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Calcio Debate: Rino Gattuso Doesn’t Deserve To Go To World Cup Just To Be A Cheerleader
Goal.com’s Carlo Garganese doesn’t like American sports, nor does he like the idea of Rino Gattuso going to the World Cup with Italy as a cheerleader…
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Mar 25, 2010 2:00:00 PM
By Carlo Garganese
Okay, I confess from the outset – I have never been a big fan of American sports. Except the NHL that is, but let’s just put Ice Hockey aside for the sake of this argument.
Basketball? Well, my enjoyment of the game began and ended with the classic eighties film Teen Wolf starring Michael J Fox. I just don’t get the thrill of watching a bunch of 7ft giants running around a little court, and the crowd getting excited when they dunk the ball into a hoop a billion times a game. Team A scores, then Team B goes down the other end and scores, then Team A scores again, then Team B scores again. Repeat and repeat again until Team A wins 88-86.
American Football? Well really this is a sport for unsophisticated brutes who just want to clobber one another. I appreciate some of the tactics, but it is far too stop-start and has been annihilated by in-game advertisements. The Superbowl? Well, it is more about the ‘show’, and Janet Jackson’s nipple shield, than it is about the football. I have no time for sports that sell out to business.
As for baseball, well aside from the fact many of its recent stars have been drug-shamed I just find it way too simplistic to get me excited. A pitcher throws the ball in a straight line, and the batter attempts to hit the ball. Where is the variety?
Forgive me for my ignorance, as there is one thing I do actually love about American sports: the cheerleaders. And for obvious reasons, too.
By now you are probably wondering what the hell this all has to do with ‘soccer’. Well, Italy will be taking their own cheerleader to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Sadly, though, it won’t be a hot brunette with the never-ending legs shaking her pom-pons about. Instead it will be a bearded caveman by the name of Rino Gattuso.
It has become abundantly clear over the past couple of years that the 2006 World Cup winner, who between 2003 and 2007 was one of the world’s best defensive midfielders, is completely washed-up as a player. His legs have gone, he no longer has the stamina and energy required for the very highest level, and he is almost always half-a-yard too slow to the ball.
This has been proven time and time again, and was once more last night during Milan’s costly 1-0 defeat at Parma that has put a huge dent in the club’s Scudetto hopes. Rossoneri coach Leonardo has realised Gattuso is the player of yesterday, and now considers him nothing more than a squad rotation member, often leaving him out of big games such as the Champions League tie against Manchester United.
Gattuso, 32, has made just 17 Serie A appearances this season, having also struggled with injury, and has been substituted 11 times – further proof of his crumbling body. In 2008/09, the veteran made just 12 league appearances due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament he sustained in December 2008. Despite not playing for the remainder of the campaign, Italy coach Marcello Lippi still took him to the disastrous Confederations Cup where the Azzurri bowed out in the first round after humiliating defeats to Egypt and Brazil.
Needless to say Gattuso performed appallingly in South Africa, yet Lippi will take him back to the Rainbow Nation for the real thing this June as Italy hope to retain the World Cup ‘Ringhio’ played such an important role in winning four years ago in Germany.
Lippi will not call Gattuso for his ability on the pitch. Instead he sees the former Rangers man’s presence as vital in the dressing room. A psychological weapon who can help mould a group-winning spirit. A cheerleader.
Thus Gattuso will take the place of a midfielder much better than him, just so he can bark a few orders from the touchline, and utter some pre and mid-match words of encouragement. Lippi will call six or seven midfielders in his 23-man squad. Andrea Pirlo, Daniele De Rossi, Claudio Marchisio and Mauro Camoranesi are guarantees along with Gattuso, thus leaving just one or two places open in an area that could make or break Italy’s chances of not embarrassing themselves.
Consider the scenario where De Rossi or Marchisio is injured or suspended. Suddenly Gattuso is forced to play and against a good side it will be game over for the Azzurri.
For all he has done for his country, and no one loves Italy more, nor sings the national anthem with such passion, Gattuso must not go to the World Cup as a playing member. He will forever remain a legend for his exploits in Germany, but his time has passed. If Lippi is so adamant on calling the Calabrian, appoint him as part of his coaching staff alongside 2006 team-mate Angelo Peruzzi.
That way Gattuso can still cheerlead Italy without hindering them on the field. And you never know, he might just get me interested in basketball again by being cast as his lookalike in the next Teen Wolf movie.
