The right team won

I supported Senegal unapologetically in the CAF final between Senegal and Morocco. No matter what I would have supported a country I have visited a few times and where I have always enjoyed. But their 0-1 victory after extra time was so much sweeter as it happened against a home side that seemed to have all the favours in a final they felt entitled to.

It was towards the end when Senegal had a goal annulled for a very small free kick. In my view it can be defended, those decisions are always bound to have subjectivity, but what happened after this made it more suspicious, as Morocco was awarded a penalty for an equally subjective reason, a fault of those that can or can’t be awarded. I think that it would likely not have been awarded had it not been for a home team in a final…

Things exploded with the Senegalese players leaving the match, but in the end the penalty was finally taken and missed…

Brahim Diaz thought he could pull a Panenka, but it was the worst Panenka in history, arrogant surely, careless perhaps, and Edouard Mendy just caught it easily.

One felt better for Mendy as Moroccans had throughout the match in the most unsportsmanlike way tried to grab a towel he used to dry his gloves, and they could just watch as he saved, the match went into extra time, and Senegal won on a spectacular goal by Everton’s Idrissa Gueye.

Just sometimes there is justice in football, and Senegal winning the CAF was full blown justice.

Too good for Real Madrid

I have always admired Xabi Alonso as a player and manager, and that even though he played and managed a team that I am not fond about: Real Madrid.

But today proved that Xabi Alonso is probably too good for Real Madrid as the club announced that he is leaving "in mutual consent" after 8 months managing the side and following a 2-3 defeat to arch-rivals FC Barcelona in the Spanish Super-Cup final. Rumours swirl about Xabi Alonso being forced out by the players who never really adopted his ideas for the team. It is the example of a manager being too big for a club, as everything seems to indicate from his time in Bayer Leverkusen that Xavi Alonso is a decent and guy whose football ideas can give important results and that he is respected by his players. 

I hope to see Mr. Alonso succeed in a different club.

Another former player, Alvaro Arbeloa, will take over Real Madrid for now. The team is also trailing FC Barcelona in the league, and from what we saw with Xabi Alonso, Arbeloa will be struggling with a team of players who see themselves as the center of the world.

Some history: Ft. Lauderdale Strikers

Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale is where Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami are currently playing until their impressive new stadium is ready in Miami. I have been there to see Inter Miami, but also visited it before it became the center of attention of the Messi-mania; namely when it was called Lockhart Stadium and was home to the now defunct Ft. Lauderdale Strikers. 

Inter Miami fans should know their history, and Ft. Lauderdale Strikers are part of that history, as they are a team that saw another time’s superstars play in the humidity of Florida. 

Originally known as the Washington Darts, Miami Gatos and Toros, the team became Ft. Lauderdale Strikers in 1976 when moving there from Miami as part of the North American Soccer League. At this time entrepreneurs were trying to introduce football in the USA, and Ft. Lauderdale Strikers became one of the teams that took up the mantle. Under English manager Ron Newman the Strikers hired legendary English goalkeeper Gordon Banks, and by 1980 had a roster than included superstars such as the Peruvian Teofilo Cubillas and the German striker Gerd Muller. The legendary George Best also played one short season at the Strikers. 

Despite the incredible players, success eluded the Strikers; they made it to the final of the 1980 NASL where they faced a New York Cosmos side that included Franz Beckenbauer, Pele and other international stars, and lost 0-3. After a few years decline the team relocated to Minnesota in 1983 before the NASL ended in 1984. The side enjoyed a short rebirth from 2006 to 2016 in a new NASL (which is when I went to watch them), but by 2017 had gone bankrupt, and the pieces were picked up by David Beckham and Inter Miami.