Tevez: Martyr or mercenary?
Mon Jun 15 08:56AM
The summer's biggest transfer sagas are dropping like flies. Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Barry - all have come to pleasingly premature conclusions.
But there is one farrago that will go on and on like Fidel Castro at an open mic evening.
Fittingly for a player who runs around tirelessly without necessarily achieving much, the fight for Carlos Tevez should rumble on for most of the summer before delivering any sort of end product.
Of course, Manchester United could have avoided all of this if they had coughed up the best part of £30 million at any point over the last two years.
ED has long said that it is too much to pay for somebody who was far from an automatic first-choice forward, and had a worse strike rate than an Australian Twenty20 batsman.
But if you know you are going to lose Ronaldo, then the Argentine starts to look a lot more indispensable.
Whether or not you believe Ramon Calderon's claim that a deal was done before Christmas, it seems United knew full well Ronaldo would vacate the Old Trafford dressing room this summer to be replaced with a pile of used £50 notes twice the size of Paul Scholes.
Given the likelihood of Ronaldo leaving, you'd think United might have done a better job of making nice with Tevez and South American football's answer to Colonel Tom Parker, Kia Joorabchian.
United's reluctance to meet an inflated asking price is understandable; less so chief executive David Gill's public assertion that Tevez is overpriced.
Gill competence and professionalism is a million miles away from his blundering predecessor Peter Kenyon, so it was surprising to see him drop a clanger of such magnitude.
For all his application on the pitch, Tevez is a prickly bugger off it, and now seems set to snub any United offer in order to snap up a £140,000-a-week deal from Manchester City.
Everybody loves Tevez, most of all United fans, so he has come in for very little criticism during this saga.
But how will people if he ditches his adoring fans to join their cross-town rivals, and goes from Champions League to mid-table in order to secure a 75 per cent pay hike?
Suffice it to say that Barry or Ronaldo could not get away with it.
- - -
The Confederations Cup's bid not to
be seen as a Mickey Mouse tournament got off to a rocky start yesterday.
The opening game saw hosts South Africa play out a God-awful goalless draw against Iraq, in which the highlight was Bernard Parker inadvertently keeping out an effort from team-mate Kagisho Dikgacoi.
Parker said: "When the ball hit me, I just wanted to drop dead on the spot." Given who South Africa were playing, he is just lucky nobody obliged.
That was followed up by a comical mis-match between Spain and New Zealand, in which Fernando Torres scored a hat-trick within 17 minutes.
The European champions raced into a 5-0 lead, and only a reversion to national stereotype meant the Spanish decided that passing the ball to within an inch of its life was more important than compiling a cricket score. And, on reflection, they were probably right.
Today's action should be marginally better, with two pretty good teams (Egypt and USA) against two very good teams (Brazil and Italy) and an important leveller - nobody is trying particularly hard.
- - -
QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: "I love it when people jeer me. I love to see the hate in their eyes, to hear the insults. It doesn't bother me. It's true lots of people hate me but there are even more who love me and who support me. I feel bad only when I play badly. Fortunately, that rarely happens. I still have a long way to go. I really want to re-write the history of football. I am aware I'm already among the best of the best but I want to continue to write many more beautiful pages. I have nothing to envy Lionel (Messi) for. I don't compare myself to others. I am Cristiano Ronaldo - and I can win more medals than anybody else. I don't like to relax. The fans want to see a great Cristiano Ronaldo so I try to never disappoint."
ED really doesn't need to say anything...
FOREIGN VIEW: Flamengo, Brazil's most popular team, suffered their second successive heavy defeat as they crashed 5-0 at previously winless Coritiba in the Brazilian championship.
Beaten 4-2 at Sport Recife last week, Flamengo were quickly in trouble when Welinton put through his own goal after seven minutes.
With former Internazionale striker Adriano barely noticeable in attack, the visitors pressed the self-destruct button again four minutes before half-time when goalkeeper Bruno allowed Marcos Aurelio's shot to slip through his legs for the second. Tempers then flared as Airton (Flamengo) and Ariel (Coritiba) were sent off for fighting.
Bruno Batata added the third almost immediately after the re-start and scored again just after the hour when Bruno failed to hold Renatinho's shot.
Leonzinho completed the rout in the 76th minute after Bruno offered another rebound, as Coritiba finished with nine after Felipe was sent off.
"I feel ashamed," said Flamengo coach Cuca, adding he would not offer his resignation.
"The easiest thing to do would be to ask to leave. But that would be an act of cowardice and I'm not going to do it."
COMING UP: England get their European Under-21 campaign under way this evening against Finland - we will have live coverage if England v Finland from 17:15 UK time, then Spain v Germany at 19:45.
Plus the Confederations Cup continues, which is just super. Brazil v Egypt is at 15:00, with USA v Italy at 19:30. We've got the lot.
And if that were not enough, there's a decent-sized cricket match this evening - England v West Indies for a place in the World Twenty20 semi-finals. That is live from 17:30.
So, all told, you have absolutely no excuse for not spending your entire afternoon and evening staring vacantly at your computer screen for a text version of sporting events.
2
From doobie.doobiedoo on Mon Jun 15 08:59AMthis guy is a lot better than ronaldo..i hope that now he won't be given away anymore and he'll play a lot more to prove his qualities..him with berba will make a great couple..and who knows maybe they'll win the cl in front of real..
From al3csandr1oan on Mon Jun 15 09:06AM3
From doobie.doobiedoo on Mon Jun 15 09:06AMI like the fact that CR is a subject of mockery for ED. It's great to see stupid people being mocked, shame that doesn't happen in my country, here ronaldo is envied by most and admired not because of his football talents but because of his wealth, arrogance and ego. Great job ED.
