Soccer is a basic game, and despite our glorious leaders doing all they can to complicate it in its essence it is a very easy game. More to the point, as the saying goes: Football is simple, 22 players kick a ball around a field, and in the end Germany wins. This week we’ve seen a little of all that.
RED RULE GONE WRONG
According to FIFA Rule 12, a player will be sent off for “denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity to an opponent moving towards the player’s goal by an offence punishable by a free kick or a penalty kick.” On two occasions during Matchday 7 of the Champions League we saw this wonderful rule in action. Manchester City’s Martin DeMichelis brought down Lionel Messi of Barcelona, and Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny fouled Bayern Munich’s Arjen Robben.
As a result both City and Arsenal faced not only a penalty but also the remainder of the match with only 10 men. Of course Bayern Munich would miss their spot kick, while Barca scored theirs.
Regardless of the outcome of these two penalties, the fact that the home sides also had to face the rest of the game down a man is tremendously harsh.
Surely in FIFA’s infinite wisdom it can see how unfair it is to punish a team twice for one incident. The rule needs to be amended. Perhaps inside the area a yellow card plus penalty is sufficient, while outside the box a red is fine.
If I’m being pedantic, I should also mention that in the Robben incident, I’m not even so sure the ball was in such a position where it can be considered a “goal scoring opportunity.”
BEAUTIFUL BAYERN, BEAUTIFUL BARCA
Regardless of any controversy, the two better teams won these two matches. Neither Barcelona nor Bayern Munich were in top gear, yet they had enough to overpower very good opposition. Arsenal and Man City had nothing to be embarrassed about, played nose-to-nose with their opponents for large parts of each match, and should take away some confidence that they were able to do so. By the way, the very fact that I am saying that about Man City after a home contest (considering their ridiculous record at the Etihad this season) speaks volumes about just how great Barcelona still is.
THE SPECIAL ONE TOO MANY
I am a Jose Mourinho fan. I listen when he talks, and in the absence of Fergie, the Premier League can thank the footy Gods it has him around to provide some colour. However is he getting a little carried away? Is Jose slowly morphing into that brilliant puppet that I miss so much? It seems that every time he opens his mouth at a press conference nowadays he is spewing some contrived strategic drivel. In small amounts that contrived strategic drivel is delightful entertainment; but every presser is too much.
In Mourinho’s defence his most recent aside focused on a rebuttal. His labeling of Arsene Wenger as a “specialist in failure” was merely in response to a salvo fired by Wenger. I do like it when Wenger gets surly and goes on the offensive, but on this occasion given his recent bravado Mourinho should have taken the high road and refused comment. Chelsea play Arsenal next on March 22nd. Leave it to then.
STRETCHING THE TRUTH
Is it too early to say we’re in the stretch run? Let me know, I’m itching to use the term.
James Sharman hosts Soccer Central, weeknights on Sportsnet World and Sportsnet ONE at 7 pm ET. Follow him on Twitter.