As El Clásico divides and negativity gets redundant, new heroes arise
By Eric Beard
Doesn’t vehement hatred get kind of boring after a while? I mean, sure, if you want to let a little schadenfreude and anger out a couple of times a year, that’s fine. Everyone’s entitled to their fair share of irrational fandom. Maybe I’m not as creative as the Spanish press and [insert name of your Superclub]’s fans, but hatred gets kind of circular after a while. Millions and millions of fans watched the superb match at the Camp Nou on Wednesday night, where violence and drama were plentiful. They saw Messi assist and Ronaldo score. They saw a comeback that arguably could have overshadowed Liverpool’s triumph in Istanbul. The match, in itself, was fantastic, but the shoving, pushing, accusing, and general unabashed conduct that has become the status quo took over as the final whistle approached.
Unprofessionalism can be as equally entertaining as it is surprising, don’t get me wrong. But only if it’s unexpected (and relatively non-violent). I remember seeing an MLS playoff game in 2007 between the New England Revolution and the Chicago Fire. Michael Parkhurst of New England had been presented two awards before the match: the MLS Defender of the Year award and the Fair Play award. Within 20 minutes of kickoff, Parkhurst gave away a freekick, which prompted an inordinately audible Cee-Lo Green-esque “eff you!” for everyone in the stands to feast their ears upon. It was appalling, yet also hilarious given Parkhurst might as well have been the league’s Dalai Lama. When is the last time you heard say, “that Pepe, he’s amusing isn’t he?” When expected, unprofessionalism is quite simply as boring as it is disgusting.
With Spaniards consuming a half dozen Clásicos every year, stories elsewhere are welcome, yet difficult to be granted attention by the Spanish media. Two unexpected figures have been uniting Spanish fans, one though genius and one through sheer spirit. The first is Marcelo Bielsa, the manager of Athletic Bilbao, who has done remarkably well in his first season with the Basque club. Bielsa has earned the full support of Athletic fans, managing to get results through an enjoyable style of play. The second is a Spanish club based in Spain’s Segunda División B, Group 2 named CD Mirandés, who have managed to somehow transcend the boundaries of what is imaginable for a club that can only seat 6,000 in its stadium. Indeed, Mirandés did the ineffable by progressing into the Copa del Rey semifinals courtesy of an injury-time winner from Pablo Infante, Mirandés’ midfielder-turned-Spanish hero.
Source: afootballreport
Messi and Tevez beating Maradona in Soccer Tennis
It doesn’t exactly solve the “Who’s better?” debate, but it’s certainly a nice Friday Flashback. There’s nothing like seeing El Diego put the old boots on and duel with the best. With Enzo as his partner, Maradona took on Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez. Not an easy task. Unsurprisingly, Leo and Carlos swept their competition aside, but not without witnessing a few classic flicks (and complaints) from Maradona.
Source: afootballreport
Next week’s TIME Magizine: Global cover vs the U.S. cover
I am not amused, America.
Source: bearderic
Vintage Comic: Casillas wants to battle!
With the Spanish press doing their best to verbally abuse José Mourinho and a generally overwhelming vibe ahead of tonight’s Clásico at Camp Nou, we thought we would lighten the mood with one of Jon Horner’s vintage comics that dates back to the World Cup. This slide is from Jon and Oliver Sparrow’s World Cup comic entitled “Inspector Rooney and the Jabulani Japery”. You can look at all of Jon Horner’s work for AFR by clicking here.
Real Madrid fans, you better pray a wild pretty girl doesn’t appear alongside the pitch tonight.
Source: afootballreport
Poland’s 58,000 seat chocolate national stadium. That’s right.
If you’re hungry, look away. Poland’s new national stadium in Warsaw will host the opening match of EURO 2012 (only 134 days away!), along with two other group stage matches, a quarterfinal, and a semifinal. The stadium itself (third picture) is almost finished, but with all the typical hype surrounding a prestigious international tournament we found this delicious creation.
The chocolate model of the National Stadium was made on a 1:130 scale and weighs 400 kilograms. The designer, so to speak, is renowned confectioner Janusz Profus. Since we’ve already committed to a food post, we’ll let you know that it’s made of milk, white, and bitter chocolate. Oh, and the construction of the model started in December, only finishing less than two weeks ago. That, my friends, is being committed to food.
Source: afootballreport
