Leyend RAUL GONZALEZ of 31 years of age on the bench yesterday
in his teams Champions League clash against Zenit St.Petersburg. The
player did not get a run all night & his team won, suffered a lot, but they
won & without him.
This has various readings: (a) psychologically the team does´nt see the
fact that their Captain not starting will influence the result (b) Coach
wins in strenght to continue taking the "hard decision"(c) The opponents
will see less of the "aura" of super - player & thus make his playing days
harder (d) the media - specially his backers & protectors - will have less
arguements to defend Raul (e) increasing backlash against the player
from fans everytime he plays bad when on the field.
But perhaps this is too pessimistic. Like all greats they must
succome to the fact that age does´nt have favourites. Even though
your mind is sharp your muscles & limbs are not as quick. That
"slowness", that loss of a second, is enough to change an elite Football
player into a "good" participant. In order to reduce & delay that process,
the Coach & the player should dosify their participation, as the season
is long with lots of competitions which can burn out even the youngest
player.
Then there is the other angle, young players who play in the same position
that are exploding, scoring goals & playing well. The fact that Raul is
still holding onto to his position, is blocking out a younger player who may
well be better for the team as a whole. Raul will soon have to come to terms
that the team is always greater than the individual & SFS is sure this will
happen soon, as Raul has always should to be above such things.
This could be a moment in Raul´s great carreer to allow his head to play
more than his body, to give greatness to Real Madrid via his leadership
& experience. Dressing room support & guidance is just as important,
inhouse advise to the youngsters will elavate his greatness & his
participation in quality (important) matches will perhaps be the way to
go.
It´s the law of nature, nothing lasts forever, what goes up must come down.
The initial sign was the Spanish National team, now it´s Real Madrid & the
player must begin the hard mental adaptation & process that it´s just the
way it goes.
Raul will still be active & playing at Real Madrid for a few more years. He
will no doubt still give us moments of ecstasy with unbelievable skill & plays,
but it will be dosified, puntual & with time occasional. Bench time, as
yesterday, will be a more familiar event for Raul, Real Madrid, media & his
fans. Tweet
1 comment:
this is absolutely madness. this is an embarrassment to him, this is the respect to one of the greatest elite legends. all here written here is about age and muscles, what about experience. he along with figo, del peio and many more is the last of their generation. if there are not any player like these then who will guide the younger ones. you always need a wise person in any group.
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