The Football Blog - Extra time
Yesterday's rant was written immediately after the Milan vs Barca clash and when I was in the Ronaldinho trance. Today's ranting comes after the second semi final first leg Arsenal vs Villareal, and .... no trance. This semi final had the other outstanding midfielder in Europe now - Juan Riquelme Roman.
The interesting thing about Riquelme is that he is not gifted with the obvious gifts that football stars are supposed to possess. He doesn't have Ronaldo or Henry's pace, Ronaldinho footwork, Viera's strength of size, or the magic which Zidane used to produce. For most of the game, he ambles aimlessly around the pitch and he definitely doesn't defend. What he has is an immense game sense / vision and the not so rare ability to string inch perfect passes. But when they are combined together he produces that rare ability to unlock defenses around the world. One only needs to look at how Villareal play. Most of the balls are passed to him and he has to think of ways to make them useful. In addition, he does sizzle in dead ball situations. As a result he had emerged as one of the top playmakers in Europe. Just witness Villareal's progression to the Champions League semis.
Since I am sermonizing on my favorite midfielders, let me add one more name to the list - Fancesc Fabregas. Now he is only 18 and has dazzled only for the last month or so, so you might say what is the fuss about? The fuss is that if at 18 he can marshall Arsenal past Juventus then, what would he be doing when he is 25? Honestly I have not seen enough of him to cut up his game like that of Ronaldinho or Riquelme, but what I see I like and am hoping fervently that he goes to the world cup with Spain and the whole world gets to see more of him.
Now to the prediction part. I predicted Barca vs Villareal. I stick to it. Arsenal perhaps lost a golden opportunity to seal the tie, when Cesar Arzo cleared an Henry strike off the line. They will go to the Madrigal, with a 1-0 scoreline and in my mind, that is not much of cushion. I think Villareal will reverse the deficit and set up an all Spanish clash in the finals.
The interesting thing about Riquelme is that he is not gifted with the obvious gifts that football stars are supposed to possess. He doesn't have Ronaldo or Henry's pace, Ronaldinho footwork, Viera's strength of size, or the magic which Zidane used to produce. For most of the game, he ambles aimlessly around the pitch and he definitely doesn't defend. What he has is an immense game sense / vision and the not so rare ability to string inch perfect passes. But when they are combined together he produces that rare ability to unlock defenses around the world. One only needs to look at how Villareal play. Most of the balls are passed to him and he has to think of ways to make them useful. In addition, he does sizzle in dead ball situations. As a result he had emerged as one of the top playmakers in Europe. Just witness Villareal's progression to the Champions League semis.
Since I am sermonizing on my favorite midfielders, let me add one more name to the list - Fancesc Fabregas. Now he is only 18 and has dazzled only for the last month or so, so you might say what is the fuss about? The fuss is that if at 18 he can marshall Arsenal past Juventus then, what would he be doing when he is 25? Honestly I have not seen enough of him to cut up his game like that of Ronaldinho or Riquelme, but what I see I like and am hoping fervently that he goes to the world cup with Spain and the whole world gets to see more of him.
Now to the prediction part. I predicted Barca vs Villareal. I stick to it. Arsenal perhaps lost a golden opportunity to seal the tie, when Cesar Arzo cleared an Henry strike off the line. They will go to the Madrigal, with a 1-0 scoreline and in my mind, that is not much of cushion. I think Villareal will reverse the deficit and set up an all Spanish clash in the finals.
posted by Dinkar at 3:26 PM
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