| 04.06.2008 |
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| There are many things which set the modern soccer star apart from the players of the past. While flashy sports cars and model girlfriends have been trappings of the game's success for many years now, the power players hold over their own destinies, the rights they have to move freely in an open employment market and the income they rake in from external endorsements would spin the heads of the legends of old. But one thing more than any divides the modern era from soccer's bygone age: players tend to show their emotions a lot more. Soccer players have always been prone to public displays of their feelings. In fact, soccer without them would be a rather drab affair. I remember celebrating a goal I scored in a minor local league match like I'd just won the World Cup. My celebrations prompted a rather large, bear-like defender to dourly comment: "It's not the effing San Siro, you know." And of course he was right. It was some windswept municipal park, playing host to 22 fat, sweaty blokes who'd tumbled out onto the threadbare turf and dog droppings after a night on the booze. But he was missing the point: soccer is all about emotion. Anything which equates winning and losing with life and death can't be about anything else.  However, one must wonder if things have not edged past the boundary of decency in recent times. In olden days, players would shake hands after a victory, maybe even risk a pat on the back or a manly hug if they were feeling particularly fruity. Nowadays, if a winning team doesn't indulge in a scene reminiscent of a National Geographic documentary on rutting deer, there are rumors of rifts within the camp. The idea of watching Berti Vogts and Uli Hoeness trade French kisses after the 1974 World Cup final is not only highly disturbing but impossible to imagine in that day and age. Okay, they leapt around and embraced - they had just become world champions after all - but it was all very innocent in comparison to what goes on now. Maybe it's because winning comes with such huge financial rewards in the modern game that this current trend of faux copulation is the ultimate celebration of more wealth to come. Then there's the losing. A defeated team 30 years ago would trudge off the field with hardened features; eleven stiff upper lips heading for a session of quiet private reflection. In the modern game, if you don't have a complete mental breakdown and cry like a little girl being denied a new Bratz doll, then you are a traitor to your team and a heartless mercenary for whom the badge on your shirt means nothing. With so much at stake this summer, we're almost certainly in for a good show and I for one feel that all the emotion should not go unrewarded. Maybe along with the Golden Boot award for most goals scored at Euro 2008, there should be prizes for most outrageous winning celebration and most uncontrollable collapse in defeat.  Usually we would look no further than the Italians for the winners of both but since their highly-strung striker Filippo Inzaghi has been left out of the squad, their challenge for both titles has been seriously undermined. The frequently moist Inzaghi becomes unhinged in most situations and would surely be a shoo-in for both awards. His absence, however, leaves the field wide open. Portugal could step up a level this year and make a claim for both titles. Fond of the kind of team pile-ups which make swingers parties look tame, a huge writhing mass of Portugeuese victory could win them the celebration prize - and if his rapidly expanding ego hasn't eradicated the need to weep copiously in defeat, Cristiano Ronaldo is always a good bet for some theatrical tears if they get knocked out. Maybe we're in for another shock and an outsider takes all the titles. Who knows? Perhaps the Czechs are fond of celebratory nudity and the Croatians are a bunch of little cry babies. |
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