Inventive Football

Five Reasons Why Manchester City Shouldn’t Forgive Carlos Tevez.

1 - The man depicted above is the reason why Tevez has been relegated to the bench in the first place, forget his willingness to leave over the summer or quaky relationship with boss Roberto Mancini. When a fellow Argentine like Sergio Agüero can do no wrong in front of goal and plays with such dynamism, we shouldn’t be surprised Tevez has been reduced into a selfish grump that refuses to come off the bench. 

2 - Mancini will come across as being weak as a coach if Carlitos is let off easily. What he did was extremely disrespectful and perfectly thought out. There are no excuses for it and Roberto said things were done between himself and the striker. We’d advise he keeps his word. Sell the over-fortunate fool to Corinthians or whatever team wants him in January. 

3 - Manchester United are getting the last laugh. City thought they’d gotten one over their city rivals when they signed him but now red Mancs are more than happy to ridicule them. 

4 - We’ve run out of excuses, this article was a joke. Keeping him will disturb team chemistry. Pretend we’re serious in saying that even though the guy hardly plays anymore. 

5 - Balotelli probably dislikes Tevez, we don’t have evidence of this… We simply feel it. In any case City can’t risk upsetting their Italian whizkid. Not until he is ready to waltz off to Milan.

Career Profile: “Ronaldo.”

“Memory is deceptive because it is colored by today’s events.”

Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima is a man who revolutionized the game of football, a recognizable face in every street corner in the world. The Phenomenon should be accredited for transforming it into a business model. Nike owes him for the rest of his days. The man used his incredible God bestowed gift to bring joy to billions around around the globe.

Ronaldo arose from very humble beginnings in Brazil’s Bento Ribeiro neighborhood, those who knew him recall Ronaldo having a profound affection for the game of football from an early age. Never in his wildest imagination could he have pictured going on to accomplish what he has several years on.

After turning heads as a 16 year old with Cruzeiro back in 1993. Ronaldo’s 57 goals scored in 59 appearances earned him a spot on Brazil’s 1994 World Cup winning squad. Though he did not come off the bench such feats ensured European giants came knocking. Romario persuaded the youngster to sign on for PSV Eindhoven. The Dutch fans absolutely adored the cheetah fast Brazilian as his 66 goals in 71 matches won them the 1995 Dutch Cup. Ronaldo also finished off as top scorer of the league that season. His style of play was distinctive, he flew past defenders with two to three incisive fades. He was an expert of finding that crucial inch of space to score in tight spaces, impossible angles or instances where it seemed unthinkable. Defenders quaked at the sight of such a player moving towards them. It wouldn’t be long before bigger European sides declared interest. A solitary season later on FC Barcelona moved swiftly and brought him to Spain to fill the void left by the departure of Romario in attack.

In Spain Ronaldo also became an instant success, scoring 34 goals in 37 matches, some of which are still recognizable today take his goal Santiago De Compostela on October 12, 1996 for instance. During his ten months at FC Barcelona Ronaldo led them to Copa Del Rey, Spanish Super Cup and European Re-Cup success. Given all of those accomplishments Ronaldo was elected World Footballer of the Year two consecutive times. He’d officially announced his arrival to everyone. 

Contractual disputes with the Catalan side meant ‘Il fenomeno’ was ready to move once again a year on, this time to Italy with Internazionale where he actually first earned the nickname. Only 21 years old when transferred in for a record fee of £19 million but a noticeably physically strong, and exceptionally gifted Ronaldo caused a frenzy in the peninsula. 60,000 Inter fans packed the Meazza to witness his debut against Manchester United. He quickly adjusted to the Italian game and became Inter’s feared marksman scoring from the spot, taking and converting free kicks, even captaining the side by the end of his first season. Ronaldo won FIFA World Player of the Year for the second time in 1997 whilst also collecting the Ballon d’Or the same year. While the many goals (49 in 68 apps) he scored failed to win Inter a Scudetto from 1997-2002 when he left, Ronaldo did help them to Uefa Cup success against Lazio in 1998. Torturing Nesta throughout the 90 minutes and scoring ‘that’ delightful solo goal (his teams third) that’ll forever remain a YouTube wonder in our earnest opinion.

