Playing the field

I fell asleep halfway into the Middlesborough v Everton match, but caught the goal that wasn’t (how unfair to the home team). I awoke at midnight, with the Man U v Arsenal match near completion. Kicking myself, I witnessed van Nistelrooy scuff the last penalty kick – one of a few such opportunities he wasted, I hear – and then saw him get knocked around by jubilant Arsenal players after the final whistle. That was also unnecessary.
On the other hand, there was probably too much diving and theatrics going on to make this match something to remember. Arsenal skipper Patrick Vieira was sent off in a tussle with the Dutch striker (second yellow card = red). In a post-match interview, Roy Keane wryly refused to comment on the incident, which was reminiscent of Beckham’s 1998 World Cup episode – where he lashed out with his foot at an Argentinian player who had downed him. I was still in England when that incident happened, and the next day one of the tabloids screamed, “Ten Brave Men and One Foolish Boy”. But of course, the lad’s managed to turn his life around and he’s doing well at the Bernabéu, so we’ll leave it at that 🙂
From this latest episode, we see that even the more experienced players are still susceptible to a ‘tit-for-tat’ mentality. It was a huge match, and expectations were understandably high. While the scoreline was disappointing, Arsenal have certainly improved since the 3-0 drubbing by Inter Milan. We’ll see how it goes with Newcastle on 26 September, UK time.
[Intriguingly, the Gender Genie has rated this post as ‘male’. How appropriate.]