Tag Archives: lionel-messi

Friday musing – Arsenal, Sepp Blatter, Adam Goodes & Adam Voges

Chris Barwin HillsWell it was great to see Arsenal salute in last weeks FA Cup final and what a comprehensive result. I don’t think Aston Vila had a shot on target for the entire game, whereas the Gunners put four past their goal keeper and he also made several good saves. This now makes the Gunners the most successful club in FA Cup history and whilethe Cup doesn’t carry the aura that it once had, it is still a significant alexis-sanchez-arsenal-burnley_3223813piece of silverware. The goal from Alexis Sanchez had to be seen to be believed and it certainly caught the Vila goal keeper by surprise. I thought I would not see a better goal for quite sometime, until I saw Lionel Messi’s slalom effort in the Spanish Cup final, unbelievable!

While we are on the World Game, it was no real surprise to see Sepp Blatter re-elected last Friday, but it was a big surprise to see him resign by Tuesday. He clearly has caught wind of further Unknown-1investigations which may involve him and yesterday we hear that Jack Warner from Trinidad & Tobago may be tipping the bucket on him. With 14 arrests already this organisation is clearly toxic and it will take someone of extreme integrity and resolve to sort it all out.

I was not going to weigh in on the Adam Goodes situation, but his behaviour last Friday night probably demands some comment. I have no particular issue with him doing the dance during the indigenous round, but it was clearly directed towards the Carlton supporters in the crowd. I have not booed Adam Goodes and nobody can say with certainty the booing is not racist, but for me it is his on-Adam-Coodesfield demeanour, coupled with his ability to escape suspension for issues that other players get weeks for which I don’t like about him. He is self congratulatory and a bit of a “look at me” character, you notice it at the ground particularly after he kicks a goal, he actually goes looking for his team mates to give him high-tens. He is also not the first and won’t be the last player to get booed consistently and most of the time those players that do get booed are absolute champions, like Wayne Carey and Diesel Williams. I think Goodes is a fantastic player and I don’t think the Hawthorn crowd that booed him would do so for racist reasons given they have at least three indigenous players in their ranks, including Cyril Rioli who is just about their most popular player.

It was great to see a 35 year old debutante make a century on debut over night in the West Indies. I saw Adam Voges playing in a domestic one-dayer about ten years ago and thought I had just seen the next Adam Gilchrist. Well that didn’t quite pan out as I expected,Unknown but he finally got his chance at test level and scored a remarkable century given no one else in the team could get past 39 and that was the number 11. This reminiscent of Mike Hussey and Chris Rogers coming into the team in their 30s and making a strong contribution.

Have a great weekend!

Friday musing is back talking Mick Malthouse, Jock McHale, soccer….

Chris Barwin HillsWell this weekend we have one of the longest running records in VFL/AFL football broken. Mick Malthouse becomes the coaching games record holder and he breaks a record that has stood for 66 years.

There are a few points that are worth making when contrasting the careers of both men. The McHale record included five seasons as a Unknownplaying coach which at the time was not uncommon. This bolstered his record, but it should also be considered that he also coached in an era when the seasons extended to only 18 games (plus finals).

Unknown-1Without trying to denigrate Malthouse’s achievement, three premierships and a winning percentage of 57% pales a bit compared
to the McHale record of eight premierships and a winning percentage of 66%. To get to the record on the back of one premiership every ten years is a remarkable performance and I cannot see this record being broken in my lifetime.

It is also remarkable when you consider that two North Ballarat boys have broken two of the longest standing records in VFL/AFLUnknown-2 history with Malthouse taking the coaching record and Tony Lockett taking the goal kicking record from Collingwood’s Gordon Coventry.

While I am on the AFL, I watched the Anzac Day game and again the Essendon side has fallen into the trap of trying to play dry weather football in the wet. Everyone knows that when you get the ball you kick it as long as you can and get to the next contest. I blame the coaches.

I know there is little chance of any further representative games being added to the very busy international soccer calendar, but I was Unknown-3thinking the other day that it would be great to see a team representing the EPL playing a team representing the Spanish Primera Liga or the Bundesliga or Serie A. There is always a bit of chest thumping as to who has the best league so why not have a competition where they play each other. Imagine the Spanish team with Messi & Ronaldo in the same team. Who wouldn’t pay money to go and see that?

Have a great weekend!

Friday musing – World Cup, Tour de France………

Chris Barwin HillsWell the biggest sporting event in the world, the World Cup has now concluded and I got it wrong with Argentina and Messi failing to ignite. Germany deserved to win in my opinion and the goal from Gotze was an absolute ripper.

We then move towards one of the more low key events being the Commonwealth Games. To me the Commonwealth Games can be equated to the old AFL pre-season competition. It is relevant, but not the main game.

With the impending retirement of Lenny Hayes, the question becomes who will now be a lot of people’s favourite player from an opposition team. Well I have always admired Hayes for the same reasons I admire Jimmy Bartel. They are both extremely skilful players who do not seek out the accolades for themselves and do not try and help the umpires umpire the game. My nomination therefore is Bartel, but I probably had him as my favourite player from another team anyway.

The final comment for the week would be the potential for Richie Porte to “do a Bradbury”. With all the retirements due to injury it would appear that Porte has a very good chance of taking out the Tour de France if he can get over Vincenzo Nibali. For someone who was supposed to be the second man to Chris Froome he has been given the chance and I will be keeping my fingers crossed for him.

Have a great weekend!

Friday musing – World Cup, Brazil, Germany, Argentina & more….

Chris Barwin HillsWell the World Cup is coming to a conclusion and my predictions for the quarter finals got the result wrong with the Brazil versus Chile game, but I am betting that Brazil are now thinking they should have lost that game and not faced the humiliation of being trounced 7-1 by Germany. My son’s U12 team lost 5-0 on Sunday and I thought their defence was poor! Well Brazil took it to a new low. I saw the first two goals and went to brush my teeth and missed the next two! An amazing result. Were the Germans that good or the Brazilians that bad? I favour the latter, the goals they conceded were from very poor defence more that inspired play from the Germans. Germany executed very well, but if you take the first goal, how could the Brazilians allow Mueller to sit in the box unattended with no one between him and the goals? The Brazilians are still trying to answer that question.

Now we move onto the final and while Germany will probably start favourite on the back of the rout of Brazil, I think the Argentinians will win with some inspired brilliance from Messi.

As a Bomber supporter I was rapt with the win over Port Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval last Saturday night, but I was very disappointed that Brendon Goddard was cited by the Match Review Panel and then agreed to take the week on the sidelines. Yes, it was a cheap shot to bump Kane Cornes well off the ball, but he didn’t hit him high and Cornes continued to play the game. Pt Adelaide got the free kick and that is where it should have ended. How many times in games is there bumping, pushing and shoving off the ball with players going to ground trying to milk a free kick? Every game you go to, there is some of this byplay. Will this be set as a precedent? I doubt it, but this decision has certainly robbed the Sunday afternoon fixture against Collingwood of some interest. Goddard has been in great form since Jobe Watson went down and he has shown some real leadership. I can only think he is carrying an injury and thought the week off would do him good, otherwise why would he and the club not challenge the decision?

Speaking of Kane Cornes have you ever noticed that his christian name and surname are both agricultural crops?

Have a great weekend!