On November 21, 1999 in a league match against Lecce, Ronaldo felt his knee buckle and was forced to abandon the game. Tests later revealed he’d ruptured a tendon in his knee that would require surgery. During his first comeback on April 12, 200 he only played seven minutes in the Copa Italia final fist leg before aggravating the problem. Many saw it as the end for Ronaldo, but his reluctancy to give up but fight on instead and come back stronger is what separates the phenomenon from others. He put himself through many months of intense rehabilitation after two operations, then lead Brazil to World Cup triumph in 2002. Under the scrutiny of an entire nation, who wanted Romario as primary striker since Ronaldo was considered unhealthy and done for football; the striker silenced all of his critics with 8 crucial goals that not only ensured he finished as top scorer but helped win Brazil their fifth World Cup. Highlights for us were his eye of a needle finish against Costa Rica, the solo run plus toe-poke finish over Turkey and his sliding opener against China. A man who had gone through so much was playing with a vengeance after heartbreak in France 98’, and deserved to find the net twice against Oliver Kahn in the final. Ronaldo was finally back and we sure desperately missed him!

On top again and elected best footballer in the world as a result of his last World Cup performance, Real Madrid controversially signed Ronaldo much to the nuisance of arch-rivals Barcelona. 46 million euros was the reported amount club supremo Florentino Perez splashed to have Ronaldo complete his Galacticos project. It was money well spent considering his jersey sales broke all records on the very first day. Fans in the Spanish capital never ceased to chant Ronaldo’s name. Placed on a team alongside the likes of Zidane, Figo, Beckham, Roberto Carlos amongst others, he was not intimated and still managed to fare relatively well by his standards sealing his first season with 23 league goals and the Championship title in 2003. At Madrid he also won the Intercontinental Cup (2002) and Spanish Super Cup (2003). Ronaldo is mostly remembered at Madrid for the hat-trick scored against Manchester United at Old Trafford, knocking the English giants out of the Champions League and earning a standing ovation for the Man Utd faithful. Madrid were in contention for the tremble during the 03-04 season until Ronaldo got injured and league form crippled. He still managed to finish league top scorer with 24 goals and won the Pichichi award. With the arrival of Ruud Van Nistelrooy in 2006 Ronaldo grew out of favor at Madrid due to injuries, weight issues and eventually moved on to A.C Milan.

In between that move came the 2006 World Cup, Ronaldo and the whole nation of Brazil dreamt of winning their sixth title. The team looked strong, but lacked focus. two of the leading stars Kaka and Ronaldinho struggled to replicate their club form with the national team while Ronaldo looked visibly out of shape but still ended up as the teams leading scorer with four goals. Therefore it came as no surprise when Brazil were knocked out by the boot of Thierry Henry in the quarter-finals. France continued to be Brazil’s nemesis. Fact that he now became the top scorer in the history of World Cup finals with 15 goals was no consolation to a distraught and visibly troubled Ronaldo.

Upon arrival in Milan, Ronaldo looked to move on from the lackluster tournament. He started brightly and seemed to be enjoying himself again, scoring twice and assisting Kaka in a 4-3 win over Siena in his second game. During his first season Ronaldo scored seven goals in fourteen league appearances, taking some of the burden off Gilardino and Inzaghi whilst they were busy in ensuring the club won their seventh Champions League title that season. The Phenomenon was cup-tied and unable to take part. Ronaldo also became the first player to have scored for both Inter and Milan in the Milan derby. Zlatan Ibrahimovic accomplished that feat last season but the Brazilian was the first. The next season did not go so well for Ronaldo. His only good performance came against Napoli where he scored twice in a 5-2 victory which also served as Alexandre Pato’s debut. It was the first time Milan fans saw the three Brazilians on the pitch together. That trio was dubbed famously dubbed Ka-Pa-Ro. On February 13, 2008 Ronaldo suffered another severe season ending-injury while challenging for a cross against Livorno in a 1-1 draw. The all too familiar snapshots of grimacing pain had returned. In total he scored only nine goals for the Rossoneri in 20 appearances. 

