According to one expert, a third world war is not impossible. It would be a catastrophe. I am worried. Human imbecility and violence have no limits. Albert Einstein would have said, during the Second World War, that the third would be nuclear and that the fourth would be by stones. I remember in my youth, when I read and was struck by a theory that the world has had other more developed civilizations that were destroyed.
Apart from Putin’s violence and totalitarian ambition, the worldwide cancellation and boycott of great Russian artists and writers such as Dostoevsky is absurd. It looks like the book burning done by the Nazis. Should Russian athletes be banned from competing? I recommend the reading of two excellent texts, published in sheetlast Saturday (5), by columnists João Pereira Coutinho and Marina Izidro.
Good thing there is football in this period of war and two years of pandemic. This Wednesday (9) is Fluminense’s day in Libertadores, against Olimpia, from Paraguay. Flu was reinforced with great and punctual signings, such as goalkeeper Fábio, Felipe Melo, Willian and Arias.
It is also the day of the world classic, between Real Madrid and PSG. I am privileged, because I played in one of the best teams in history, the 1970 team, alongside the eternal King Pelé, and I saw, at Maracanã, one of the greatest football games of all time, between Santos de Pelé, Coutinho and Zito, and Botafogo, with Garrincha, Didi and Nilton Santos, among others.
At the weekend, against Real Sociedad, for the Spanish Championship, Real Madrid rehearsed what it intends to do against PSG, press from the beginning and suffocate the French team, the same as PSG did in the first match. Even the goal by Real Sociedad, at the beginning of the match, served as a rehearsal, as Real Madrid had to turn the game around, as they will try to do against PSG, since the French team enters the field with a goal ahead.
On Sunday (6), Manchester City’s 4-1 rout of Manchester United, in the English Premier League, was a clash between City football, of the present and the future, against United’s football of the past. I’m not referring to the 1960s and 1970s, but to the last few decades, before Guardiola’s Barcelona emerged, which revolutionized football.
While City, as usual, glided across the field, a collective ballet, with beautiful body movements, with an artistic skill, a mixture of technique and inventiveness, Manchester United played repetitive, tied, predictable football, with isolated lunges, waiting for a saving goal, very similar to the football that has been played in Brazil in recent decades and which, in recent years, has begun to change.
Individually, City and United have little or no difference in quality. City don’t have a Mbappé, a Neymar, a Messi, but they have an exceptional midfielder, De Bruyne, and the best collective game in the world, without having a single top scorer. Everyone scores goals. Could it be that, soon, this will also be another evolution of football, among so many that have happened?
If Manchester City don’t win the Champions League, which won’t be a surprise as there are other great teams that are contenders for the title, many will say the team is not objective. Nelson Rodrigues would call critics “idiots of objectivity”.
Victory should be highly celebrated, valued, but success, the historic fascination of a team, only occurs when it enchants.
I have worked in the news industry for over 10 years. I have a vast amount of experience in covering health news. I am also an author at News Bulletin 247. I am highly experienced and knowledgeable in this field. I am a hard worker and always deliver quality work. I am a reliable source of information and always provide accurate information.
