Last Sunday football did not go home…instead it boarded on a plane heading for Rome along with tons of testosteron filled up men whose favourite colour happens to be mine. I do prefer them in their official gala costume and there were moments over the last few weeks that I used less nice language when I saw the Azzurri at work. They are not angels on the field. I would rather describe them as ‘ragazze con un caraterre bigotte' . They happen to be at times rather cheeky and they master on a field ‘comedia dell’arte’ a skill they use when they are in pickle. But all of this is rather my humble personal opinion and in the end they took the cup home…and that is all that counts in the end….hmmm…does it?
Now Stallie has never ever in her life been totally been mesmerised by football but due to the fact that her father and bother followed football she was forced to watch along or go to bed early and read. So I then decided to give football a chance and as result over the last four decades I have been picking my favourite teams and players when the big tournament were on. Pirlo, Figo, Henry, Grün, Clijsters, Vertonghen, De Bruyne and Lukaku are a few of these men who played themselves into my heart when it comes down the game of football. And none of them is or was perfect on the field either.
Some of them had or have also off days and would do the oddest things out there that you did wonder what in the world they were thinking at the exact moment that they just had to deliver…Yes, I have been yelling in front of TV screen and since a few years I rather will iron during big matches instead of go in overdrive mentally. It does keep myself sane and not having to face the humiliation. It works for me to watch most of the highlights and read up on the teams on social media and in newspapers and magazines.
Sunday night I did not watch…my son did and yes he was cheering on a team that he granted the cup just a tiny bit more than the opponent. And to be honest I did even hoped that football was not coming home or at least not this year…it has to do everything with timing and the moment that I saw the English fans going totally wild around Wembley station I just could not rhyme it anymore with what I had seen on the field taking place when the team of Southgate entered the stadium and had been in action. It just did not match up.
The English team has never been my favourite (please forgive me you all very lovely British/English friends and coworkers)…and I do partly blame a certain player by the name of David Platt for that. He was the one who scored that one specific goal during the 1/8 finals against the Red Devils during the World Cup in Rome. It caused national trauma for a very long time and to be honest due to that one goal I do know so well what defeat of a national team can feel like to a fan. It is as if the world comes to a total stand still. Sentences like:’It is just football’ or ‘Next time we will win!’ don’t do the trick for a while and the after math of such a moments will linger always around when a national team faces the ‘enemy’ when playing for a big award. There is even a headline out there that described that day for our national team as:’ 26th of June 1990 the day that the gods were blind.’
Tells you enough what impact of this all had on the Red Devils and their fans. After all the Red Devils were considered a good team and had the potential to go far in Rome. After Mexico we had proven that we were ready to face anyone and our players played together as one big family. What could possibly go wrong…wel it did go wrong…and it did hurt…it still hurts…(yeah..I admit…it still does!)
The thing with football is that it seems to bring people together at certain moment that you not easily do so. The game unifies many that sometimes not even fit into the same room or have nothing in common with. Suddenly it seems that many things or prejudices matter less and that lots of issues vanish into thin air. It is as if the message that many wish to send out is that the national team is a reflection of who we aim to be and what we for stand for. Those eleven men, their surplus and foremost their coach are a bit like a shadow cabinet and when they score it as if all the fireworks go off and the screams and joy that can be witnessed resonates with so many of us. We feel reunited and all we see at the moment that our favourite team scores are the good things in our life and we can then for a split second forget all our sorrow and worries.
Especially in times a such where we still walk on a thin rope and many of us still have not bounced back due to COVID-19. Surely it helps then to find something that can bring you some joy and happiness. Yes, there are people who do not care about football and even will tell you upfront that they hope that their national team will loose. After all some of them have got a monthly pay check with a number on it that most of us can only dream of. ‘They are spoiled brads who do not know what seem to have lost the connection with the real world out there.’, is said more than once by many as you must know yourself. You will always find that one friend or acquaintance who just does not care and refuses to let football take over their minds and souls. Fair enough and none of us should be forced into liking something or someone. It does not work that way as you must know by now yourself.
