The Art of Diving - Manchester United and Chelsea
Mourinho has said he would be disappointed if some of the players in tomorrow’s FA cup final were diving or trying to get others red-carded. Its hard to tell if he’s trying to fire a psychological shot across the bows of Ferguson’s Cristiano Ronaldo or whether he is trying to put pressure on the match referee Steve Bennett, …or even if he is genuinely sending a message out to both his players and Sir Alex’s that he’d like to see a good game of football between two great sides.
To be fair to Cristiano Ronaldo, he has cleaned up his act considerably. Yes he will occasionally trail a leg if a defender sticks his leg out, but in the main he is looking to showcase his better talents, those of taking on players, threading through pinpoint passes and scoring some magnificent goals along the way.
If anything, it is Chelsea’s Joe Cole and Didier Drogba who could be accused of playing up to the referee; Joe continuing to run with his ”vertical skydiving” routine, despite its lack of success, while Didier prefers to use the equally unsuccessful ”tucked in” roll, usually followed by a reverse roll with an occasional homage to WWF in the form of dramatic slapping of the turf.
Steve Bennett, trying to fill Graham Poll’s shoes (size “Clown”), has said made his view known, “There are some very clever players who instigate contact and make it difficult for the referee. Sometimes there’s contact but an exaggerated reaction to try to deceive the referee. It’s nigh-on impossible to be sure. I hope we keep on top of it.”
And Steve Bennett has a good point, players do try to push the letter of the law, and it seems that most players see this as a legitimate practice now.
Any given Saturday we see TV pundits telling us, “there was definite contact, therefore it was a penalty” regardless of how tenuous that contact was. We seem to have forgotten that Football is a physical game and that players are allowed to have contact with each other. Nowadays, if you brush against someone’s leg whilst entering the penalty area you are obliged to dive rather than continue your run, its not only the easy option but its expected!
Here’s hoping that Mourinho’s wishes come true, and that the game is an open one played in the true spirit of the FA cup, a game between two teams of honour. Not only will it provide a fitting spectacle for the New Wembley but it’ll help us all forget the tedium of the last cup game Chelsea were involved in …. at least this time neither of the teams will be trying to stifle the game and playing for penalties.
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2 opinions for The Art of Diving - Manchester United and Chelsea
Bald Man
May 18, 2007 at 8:07 pm
Subtleat the end there… Like the QE2
Sack the Juggler
May 18, 2007 at 9:16 pm
More like an iceberg I thought…..
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