Monday, 15th September 2008
When the going gets tough..
The melancholic mood I am currently in, where it comes to sports, knows it origins to various results and news which have affected my favourite team. Sunday’s results were a confirmation that something is not functioning well at Milan. I hope it’s a short spell and things will get better soon. I won’t delve much into Milan’s bad patch as many more interesting things took place in the past few weeks that merit comment.
Being away from the island for some time, I had to spend the past weekend catching up with what happened and what was happening here and abroad. On the local cable network, I could view Malta’s qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup. Even though the result against Portugal was expected, I had expected something better, against Albania. At the same time a big well done should go to the South End Core. Their commitment and the efforts shown in the run-up to the matches and also during the matches are commendable. At least thanks to their efforts once we’re playing ‘home’ one can feel that we’re home when we play at Ta’Qali..
Elsewhere, Lippi’s second era as coach of Italy started under a good star. Luck helped his side to prevail without merit, against Cyprus. Against Georgia, it was a rather mediocre performance. Yet, he managed to get full marks, and in football that’s what counts. Domenech’s work in France might be under further scrutiny as his team failed to impress.
Fabio Capello’s work with England has shown very good results. He didn’t just instill discipline, but also injected confidence. The result against Croatia is a sign that confirms this. One has to see how long this effect lasts. Speaking about the English side, one can’t but refer to the sad news about Paul Gascoigne. The person who used to light up the pitches in the 1990s wants to be left alone and die in peace. It’s sad and it’s easy to blame the player for ending up in this situation. However, it’s highly unfair to blame only him. I guess this case should put the spotlight on the football system which has no welfare system for the players, especially for when they retire.
…the tough get going
All is set for the start of the Champions League group stage. Will Manchester United be able to overcome their defeat against Liverpool to defend the title they won in May? To date, the Manchester side has failed to impress yet. But about this we’ll be talking later on this week.
Splash and F1
For the first time in many years, there was no Ferrari driver on the podium of the Italian Grand Prix. The victory went to German Sebastian Vettel, who following yesterday’s result became the youngest race winner ever. It was Vettel’s weekend. He drove the Toro Rosso team car to Pole position and subsequently to victory. Toro Rosso is Formula 1’s smallest team. Apart from this fact, the other predominant factor during the race was the rain. It had a bigger impact during the qualifying session, than the actual race, however the slippery conditions of the track did have an effect on the outcome of the race and on the approach taken by the drivers and the teams. Lewis Hamilton’s ruthless way of pushing his adversaries on the side, almost outside track is simply not on even if it might be in line with the rules of the game.
In any case, at the end of this F1 weekend, Massa reduced the gap from Hamilton to one point, while Polish Kubica continued to consolidate his third place.
Congratulations
Well done to Aaron Ciantar and his team mate Angelo Tedeschi for the way they dominated the Powerboat P1’s SuperSport class. It’s nice to have our flag flying high. Good results in sports contribute towards the increased visibility of our country. Once again well done, you made us proud.
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