But like I stated here above 2020 and even 2021 have and are very tough years and we all are longing for some distractions, fun, joy, an unforgettable experiences that can lift up our spirits and give us a mental boost. That the Delta variant is having a rave party in many countries including the UK I just wish to keep out of the mix for a second but it is hard to deny the numbers don’t look good…they don’t. Personally I just hoped that the fans of the Three Lions that were on the streets of London would just behave and make not that much havoc. But from what I then got to see on the news and on social media did not every single one of them seemed to share my definition of fun and light entertainment.
Now more than 24h later we know the outcome of the match and one glance at my Twitter TL or Facebook I see that what happened last night once again made certain people go into a state of mind that just proofs that football is war and that you always look for a scape goat. It was the former national coach of the Netherlands Rinus Michiels who said once ‘Voetbal is oorlog’, translated ‘Football is war’. After all the sport has more than once caused troubles in paradise and not only on the field.
Last Sunday a filled up Wembley stadion hoped to see their Three Lions bring football back home. After all the English consider them the inventors of the game and it would be quite something to win a big tournament within a year that many things need to start to look a bit brighter and make us believe that miracles can happen. After all the English team had not started out as the favourite to win the title. Neither did Italy but I do remember very vividly the year that Greece took the cup home and that most of us had never heard of one Greek player before they started to play well.
That the Italians seemed to be their good old selves was in the first couple of the moments of the final game not a real issue for the English because after all they has scored already after only two minutes. It is the fastest goal ever scored in a final game of a Euro-final. The sweet reaction of the Royal prince George and the fist bump Tom Cruise gave David Beckham were very fitting reactions to that goal. It was on its way home…it was in reach. But then we all know that a match lasts 90 minutes. You first have to get through those minutes in one piece before you can hold up a cup. Ask any tennis player what sometimes happens when they have got two match points…suddenly it all goes wrong… Nadal…Federer…the Williams sisters…Clijsters…John McEnroe…Murray…they can tell you what can still happen. Your opponent suddenly gets wings and suddenly the tables are turned.
Well turns out that an Italian player by the name of Bonucci was the one who made it all look less sunny and then the Italians just kept running and demonstrated what they are made of. Not that the English have not demonstrated what they are capable of but the thing is that the team that yesterday did beat England found their heartbeat and never gave up…they kept believing…every single second of this tournament. Including the ultimate stress test/shoot outs. It was when these were called many of us know that this game will be finished off in a rather uncanny manner. Did not Pele once said: “A penalty is a cowardly way to score.”
What happened next many have analysed already in newspapers and on radio or TV. That now a 19 year old football player is being blamed together with two other young players, and even discriminated because of that is not what football should be about. Southgate must have had a deja vue when all of this took place in front of his eyes. After all he has been there and has been reminded over and over again that what happened when he missed.
Still…it is easier said than done…One of our former Red Devils remembered what happened at the World Cup in Mexico in 1986 when they were playing Spain and had to decide the game with shoot outs. At that moment our Red Devils had already done the what many had considered mission impossible by winning from Russia. Still a young Belgian with Italian roots by the name of Enzo Scifo shortly before that memorable match had ended up in a shit storm at a certain moment. The press went big time after him and within the team there was a lot going on that we as mortals were not aware of. It was at that tournament that Scifo found out the hard way how the media works when it came down to football journalism. He even admitted at the time that he was not aware that there were issues.
Our Red Devils were at the moment fully aware of the road they had already been on…not us the fans…we only got a glimpse to see…all that happens within a team also remains within a team…even without a virus the team becomes their bubble or rather their family…and like in any other family there were issues…Our Red Devils had to overcome internal issues and fight, run, kick, defend, aim and score together…they found that out on the way to that semi final in Mexico.
Enzo Scifo recalls the following of the game against Russia:’I could hardly believe it. The Russians had played in the first round impressively well and were one of the favourite to win the title. Nobody considered us to go through to the next round and therefor we played as being liberated. And then something happened on the field that I had never experienced before. We talked to each other, we listened to each other, we fought for each other, we discovered each other. In Leon we became a real team.’
