowed to take their course. Seriously, just let the players play until full time rolls around, or until they’re incapacitated with injuries that could have been avoided if you occasionally sent someone off. Either way, there’s no need to go occasionally sending people off.
Everyone who’s making a big deal about this is just jealous of Manchester City anyway.
Well, in the spirit of Bert van Marwijk, who’s learned to do the right thing at precisely the moment when it’s no longer especially inconvenient, I come to direct your attention to my various good deeds.
Over at Slate, I have a new piece about the fake Togo national team, the troubled history of the real Togo national team, the troubles facing African soccer, and trouble, generally speaking. At the risk of sounding like I’ve just banned Nigel de Jong from my side, I break out some details that haven’t been discussed much in the Western media and try to put the scam in the context of the Cabinda attack, Togolese politics, and FIFA’s dissolution of the Fédération Togolaise de Football. Whether you’re a fan of hoaxes or a serious-minded student of political corruption in West Africa, this is the juxtaposition of those two themes for you. Have a look.
Also: This will be an ongoing project, but I’m guest-curating a Pelé Week-inspired series on FreeDarko about Hakeem Olajuwon and the mid-’90s Houston Rockets. Some of the best young basketball writers on the planet are contributing, and it’s going to be a fun buildup to the start of the NBA season and the launch of the new FD book on October 26. Hakeem got his footwork from playing goalkeeper as a kid in Lagos. This is totally up your alley. Check it out.
Run of Play picks up again this week as well, with a piece on the interpermeation of English and American soccer culture, a thought on club morality, and 10 hot tips on how to shatter someone’s femur while still sort of getting to the ball first. Stay tuned.
by Brian Phillips · October 4, 2010
You have the best “Error: Page Not Found” page on the internet.
Which is to say, the Hakeem Olajuwon and the mid-90′s Houston Rockets link doesn’t work.
@Django That’s fixed. Thanks for pointing it out. For anyone who wants to know what error page he’s talking about: here is a page that really doesn’t exist.
whoa. giddy for the Week of Hakeem, even though it may cost me my job. the Clutch City Rockets were my first love in any sport outside of soccer, a huge part of how I adapted to life in Houston upon arriving from a post-Soviet dystopia, and for years left me with completely distorted notions of a) how likely teams I loved were to pull off improbably comebacks/upsets, b) the extent to which one superstar (or two, after Valentine’s Day brought us the gift of Clyde) could raise the level of the role players and misfits around him to championship quality, and c) the level of artistry that could be expected from a big man.
Any collaborations planned with Yahoo!’s Kelly Dwyer? He’s pretty good when it comes to NBA writers.
Will there be at least a passing mention of Phi Slama Jama?
@Django I think you can count on that.
Don’t know if everyone has read this, as it’s quite old, but there was a good article in Soccer America after Messi’s injury.
But I am biased. I’m in love with that little guy.
From your opening paragraph, it seems you might have, although you are (obviously) more than capable of a similar and independent insight.
http://j.mp/dt6RUR
Nigel de Jong:
This is a completely media driven exercise in drilling up a controversy.
At the game, no one complained about NDJs tackle, he was not booked, the Newcastle players did not surround him as you would expect for a bad tackle, the Newcastle fans did not make a fuss. No one on the TV channels made mention of it being a bad tackle. I am told David Pleat on one channel thought at first Ben Arfa had dislocated his shoulder.
It was an accident and I and all City fans hope Ben Arfa recovers quickly
However, as soon as the match ended the Twitteratti started up saying it was a bad tackle. This was followed by on TalkBalls radio the woman beater Stan Collymore, a fella who hates the new wealthy City, spouting garbage that NDJ should be “banned as long as Ben Arta is inured” and putting up a photo on Twitter that “proved” it was a shocking tackle – it did no such thing.
Then on BBC 5 Live Alan Green – another fella who hates City especially as we have replaced his beloved Liverpool in the ‘Top Four’, started with his usual bilge. And so the snowball got bigger and bigger.
The Dutch coach was not at the match. On BBC 5 Live on Monday night NDJ’s tackle was defended by everyone but for John Motson.
A Dutch journalist was contacted about it, he said Bert van Marwijk was right to ban NDJ “because he has done this before”. But when asked about ‘double-standards’ considering how the Holland team played in the World Cup Final, he admitted it was double-standards.
Questioned further it seemed that the Dutch have now become rather ashamed of how their team played in the Final as “it was not the Dutch way to play”. Now NDJ has got in the news again, after his WC Final perfomance it seems he is to be sacrificed because of Dutch guilt.
The media wanted NDJ’s head, just as they wanted Adebayor’s head after we played Arsenal in 2009, they wanted him banned.
Too bad for them then he can’t be. The FA have said no further action will be taken because the referre saw the incident at the time.
End of story, or rather non-story.
@Harpurhey Harry What you’re saying might make any sense except for the fact that the de Jong controversy has been building for months, if not years. If I’m “trying to drill up a controversy,” I’m taking my sweet time about it, because I’ve been complaining about his violent play since before he broke Ben Arfa’s leg, before he broke Stuart Holden’s leg, and before he went around like an out-of-control bumper car through the entire World Cup.
I completely agree that it’s hypocritical for van Marwijk to drop him, but to act like there’s no reason to criticize de Jong besides media hype and jealousy of City is crazy.
What happened to B.A.F.C.?
@B It got thrown off its stride by the World Cup, but soon it Shall Return.
At first I thought Wiki would need a better term for that tackle. Then I watched a YouTube video, and was reminded that no…no they don’t…that’s spot-on.
“In the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final he karate-kicked the Spanish player Xabi Alonso in the chest”
And to think, I never knew of the drama of football. Now, I revel in it, although I think I was saner prior to the drama.
Also, I have way too much time on my hands~
http://asoccerworld.wordpress.com/2010/10/04/hello-world/
Today in Dream Week: Pasha Malla watches Hakeem airball a dunk during the last days of his career in Toronto.
@Harpurhey Harry Non story you say?
Two broken legs and the karate kick to the chest in a 6 MONTHS span is a non story for you?
Really?
Once your ‘good voice’ comes back and takes control again, please read what you wrote.
It comes off as the work of someone who is delusional.
People thought DeJong was a dirty player before this year started for past deeds.
These THREE incidents this year just confirm it.
Please no basketball bloggers…. football ones are already filled with egomaniacs who like to sniff the panties of internet fame at every chance, let’s not add this coitery of self-referencing douchebags to the ones we already have to deal with.
@Tim Lovejoy I have no idea what that last paragraph is supposed to mean. You don’t want basketball bloggers to exist? On a basketball blog, even?