did you say : Before kick-off the stadium PA had played a gabba-speed remix of Love Will Tear Us Apart, while the City mascots Moonchester and Moonbeam did modern dance-style interpretative moves in front of a sign saying Abu Dhabi Find Your Pace. No doubt this was Ian Curtis’s distant dream when he bared his bleeding soul to the world.

A vast gulf exists between their presumption — elsewhere in Latin America they are seen as insufferably arrogant — and the little they have achieved as a nation despite a glut of natural resources and a highly educated population. Economically they have endured a half-century of progressive under-development. As a culture they have failed, and deep down they know it. Football is the one place where reality and their highfalutin sense of themselves meet. Only at football have they shone on the world stage. Success on the pitch sustains an illusion of greatness. Failure obliges them to look at themselves in the mirror and see their country for the basket case that it is.

But meanwhile back in Argentina : “Socialism in Argentina has shattered the behaviour of its citizens to such an extent that they lost to Saudi Arabia in the cup,” tweeted the congressman and broadcaster Bibo Nunes. “What you get with socialism/communism is a wasteland.”

archived 10 Aug 2022

O gelukkig maar. Wel jammer dat Iki niet werd geinterviewd voor dit stuk.

This is a fun read. A sample : Neymar ontbrak in zowat de helft van de wedstrijden, sowieso altijd als zijn zus jarig was.

Waarom het voetbal in Nederland so saai en betekenisloos is. Het gaat niet om leuk te spelen maar om je waarde op de transfermarkt op te hogen.