We’ve been here before as United fans.
Whenever England crash out of a major tournament some how it’s someone from our rank’s fault.
Beckham kicking out at Diego Simeone in ’98 was why England lost to Argentina on penalties, Phil Neville is still villainized for conceding that penalty against Romania at Euro 2000 and Ronaldo got Rooney sent off in 06 rather than the fact Wayne stamped on Carvalho etc
And I as well as Stevie Wonder can see this one coming a mile off.
After another passionate performance against the Platinum All Stars on Monday so much is being made of Wayne Rooney and his ‘inability’ to control his temper. Joe Cole, John Terry and Steven Gerrard have all commented, a load of legends have waded into the debate of whether Rooney can keep his cool and lead England to the World Cup and the newspapers are having a field day.
The latest I have seen is referees being given a list of English swear words to catch Rooney out if he loses his rag yet it seems like a big fuss over nothing.
Rooney has always been commended for his passion for the game. When ever this topic has arisen previously the response is usually the aggression adds to his game and if he curbed it, it would change the player he is. Due to the way Rooney throws himself into his work it’s often said Rooney is one of a few players that if he had to play the game for free he would but the second it looks like it’s going to damage England’s World Cup hopes it has caused a storm.
The more we make of it over here, the more we bring it to the attention not only of the rest of the world who like the USA could go out of their way to target Wayne but also the refs who will be placing him under extra scrutiny.
Wayne has been able to use his aggression properly all season even though there have been times when it could possibly boil over. I think he will at the World Cup too but if it does become a factor I would just like people to know in advance the English media have played a role in it too.
All of this talk over Rooney’s temper just shows how much dominance the “continental” European- Latin based culture dominate the culture and disciplinarian outcomes of the sport.
Football/Soccer is a very hard sell in North America mostly due to competition from other established sports, but the shameless diving really hurts its progress as well. What Rivaldo did in ’02 may have been a small laughing matter in some parts of the world, but over here it seriously set the sport’s reputation way back and was easily the biggest headline from the tournament. What did Fifa do about it? Nothing as far as I’m aware.
Even in ’06, many around the world saw Zidane as a goat for what he did. But I can assure you Materazzi would’ve been knocked out if he pulled that over here. Beckham/Simeone was seen in virtually the same light.
Essentially cheating and insulting (don’t even get me started on bribery) are given a blind eye, but heaven forbid an honest player’s passion brims over a bit too far.
Any time there is a contentious matter on the field, the physical team will be seen as the guilty party rather than the sly, provoking, diving team. Everyone is waiting for Rooney to be punished for shoving another player or swearing at a ref, curiously there is little mention of the danger of known divers and agitators being penalized.