A pass to the net

Barcelona are not playing their best football right now. In their three La Liga games at home so far this season, they lost one, won one and drew the other scoring just two goals in the process.

However, they can still produce magic moments. Argentina's World Cup 1978 winning coach Cesar Luis Menotti said that sometimes a goal is a pass to the net. Messi's goal yesterday is the best example.

Why we love sports

As a teenager, I never gave my parents any trouble apart from being a bit untidy at home and lazy for school, doing just enough to pass the exams. The latter would annoy my Mother and she could not understand why I spent so much time watching sports when I was not practicing them (football and rugby mainly, with some spells also of handball and tennis). She used to tell me that watching so much sport was a waste and will leave me empty. In truly teenager fashion, I never bothered to come up with a response but I am not sure I was able put up a reasoned argument (beyond “..because I enjoy it”, which is still fair enough).

Now I would said because I enjoy it and because sometimes sports can resemble arts in as much as unleashing deep emotions and also they can produce moments of magic and brilliance. Lately I came across some moment of brilliance (in these cases individual) that remind me why I love sports.

Exhibit A: Luciana Aymar’s Maradona-esque goal against China in the 2010 Women Hockey World Cup in Rosario (Argentina). The dribbling ability and stick-skills are out of this world. The commentary is legendary, is not the one of this goal but the one of Diego’s second goal against England in the 1986 Mexico World Cup.

Exhibit B: Kumi Yokoyama’s Messi-esque goal against Korea DPR in the 2010 U-17 Women Football World Cup in Trinidad and Tobago. The beginning is not so brilliant but then the way she passes from ‘foot-to-foot’ not once but twice before finishing is remarkable. The commentary is also very good!

Exhibit C: something very different from the previous two is Andrea Pirlo’s goal yesterday for AC Milan against Parma in the Calcio encounter. The way the ball travels without moving (bending, spinning) for such a long way before finding the top corners defies dynamics. As the commentary says: "The reaction from Ronaldinho says it all".

Diego Maradona’s sheer madness

We all love Diego, don’t we? No, of course not everybody loves him. His figure will be controversial for our lifetimes and beyond. I know I love him. I loved it to death as a player and I love now the character, the public persona (not so much the coach, I am afraid to say).

This week he went to Moscow for promotional activities. In the press conference, he put up again his case to regain the position of Argentine National football team coach and was duly – and fairly – criticized for the manner in which he did so. In this article (in Spanish) in La Nacion, Argentine newspaper, the columnist points to Diego’s lack of self-criticism, of ability to learn from past mistakes, of coherence and of respect for other people including Sergio Batista, the current interim coach.

But I am digressing here. The reason I love him now is for his sheer madness, his ability to amaze, to bring a smile to my face with his charisma and eccentricities. In Moscow, participating in a charity event, he had to shoot some targets to raise money the institute of hematology and transplantation in the Russian capital. He hit 10 out of 16 targets (although carrying an injury in his knee) and raising US$ 500,000. As usual, he put a real show.

The 2010 World Cup in South Africa was a painful experience for Argentine fans with a sad exit in a heavy defeat to Germany in the quarterfinals. But if there is something I would remember with joy, these are the “Diego Moments”. Via You Tube: Diego smoking a cigar in training, domesticating the somewhat controversial Jabulani ball and re-affirming his macho-condition in front of the press. Are you sure you don’t love him?

Messi and his passing abilities

When Lionel Messi started playing professional football his critics pointed to the fact that he only stood out due to his dribbling and raw speed. Moreover, he was regarded as no more than a winger. In time, he showed that he was more complete than suggested starting to produce assits, scoring all sorts of goals (left-footed, right-footed, remarkably with the chest and even headers!!!) and playing a false center-forward making plays for himself and his team-mates. This video shows this then-undervalued aspect of his game: his ability to produce assits which is on par with the best in this aspect of the game (Xavi, Riquelme, Ozil, Rooney, Guti).

Whilst he was regarded as "just a winger", I believed Messi would finish his career as a play maker behind a stricker similar to Michael Laudrup. As it is usual when considering Lio, time caught up impressively fast.