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| Adrian Mutu No Longer An Int’l Man of Mystery. Or Int’l Man At All. Posted: 12 Oct 2009 01:00 PM PDT
Mere days after getting the glorious, oh so glorious news that his €17m fine to be paid to the order of Chelsea FC had been lifted, Romania was knocked out of contention for World Cup 2010 before the final day of qualifying. This comes as no surprise given their rampant suckitude during WCQ, but a major disappointment on the back of their torrid Euro2008 qualifying campaign. To add insult to his unqualified misery, Adrian Mutu was then kicked off the Romanian national team. Because he loves the night life, he got to boogie. Days before the biblically important qualifier with Serbia, Adrian was spotted in a discotheque in Bucharest. The tricolorii then lost the game 5-0 in Belgrade. One plus one type deal. Therefore both the manager, Razvan Lucescu, and general manager of the Romanian NT have proclaimed Adrian no longer welcome in the yellow, blue and red, making it all the more official and damning.
Adrian responded:
If we may be so bold as to speak for the Romanian FA: No. No you cannot. At a youngish 30 - drug suspensions can do wonders for career longevity along with a shiny mane - this is clearly a big blow to the Romanian side’s biggest attacking threat and best player. The problem is even with an oft-injured Mutu, they were nowhere close to par during qualifying. So what’s to lose? But why is this necessary? Has he learned nothing? Why isn’t he locked into a dungeon by family, friends, loved ones ad Steven Seagal at sundown in order to avoid more Chelsea-type disciplinary situations? At least it’s not all bad, though. At least now he’ll be able to snap up that assistant manager job at McDonald’s to supplement his Fiorentina income during int’l breaks once that fine’s suspension is ultimately lifted. See, there’s always a silver lining. Even when you’re Adrian Mutu.        |
| Apparently Argentina Asked Peru to Roll Over. But Peru Didn’t. Posted: 12 Oct 2009 07:44 AM PDT Late late 2-1 win over Peru for Diego Maradona’s Argentina on Saturday night, with Martin Palermo scoring the all-important goal in the 93rd minute (and drawing a magnificent Klinsmann-esque diving celebration from his coach, see the very end of the above video.) It was close. Unnecessarily close, considering Peru are rock bottom of the CONMEBOL qualifying group. Which might explain why, according to Peru’s 36 year old midfielder Roberto Palacios, Argentina spent much of the game asking Peru to just give up. According to Tuttosport, Palacios specifically named and quoted Argentina’s Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano, who he claims:
Weird. Would Mascherano really spend an entire match asking inferior opposition to give up and let them win? Or was it maybe just a bitr of (bizarre) gamesmanship? Peru’s 90th minute equalizer suggests they had no intention of “lowering their arms”, but Palermo’s 93rd minute winner proves Argentina ultimately didn’t need them to. But only just. The narrow win leaves Argentina in possession of the fourth and final automatic World Cup qualification spot: Next game is a biggie. Argentina go to Uruguay this Wednesday October 14th, where a win for either team guarantees fourth spot. But loser isn’t guaranteed the fifth place playoff spot, because Ecuador (who go away to already qualified Chile) are lurking in sixth and ready to pounce. Thanks to Alessio from Juventus Offside for sending us the Palacios/Mascherano tip. If you have any story tips, please send them to tips[at]theoffside[dot]com   |
It just does not pay to be Adrian Mutu these days; though fortunately one doesn’t have to pay to be him either.
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