Ill advisedly we all feared it was the end of Ronaldo again, but then only a player with his remarkable mental strength could daringly prove us wrong so often. He returned to Brazil in late 2008, trained for a year with Flamengo to recover then completely blindsided them by signing a one-year deal with league rivals Corinthians. Whether Flamengo never offered to tie him down contractually or not is anyone best guess… That’s the way things turned out and before we knew it Ronaldo was back in action. He made the first league appearance on March 2, 2009 but only scored his debut goal four days late in a Campeonato Paulista match against Palmeiras. Ronaldo helped Corinthians win that competition with 10 goals in 14 games. Afterwards he lead the club to it’s third Copa do Brasil (his second as player) by defeated Internacional with an aggregate score of 4-2 thus earning a spot in the Copa Libertadores. He finished the league campaign with 12 goals in 20 games. In February 2010, he signed a contract with Corinthians that would keep him with them until the end of 2011 when he actually hoped to retire. 

Unfortunately his physical condition didn’t allow for it, and around exactly a year later (February 2011) after the club had crashed out of the Libertadores and fans turned on the players; Ronaldo officially announced his retirement from football. Stating the following: “It’s very hard to leave something that made me so happy. Mentally I wanted to continue but I must acknowledge that I lost to my body.”

We tried our best to appropriately summarize the career of whom we view as the greatest pure striker ever. No other footballer helped inspire the name ‘Inventive Football’ more than Ronaldo. 

Legendary Figures PT I: “San Marco Van Basten.”

“A man endures misfortune without complaint.”

There were many captivating and striking figures in A.C Milan’s much discussed Gli Immortali/ Invicibili. (The Immortals/ Invincibles) era. A side put together by ambitious Milanese entrepreneur Silvio Berlusconi in 1986 was quietly set to take the footballing world by storm after the arrival of three Dutch masters (Van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Rijkaard. Subsequently marking the rebirth of Milan as a dominant European force.

I say rebirth because we oft forget about Il grande Milan during the 1950’s and the Swedish trio most commonly referred to as Gre-No-Li short for Gunnar Gren, Nordahl, & Nils Liedholm, that brought relative success. Without overlooking the first European Cup won against Benfica in 1963, a time period in which Helenio Herrera’s Inter were dominant domestically. 

Enough of that historical lesson, on to San Marco. Van Basten caught the eye from his early days as Sandro Mazzolla (Inter) recalls wanting him for Internazionale after witnessing Marco perform in Milano hosted youth tournament back in the late 60’s. Fast forward a couple of years, it came as no surprise that Milan wanted him seeing the collective awards he led Ajax to, (2 Uefa Cup Winners Cups, 3 Eredivisie, and two KNVB cups) to be precise.

While the teammates around him at Milan were, for the vast majority all World Class; he was the player that stood out most to me. Grace and elegance defined on the pitch, excellent with both feet and strong in the air given his tall and languid body type. Yet none of those features quiet summarize what Van Basten was all about. The remarkable thing about him ultimately were the numerous goals and that mystical way he scored them for club and country. Each a masterpiece, rendition of technique that was only mastered after years and years of practice.

Van Basten scored vital goals at decisive moments, take his marvelous and quiet unbelievable strike against USSR in 1988. Spanish giants Real Madrid, Barcelona amongst others sides all over suffered from the boot of San Marco in crucial encounters whether domestic or European. Van Basten and his Milan teammates won their first Scudetto in 11 years during his first season at the San Siro, he later became Capocannoniere: league top scorerin 1989-1990 a season where Gullit ensured Milan defended their first European Cup won against Steau Bucharest the previous season with the iconic striker scoring his teams first goal. 

A.C Milan’s 58 match unbeaten run had it all to do with MVB’s inevitable goals. So did the three Scudetti and three European Cups won during his spell there.

All in all he was a true legend of the game and in my eyes the only ultimate striker to have played the game. Many are great but few accomplished what he was able to in an injury plagued career which forced him to retire at the tender age of 29, by then Van Basten had already scored a stunning 227 goals overall, won the European Player of the year award three times, and was also already awarded two Golden Ball awards. Remarkable feats considering he had his unfortunate, health related circumstances. 

You almost wonder what could’ve been, had it not been for the troublesome and repeated knee injuries that not only forced him to retire ahead of time, but robbed Marco of a chance to accomplish more for club and country. Van Basten is one player who undoubtedly had ‘Greatest Ever’ potential. 

Nothing noted in this piece can do such a legend proper justice. Closest thing to him in the modern game quiet frankly doesn’t exist. To sum it up we’re all mere mortals in comparison.