And we’re back to an international weekend of football, qualifiers and friendly’s being played all round. Some good action on display, some good sides and some good players. Okay we’re five minutes into the first game; can we go back to normal football please?
The whole idea of it is pointless;
No team wants to release their players for a friendly due to injury risks, no-one would rather see teams play in empty stadiums with no prize to play for. And no lazy, beer drinking burger eating Sunday session football fan wants to spend their day off watching Sky Sports broadcast Macedonia finding out if they have anyone in the country that can play football with a slight piece of skill.
And the part that literally sickens nearly all football fans, myself included, is watching two rival players, who you will see squaring up to each other and arguing when their two teams play, out socialising together, playing golf, laughing and having fun. Do they forget what happens when they face each other on the field? Just because of internationals they forget all about everything else. Someone needs to remind them that their team comes first, not their country in these cases.
A feature of international football is being able to make even the biggest football fan decide that other things are better. Sitting at home, turn on the TV to see what game is on, oh Armenia V Russia…I wonder if Lucy’s getting a date on ‘Take me out’
No wonder players pull out of playing for their country in games like this. What benefit is there? The top countries play the little ones, and a win means nothing, where a loss means a dip in morale. So why play when you have nothing to gain? The little countries hardly have players who are needed in clubs, and are likely to be fringe players or reserves, so they have the opposite effect on them, leading to many ‘surprise’ wins, and punters bets being ruined. “How can Portugal not beat Chile, they have one of the best teams in the world”… Oh wait, Christiano Ronaldo and the rest would rather play in the Champions League rather than turn up or even try in a game like that.
I hate international weekends. No football is good enough to watch for 90 minutes, and all you hear about is everyone complaining about ticket prices, how the crowd looks terrible and that everyone that is in the crowd looks bored.
I wonder why….
Simon Kermack
http://twitter.com/#!/KermackS