From captain_pimp99 on Mon Jun 15 09:10AMRonaldo must be living in another world. Barry money will regret leaving Aston villa. Am a Arsenal fan. Manchester united will find it hard to replace ronaldo anyway. He has proved to be a match winner. Mark Huges wont last this season in city. Weldone ED on ur analysis of Sa and Iraq match. U made my day.
From amco90 on Mon Jun 15 09:11AM"It's true lots of people hate me but there are even more who love me and who support me" = Not Likely
From who_are_ya_85 on Mon Jun 15 09:14AMGreat quote from Ronaldo. What a self-absorbed a**ehole. I hope the good people of Madrid have the stomach to put up with the drivle that ladyboy has been subjecting us to.
From scrubbertheman on Mon Jun 15 09:17AMi think its probebly the agent whos the mercenary tevez work rate second to none 100% every time and for the full 90 mins only wish tottenham could attract players of his standard
From brianstringfellow on Mon Jun 15 09:19AMomobobo
i think Tevez is underrated and undervalued.. and to think money was the issue.. he will earn his pay at Man City be valued as such.. even Real Madrid rate him highly and all.. its a pityhe has to go.. bein a Chelski fan and all ..one would think Kenyon would be involved in the transactions and try to lobby the Maestro but .. hey .. its Chelski.. buying Aguero seems feasible now that Villa prefers Madrid to the blue londoners.. quite pricey if you ask me and he's better than CR7..
The howler of the year goes to the southAfricans who had a goal blocked of the line by their striker.. just shows how stupid their squad is .. and how we might now see good hosts next year.. such a pity an African team is this wack.. such a pity.
From donshaker4life on Mon Jun 15 09:23AMTevez ain't worth more than £ 12 million.
He's a squad player, 3rd choice striker only.
2OLEGEND he ain't.
Let him go to the council house, if he has any say in it anyway and sign a decent striker who can actually score.
From nikyates on Mon Jun 15 09:26AMAnother fabulous CR quote. Gimme a 'T'....
From danny_saks on Mon Jun 15 09:35AMIs anyone actually remotely upset that Ronaldo has left Man U? I know i'm not.
From jhepplestone on Mon Jun 15 09:35AMAre you guys getting the confed cup in UK , im Aus , I have Foxtel Sports 1 , 2 ,3 , ESPN and Setanta and NO confed cup , Im a kiwi so love the All Whites , and Im use to bad performances cue All Blacks mindless capitulation to France. Both teams evenly matched , 360 caps to 387 caps (ABs) , but Frenchies had more game breakers. Worst opening test for the ABs in many a year , but back to the football , no coverage on any of my channels. F.ucking mindless ICC T20 on foxsports 3 three , I hate that @#$%.
From csinclair366 on Mon Jun 15 09:44AMHow many times does Ed mention cristiano ronaldo in its articles? Is Ed infatuated or just plain jealous?
From iheanyiokere on Mon Jun 15 09:45AMwhile self assured smug arrogance goes against the grain in britain and ireland the latinos love that kind of character , so he'll probably be a big hit in spain! if he was made of chocolate the lad would eat himself...
From chrisw7892000 on Mon Jun 15 09:46AMTevez is just an unlucky bloke i would say. Unlucky that he is owned by tri-party?
Who would pay for his permanent move? Manchester city? yeah rite.. But then the problem did not stop there.. If Tevez wants to go to other clubs, who would pay the Three Bad Wolves?
From wenzhang76 on Mon Jun 15 09:46AMYaaaaa , just ckecked SBS , thet have confed cup , go ALL WHITES !!!!!
From csinclair366 on Mon Jun 15 09:47AMHow many times does Ed mention cristiano ronaldo in its articles? Is Ed infatuated or just plain jealous?
From iheanyiokere on Mon Jun 15 09:48AMwe are getting the games in confed cup on BBC3
From chrisw7892000 on Mon Jun 15 09:50AMWell, wasnt the friday's ED better??
Atleast there were loads of things to comment on...
Today's ED is, well, PP-ish..
Quoting the Obvious..
From rock.bratt on Mon Jun 15 09:51AMTevez is ok but has to chase the ball too much.
From doobie.doobiedoo on Mon Jun 15 09:52AMShocker as Peugeot win Le Mans.
From doobie.doobiedoo on Mon Jun 15 09:53AMBigger Shock as Murray wins on grass.
From doobie.doobiedoo on Mon Jun 15 09:54AMEven Bigger Shock as England beat India at cricket.
From doobie.doobiedoo on Mon Jun 15 09:54AMGood luck to England U21s tonight
From doobie.doobiedoo on Mon Jun 15 09:54AMwhat the hell is CR saying, he's too fcking proud. i used to like b4 even as an arsenal fan , but his attitude is irritable. messi is obviously a better footballer even though CR won the awards last year and he knows that.
From ruff_knightx on Mon Jun 15 09:56AMPost 20 , yeah live in Aus on SBS , always forget that SBS has football , I watch theor coverage of the Champions League as ESPN's picture and commentry team are rubbish i.e. Tommy 'back of the old onion bag ' smith
From csinclair366 on Mon Jun 15 09:57AMMurry will be lucky too win Wimbledon , Federer is high as a kite and full of piss and vineger to win his 15 ?? grandslam
From csinclair366 on Mon Jun 15 09:58AM'South American football's answer to Colonel Tom Parker, Kia Joorabchian'... lol nice one ED! Tevez just needs someone to love him tender I guess not easy though when you look like a Hound Dog!
From fbf.forever on Mon Jun 15 10:00AMReally good site... it contains crash news, Wrecked cars, live accidents, funny videos, super cars, test drive, show your ride... everything! Come Now to
www.wreckedcars.7p.com
IT is definitely worth visiting it!
From lorinmoney on Mon Jun 15 10:01AM
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