That is what I exactly do hope that Three Lions have banked up…because Quatar is calling and Scifo says that the ground work for doing well four years later in Rome as a team started during that game…all the experience added up. Enzo Scifo was the youngest of those five to take a penalty the day they then played against Spain. All five went in, nobody missed…it was unexpected but it happened. And no not all five of them were the most experienced ones…remember Enzo was 20 at the time.
If you then wonder why Southgate did not force more experienced players on that list than there are even good reasons… reasons that we not necessarily need to understand. He still stands behind every single player he has under his wings and that is the same for Mancini. Good coaches believe in players and push them forward and especially the younger ones. No if you think that you can prepare for shoot outs then there is at least one person who does not agree with you and said once: “Every coach wishes to see the game being ended after 90 minutes, because personally I do think that there is not a single way to prepare yourself for a penalty kick.” This is a quote of the German national coach by the name of Joachim Löw.
Personally, I do think that Saka, Sancho and Rashford are not to blame…they tried…they fought…they ran…they aimed..they listened…they overcame a lot to be who they are today and have got a lot of ambitions even after that crucial kick. After all, let us please keep in mind that the Three Lions who started about a month ago are already so much more than we will ever be able to imagine. They became a family out there but more importantly within. Yes, the cup ended up in Rome but let us please make sure that that all the young players who have experienced their first big tournament can stay true to themselves and can grow within a family that we wish to be part of. That stands for all those things that we are proud of and where our differences are overcome by what we feel is worth to fight and stand up for or take the knee for.
Also I believe sincerely in what Enzo Scifo said about becoming an international team…after all he is still within his heart Italian… and Italians consider family holly...and he still remembers that game in Rome that David Platt crushed all the dreams that Belgians had at the time of bringing home that one cup. He now dares to state that even tough they lost that day he is still very proud of what they did as a team at that tournament and that they played their best football as a team. We will never ever be able to take that feeling away from him or his team mates. Never ever!
Even the critics said that the team the Red Devils had in Rome was better than the one in Mexico. One Italian newspaper even called out one of Scifo his former teams where he never really got to play at his full potential:’"Hai visto Scifo, Inter?" The ‘little Péle of Tivoli’ will surely understand so well what those three young lions go through at the moment. As a kid he was mocked by boys of his age because of where his family came from. He also stated later on in his career that his sportive successes have helped him to be integrated. Honestly that you need a sport to do well before you are integrated and accepted is to me already a bridge too far.
One look at the Wikipedia page of the former Red Devil will tell you what journey he went on after Mexico and I do sincerely hope that all the young promising players or athletes will find enough power to keep aiming high wherever they will end up playing for what every nation they do and whatever color…and tons of those things that people sometimes use to define us. And yes, on that page you will read about things that did not work out so well for Scifo. At this moment very young athletes are putting together their career path and others will then write about those on a Wiki-page..in fact we write the story together of successful people and words do not come for free. You own your own words and you do have to live up to the meaning of those words.
Therefor, I salute thee, Rashford, Sako and Sancho…the cup is in Rome but forever I will think of you three when I see the emblem of the Three Lions. Fierce young lions…brave young lions…powerful lions with a golden heart. And I beg you England to take good care of what you have within because it will bring so much joy…after all we are always heading for home…in the good and the bad days…and to these three fierce three athletes I wish to say:’You found your home base let nobody else tell you otherwise…you found a family…relish, savour and fore most score within that family…they have got your back…every single step of the way…home sweet home…’
P.S.: One of the most fitting quotes I came across while diving into quotes for this piece was this and it even can be used when we mortals watch football games: “I don’t understand it, coach.You are a football specialist, you gain successes, but I am never put me on in the base. Still I am here far out the best foreigner, I can do everything with the ball.” The reply was then:”Louis, boy, you are right. But there is a problem: you can indeed do everything with the ball, but you never have it!’ (Louis Van Gaal and Guy Thys)
