Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Rooting interest

As faithful blog readers know, I picked Man U to win. However, at the pub where Martin gathered our little group, I let it slip that I'd interviewed some of Chelsea's players when they were out in California for preseason training last year. I mentioned a few specific players who I thought were nice and polite, since not all sportspeople are. Jose Mourinho, for example. Interesting and intelligent. Polite? Not particularly. Nice? Not really. Or perhaps he just feels no burden to treat the press decently.
Somehow, mentioning a few players who were cool translated to others thinking I was pulling for Chelsea, and all through the rest of the match, I was getting stick from the Man U fans.
When it came down to penalties, I was nervous in a strange way - I honestly didn't care who won, but I didn't want the players I like to miss.
Carlos Tevez - one of my favorite Argentine players (please don't miss, Carlitos).
Michael Ballack - Nice guy. Really.
Ronaldo - As soon as he stopped in his run-up, I knew it wasn't going in. That's a cardinal sin on PKs. Trick hesitations are fine, but not outright stopping. Not saying he deserved it, but, well, don't stop.
John Terry - If there was anyone I didn't want to slip and miss, it would be Terry. He's just a gentleman.
I was a little sad for him when the game ended. I didn't care about Anelka missing, but I was bummed for Terry.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sad for anyone in Terry's position tonight, but a gentleman? For England, yeah before he was made captain, off the pitch, that's nice to hear, but I've seen him act like a thug for Chelsea too often. (And I'm not one to overly complain about a "strong challenge" as the UK announcers call anything short of a attempted murder.) The twins are cute though.

BTW, Tevez was brilliant in extra time when everyone else was falling over. He's one of my favorite players too.

A.C. said...

I've never met Tevez, so it's his on field play that I like, but I have met Terry, and that's why I consider him a gentlemen. Quite a lot of the Chelsea players followed Mourinho's lead in acting superior to everything, but Terry took time out to speak to the media when it wasn't required and to wave and greet U.S. fans as well. He didn't have to do that, and I think it was a kind thing to do.

Frank Macomber said...

Yeah, as a relative neutral, I would have preferred to see Ronaldo kicking rocks instead of Terry.

Anonymous said...

I can see that better now he's been off the pitch for a few hours. Everything he's said in the press as captain of both Chelsea and England has been very classy. And it was heartbreaking to see him last night -- courageous for a defender to take that 5th spot and the pitch was sliding around all night, you could see that he slipped.

Ronaldo has needed to stop that stutter step for some time now. Surprised his shots have never been disallowed.

Appreciate the intensity both teams brought to the match, certainly kept my heart rate up.

Anonymous said...

I like Terry, but I hate Chelsea. That said, I definitely felt bad for Terry, but was very pleased with what it gave us (ManU supporters).

However, if there was anyone that I didn't want to see give the cup to us, it was Anelka. I'm also a supporter of Les Bleus...

Oh well, I'll take the double!

Anonymous said...

we were watching here at work and once i saw terry stepping up i yelled out "i bet you he slips" and sure enough he did. i told all the white guys i'm a mexican brujo

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Just saw the tape of Terry spitting on Tevez' neck and there's no opening my mind about Terry again.