This is a thread on my experience at the Camp Nou yesterday. Everything, from my interaction with the locals to my thoughts on the game, and a lot of self reflection as well. Hope you enjoy (because I did):
@borgixprxdeli Crazy to think the narrative used to be Ronaldo was an incredible leader and Messi was weak and spineless. Time puts everything in its right place.
Pragmatism (sadly) rules in international football. Big man up front, pacy wingers, big men in midfield & centre backs who head everything away is all you need.
With Giroud:
- Euro 2016 finalists
- 2018 World Cup winners
- 2022 World Cup finalists
With Benzema:
- 2014 World Cup quarterfinal exit
- Euro 2020 round of 16 exit
Benzema’s injury might be a blessing in disguise for France. Everything is more obvious with Giroud up front, he gives everyone clearer roles & more obvious actions: if you’re wide, cross it, if you’re central, use him as a target man.
Morocco’s coach is a huge managerial talent who’s being wasted by being restricted to national team football. He should take a job at a big 5 league while keeping his current job.
Few things in life have made me feel the tragedy that is the passing of time like Messi at this World Cup. It’s over, man. It’s his last one, he’s said so himself. There’s nothing left after this. We’ll never see anything like this ever again.
Don’t ever sub Messi off, let him walk around the pitch, let him sit on the grass if he wants to. Every touch of his is sacred, every second that passes is one second closer to the end of his career.
The “you have to respect other countries’ cultures” narrative is bullshit because said cultures are always archaic and either target minorities with sexist & homophobic laws, or downright murder dissidents.
FIFPRO is shocked and sickened by reports that professional footballer Amir Nasr-Azadani faces execution in Iran after campaigning for women’s rights and basic freedom in his country.
We stand in solidarity with Amir and call for the immediate removal of his punishment.
Of course this doesn’t always happen, but a simple Twitter search will show you a huge % of Ronaldo fans also look up to these very rigid, aggressive characters who spread dangerous messages, and as a result, you not only have 14 year-olds repeating them, but fully grown men too.
Now that Ronaldo is done, I hope the generation of aggressive, misogynistic fanboys he bred finally moves on with their lives instead of wasting their time defending a man who’ll never acknowledge their existence.
Problem is, once you decide to mould yourself around Ronaldo, you indirectly enter the culture of like-minded, egotistical individuals. So now you not only look up to an egomaniac like Ronaldo, but also to a misogynist like Andrew Tate or a far-right nutjob like Jordan Peterson.