Comments on: The Night The Unbelievable Nearly Happened: United’s Difficult Victory in the World Club Cup

By: tom clark

tom clark — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:05:37 +0000

BD–Personal perspectives are always hard to measure. Here I thought LFC Fan to be the first commentator to share an objective view with us. And Marcio’s brief but highly relevant comment also bears reflecting upon. You however trashed the whole tournament in advance, so it’s hard to regard anything you’ve said since as more than a defense of an original extreme position. After watching a few interesting games in the early stages, I was ready to give the whole affair a chance, and in the end I’m glad I did. I find extended unwinnable arguments boring however. And this is definitely beginning to feel like one of those.

By: BD Condell

BD Condell — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 04:05:23 +0000

@LFC Fan

“But kudos to ManU for winning.”

After an outburst of typical Liverpool anti-Utd spite you finish with that! Classic!

P.S. Could this be Liverpool’s year??

By: LFC Fan

LFC Fan — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 03:29:34 +0000

I started watching the match with a great desire to see ManU humiliated yet I knew that ultimately they would prevail. But as far as gameplay, and despite the strong starting 11, ManU completely underestimated this game. It was clear since the beginning, their gameplay didn’t have the fluidity that we’ve come to expect from them. And they were tired to boot.
As for Liga they fought the best the could. Manso alone played absolutely fantastic. Probbably the best player on that pitch, in my opinion he completely overshadowed the likes of Roonie and Ronaldo. Of course Ronaldo’s antics were well received by the crowd, and they’re always enjoyable to watch, but when it comes down to it that’s really all he has! 1 on 1 moves. He’s being compared to Maradona and Pele… what a joke! When he can run half of the field with the ball, go around half of the opposing team and score then maybe i’ll give him some respect! for now he’s an overpaid kid who looks like a model and dives a lot! Besides, don’t we already have a male bimbo in football? Oh yea, forgot… Beckham is getting old!

But kudos to ManU for winning.

By: BD Condell

BD Condell — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 21:39:42 +0000

Tom, I don’t disagree with most of what you say in #15 but you have gone way off on a tangent from the main point.
None of that deflects from the fact that your assessment of the game was way off the mark.

Many people favour the underdog and many in Europe & England wanted Utd. to lose. Favouring Utd. does not by extension mean disrespect for Liga but the point that they were a weaker representative of SA than normal is fair.

They were a surprise winner and yes, they had to sell some players (documented in Tim Vickery’s piece I provided a link to in the first article I posted on the subject here) but that only underlines their status.

I still think the tournament lacks credibility and fans are very divided on this but suggesting that the various reasons given are nothing but arrogance or xenaphobia is unfounded in the majority of cases.

By: Richard

Richard — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:19:09 +0000

Having read the article and the comments. I’m not quite sure what Tom Clark’s point is.

Is it to say Liga de Quito are a top team in World football? -This has been established as they were in the FIFA World Club Championship Final.

Is it to say Manchester United underestimated their opponents? -Ferguson selected a starting eleven that was the strongest available.

Is it to say Liga de Quito gave Manchester United a good match? -This depends on how you define a good match. The scoreline suggests that the match might have been a bit dull. The statistics suggest that Manchester United dominated Liga de Quito. From a viewers perspective, the match wasn’t end to end only until the last 10 minutes. From my own perspective, Liga de Quito did not create many chances and played defensively. They could have been 3-0 down at half time were it not for some good goalkeeping. Their only chances came from a set-piece in the first half, and a few long range efforts. The Gamba match was better in my opinion.

Is it to say the English media underestimated Liga de Quito? -The quality of English sports journalism is variable but to say all were misinformed about LDQ because of a few errors from certain media outlets is incorrect.

Is it to advertise and suggest that Tom Clark rates goal.com and their player world rankings highly? -It is possible as the article first refers to Manso as the 3rd best midfielder in their rankings; and later in the article refers to him as the 3rd best midfielder in the World.

By: marcio

marcio — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:14:54 +0000

After winning copa libertadores, liga de Quito had to sell two of the its best players to some spanish teams….Can you imagine what would have been the result if manchester had sold cristiano ronaldo and rooney before this much for economic reasons?…Think about it!

By: tom clark

tom clark — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:05:38 +0000

BD–Thanks for the link to the Tim Vickery blog. Of all English media sources, Tim is by far the most authoritative writer on South American football (not least of course because he lives in Rio de Janeiro). He points out, as I did in my first piece on the WCC (”A Second Look”, posted some days before the final) that Liga’s success in the Copa Libertadores ironically cost them something, as that competition showcased the brilliant Joffre Guerron; Guerron then left for Spain, and too the industrious midfielder Enrique Vera went to America of Mexico City. Tactics then dictated a defensive approach against United, which, together with the great work of Cevallos, almost but not quite saved the day for Liga. We all know that that conservative style of play is not as entertaining as the kind of open game United can play–and which Liga also showed themselves capable of in that wonderfully exciting Libertadores final against Flu, which saw ten great goals scored over the two legs. I hope some will look at the clips of those games and see what that smallish, unheard-of-in-Europe club could do when playing on its own continent against relatively comparable opposition (though again, Liga was the “mouse” and Fluminense the “lion” in that battle, making their victory all the more remarkable). But I’m afraid it’s finally a losing cause to expect any sort of fair consideration or respect out of “fans” who simply have their minds shut against anything they are not preconditioned to respect. And by the way, how is it Tim Vickery appears to actually be well-informed about South American football even though employed by the BBC? Does this mean it’s really possible for a reporter to dig a little further than the garbled PR “information” on a FIFA website that incorrectly states the first name of the best player on a club contending for a “world championship”?

Also: I will admit to having a soft spot in my heart for “mouse” and “minnow” clubs everywhere, when they come up against the corporate mega-giants of world football. But I suppose rooting for the underdog has latterly become as anachronistic as actually researching your articles. So I definitely don’t share Zizou’s “mouse” problem (but would be willing to recommend an exterminator in case this problem arises again next year, when yet another Euro mammoth may well be forced to a slow crawl to cope with yet another obscure but intelligent, brave and tenacious South American side.)

By: Usman

Usman — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:13:59 +0000

@ King Zizou
You seem like a bitter liverpool fan? remember the mickey mouse treble?

By: dave stopher

dave stopher — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 12:38:48 +0000

How on God greens earth did Manchester nearly loose this game!!

By: Abdullahi

Abdullahi — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 12:32:18 +0000

I love all your jist can you kindly let your readeers know when the fifa world player award will be out.