by THE END OF AN ERA?
On Wednesday, France Football unveiled its list of nominees for the 2019 Ballon d’Or, but cruelly omitted Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi from the men’s list, as neither appeared alongside the likes of former Charlton winger Ademola Lookman, former Leyton Orient loanee Harry Kane and former Rotherham goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez. Instead, for the first time since 2003, CR7 and Messi are left wondering what to do with an empty diary when the October party rolls around.
How come these two football legends are being criticized for not being up to par? Has no one explained to France Football Ronaldo’s 44 goals in 45 matches for Al-Nassr in 2023-24? It is a real failure for the Saudi Pro League, which some consider to be a retirement home where residents are paid handsomely to walk the pitches. But not everyone can thrive in such a climate: just look at Jordan Henderson, who managed to walk the pitch at Al-Ettifaq for six months in front of 7,000 spectators. Henderson struggled so much that he had to retire to the warm bosom of Ajax.
In 2024, Messi has already scored 11 goals in 12 games and is still in top form at 37. It must be said that he captained Argentina to the Copa America victory, but he was only able to play on the international stage thanks to MLS, which prepared him for the rigors of facing Ecuador, Canada and Colombia. Messi was even called up to play in an All-Star game, which is not something many people get to do. Sure, he was exhausted and couldn’t play, but that’s not the point.
The sad truth is that age catches up with everyone, even the social media warriors of disgrace, more imbued with acceptance than anger, knowing that it’s the “end of an era”. They couldn’t keep crushing decent teams forever; sometimes it’s nice to open the scoring in a 1-1 draw with Al-Raed, or to beat a Nashville team. For these guys, it can’t all be about the Big Cup, the Premier League or La Liga, they have to pass the baton. And the next generation is ready to take over, don’t worry about that. There’s the young gun Granit Xhaka, 32 later this month, Roma’s Mats Hummels, 36 in December, and the retired Toni Kroos. It’s impossible to keep up with that pace, even for the best of us. Messi and Ronaldo are the best of enemies – you can’t have one without the other. Everyone knows it.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It is true that it is a relatively small number compared to the almost 780,000 matches that are played each year, but we are not going to trivialise it. We have a problem and we want to eradicate it. I do not rule out that we will one day stop using assistant referees” – Jan Dirk van der Zee, president of the Dutch Football Association, admits that the Dutch Football Association is considering removing the offside law in amateur football, due to the increasing number of matches being stopped for violence due to disputed decisions – last season, the figure was 1,864, an increase of 58% over the last five years.
DAILY FOOTBALL LETTERS
After watching Hampton & Richmond Borough score a late winner at Weymouth in the National League South on Tuesday night, at the end of the game the whole team went to the away end and shook hands or waved to every single travelling fan. There were only 14 of us, but you won’t get that from Chelsea, that’s all I’m saying” – Tony Whybrow.
“I for one am all for dynamic pricing (yesterday’s quote of the day). As a Partick Thistle supporter I look forward to my £22 ticket being sold on match day for £1.75, with a pie thrown in for good measure” – Peter Allan.
Wondering if early kick-offs could become a habit (full e-edition of yesterday’s Football Daily). I recall in October 2005 Manchester City played Everton at the obscene hour of 11.15am on a Sunday morning. A stupidly early start for travelling fans, with the vagaries of Sunday buses and trains, no pubs or bars open before kick-off and while people complain about the lack of atmosphere at the Etihad these days, there was a very good reason why there wasn’t one that day. Needless to say, it was all done to fit in with pay TV so as not to clash with the afternoon’s ‘Super Sunday’ (Arsenal v Birmingham, plus Liverpool v Chelsea)” – John Caley.
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