What are your views on this topic? Does Gattuso deserve to go to the World Cup? Goal.com wants to know what YOU think...
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Basketball? Well, my enjoyment of the game began and ended with the classic eighties film Teen Wolf starring Michael J Fox. I just don’t get the thrill of watching a bunch of 7ft giants running around a little court, and the crowd getting excited when they dunk the ball into a hoop a billion times a game. Team A scores, then Team B goes down the other end and scores, then Team A scores again, then Team B scores again. Repeat and repeat again until Team A wins 88-86.
American Football? Well really this is a sport for unsophisticated brutes who just want to clobber one another. I appreciate some of the tactics, but it is far too stop-start and has been annihilated by in-game advertisements. The Superbowl? Well, it is more about the ‘show’, and Janet Jackson’s nipple shield, than it is about the football. I have no time for sports that sell out to business.
As for baseball, well aside from the fact many of its recent stars have been drug-shamed I just find it way too simplistic to get me excited. A pitcher throws the ball in a straight line, and the batter attempts to hit the ball. Where is the variety?
Forgive me for my ignorance, as there is one thing I do actually love about American sports: the cheerleaders. And for obvious reasons, too.
By now you are probably wondering what the hell this all has to do with ‘soccer’. Well, Italy will be taking their own cheerleader to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Sadly, though, it won’t be a hot brunette with the never-ending legs shaking her pom-pons about. Instead it will be a bearded caveman by the name of Rino Gattuso.
It has become abundantly clear over the past couple of years that the 2006 World Cup winner, who between 2003 and 2007 was one of the world’s best defensive midfielders, is completely washed-up as a player. His legs have gone, he no longer has the stamina and energy required for the very highest level, and he is almost always half-a-yard too slow to the ball.
This has been proven time and time again, and was once more last night during Milan’s costly 1-0 defeat at Parma that has put a huge dent in the club’s Scudetto hopes. Rossoneri coach Leonardo has realised Gattuso is the player of yesterday, and now considers him nothing more than a squad rotation member, often leaving him out of big games such as the Champions League tie against Manchester United.
Gattuso, 32, has made just 17 Serie A appearances this season, having also struggled with injury, and has been substituted 11 times – further proof of his crumbling body. In 2008/09, the veteran made just 12 league appearances due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament he sustained in December 2008. Despite not playing for the remainder of the campaign, Italy coach Marcello Lippi still took him to the disastrous Confederations Cup where the Azzurri bowed out in the first round after humiliating defeats to Egypt and Brazil.
Needless to say Gattuso performed appallingly in South Africa, yet Lippi will take him back to the Rainbow Nation for the real thing this June as Italy hope to retain the World Cup ‘Ringhio’ played such an important role in winning four years ago in Germany.
Lippi will not call Gattuso for his ability on the pitch. Instead he sees the former Rangers man’s presence as vital in the dressing room. A psychological weapon who can help mould a group-winning spirit. A cheerleader.
Thus Gattuso will take the place of a midfielder much better than him, just so he can bark a few orders from the touchline, and utter some pre and mid-match words of encouragement. Lippi will call six or seven midfielders in his 23-man squad. Andrea Pirlo, Daniele De Rossi, Claudio Marchisio and Mauro Camoranesi are guarantees along with Gattuso, thus leaving just one or two places open in an area that could make or break Italy’s chances of not embarrassing themselves.
Consider the scenario where De Rossi or Marchisio is injured or suspended. Suddenly Gattuso is forced to play and against a good side it will be game over for the Azzurri.
For all he has done for his country, and no one loves Italy more, nor sings the national anthem with such passion, Gattuso must not go to the World Cup as a playing member. He will forever remain a legend for his exploits in Germany, but his time has passed. If Lippi is so adamant on calling the Calabrian, appoint him as part of his coaching staff alongside 2006 team-mate Angelo Peruzzi.
That way Gattuso can still cheerlead Italy without hindering them on the field. And you never know, he might just get me interested in basketball again by being cast as his lookalike in the next Teen Wolf movie.
What are your views on this topic? Does Gattuso deserve to go to the World Cup? Goal.com wants to know what YOU think...
Become a fan of Goal.com International on Facebook! Just click onto Facebook.com/Goal to join the beautiful game's leading fan community...
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|
| Open an account with Sportingbet today and get up to £100 in free bets! |
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| Sign up with William Hill for a free bet up to £25 |
|
| Sign up with bet365 for a free bet up to £200 |
|
| Sign up with Paddy Power for a free bet up to £50 |
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