the real football

Here is an interesting occurrence from a game in Europe not long ago. Costin Lazar, a player from Rapid Bucharest, was tackled in his opponents penalty area. The referee determined that it was an unfair challenged, called the foul, and awarded Rapid a penalty kick. Have a look at the video and judge for yourself.

Fair play is definitely encouraged, at least by word, in the game of soccer (calcio, futbol, futebol, fussball, voetbal, etc…) but did the player here take it too far? Isn’t this, in fact, dissent? At what point is dissenting the referees decision OK?

There are many other questions about this that come to mind, and I am just not sure where I stand. I applaud the display of sportsmanship by Lazar, but wonder what the impact to the game would be if players started doing this with situations in which they deem the referee to be in clear error in their favor, all over the pitch. We already see players lobby and try to fool the referee; would they then try hard to lobby each other to overturn the referee’s decision, rather than having a go at the referee? Would that be any more sporting than dissenting the referee’s decision?

Ach, nothing to really worry about, I believe; rather, just an exercise in thought. The likelihood of players consistently doing this to their opponents advantage is almost nil, especially in a game in which their team needs a goal. That brings up one last question.

Would Lazar have done the same thing if his team had been down a goal in this game, rather than having the game in hand?

Well, ESPN Soccernet is reporting that Milan may be close to making a deal with LA Galaxy of MLS for David Beckham. The Galaxy have valued Beckham higher than Milan have been willing to part with to this point – will the Rossaneri improve their offer enough to seal the deal by sometime next week?

It is interesting that Milan have improved their offer, after Beckham’s mediocre performance in the weekend derby with Inter. While he has made a positive impact in most of the matches he has played for Milan, Beckham’s performance in the derby, and that he looked to pick up a slight knock in the match, left me wondering whether Milan would still want him in their side.

There is no doubt that David Beckham brings quality work and service from both set pieces and in the run of play. However, his abilities to defend at the level required in Serie A – especially since he is primarily on the field at the expense of Gennaro Gattuso – may not add up to a stonger unit on the field for AC Milan. It seems to me that with the likes of Kaka, Pato, Pirlo, Ronaldinho, et al, that the Rossaneri have good punch in the attack, and must be careful not to risk losing some of the grit that a player like Gattuso brings them.

With Maldini, at age 40, being the class of their center backs, and their commitment to allow Zambrotta and Jankulovski the freedom to attack, Milan need solid work out of at least a couple of their midfielders when the opponents have the ball. Certainly Ambrosini provides some of that, and Pirlo reads the game well enough to intercept his share of passes, I am not sure that there is the clear ball winner in their midfield that will allow them to take a serious run at Inter, or even at the UEFA Cup.

With a deal looking more certain, I guess we are likely to find out. I suspect that, if the deal is completed for Beckham to move permanently to Milan, that we might see Ronaldinho sacrificed at least at times to allow the insertion of Gattuso on a more regular basis.