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Time off to ponder Messi, dream teams and camp fires

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Chris Jardine | 22:41 UK time, Wednesday, 30 June 2010

I've been away on my first-ever camping trip this week, which was very well timed as I picked up a slight injury in training last Thursday. It is quite ironic considering that I had mentioned just last week how much I hated missing pre-season sessions as it usually means you'll end up playing catch-up on your own.

You never want to be separated from your team-mates at any point of the season, but pre-season is just horrible. Thankfully, it doesn't appear to be that bad and I even managed to complete the morning session of our double-header at the weekend.

I had already agreed with the manager that I would be having Monday and Thursday off this week. But, because of the injury, I will be in on Thursday hoping to be ready to play some part of our first friendly against Dalbeattie Star on Saturday afternoon.

The good thing about being away for a few days is that I haven't had to watch the boys doing their work while I sat on the sidelines. I've been away enjoying sunshine, barbeques and some sing songs round the camp fire.

As much as I enjoyed being at one with nature for the first time, I have missed a couple of things while I've been away. Obviously, the has been one. Wednesday was the first time I had picked up a paper since watching the match on Sunday afternoon. Admittedly, I've known the results from the remaining second round matches - well there was no way I was leaving my i-phone at home.

There were obviously two shockingly bad decisions on Sunday that were made by some of the best officials in the game. In case there is anyone thinking of something completely different, I'm talking about Frank Lampard's "goal", as well as the first scored by Carlos Tevez later the same night.

Now, I'm not trying to sound like a know-all here, but I knew immediately that these decisions were wrong. Before anyone thinks that I had either England or Mexico in the World Cup sweep, regardless of the decisions, I think both countries would still be back on home soil because I don't believe they would have affected either result. I'm simply fully convinced now that the officials need more help.

tevezmessi595.jpg

I might be wrong, but whereas I thought the Tevez incident was an awful decision, I felt that the official's view of the Lampard "goal" might have been blocked, certainly by the goalkeeper. Was this poor positioning on his part? I don't actually think so as he was pretty close to the last line of defence at the time.

Let's not forget that we probably won't see these officials again at this year's competition either. This is the pinnacle of their career's too and they should be given every chance to succeed.

I could talk about that subject all day long, but I've not even mentioned the second thing I missed - Rolex and Raybans, my World Cup dream team. I'm defending my title of winning the Premier League dream team from last season, but I may have given my mates the edge with being out of the mix for a few days.

I was sitting at the top of the pile before I left and I'm hoping that I'm still in touch going in to the quarter-finals on Friday. I've still got 12 transfers to make and, if I have fallen behind, I'm sure I'll lean on my experience from last season to turn things around.

I think the top men for a lot of dream teamers will have been David Villa and Thomas Muller. I've had Villa in from the start, but unfortunately I never even thought about Muller and he may have been the player of the tournament so far.

The expectations were obviously high for Messi, Ronaldo and Rooney and those three have all been popular in our little league. I've never included Rooney, but regrettably I've presisted with Cristiano Ronaldo and, for me, he has been the biggest disappointment.

These are always the three players that are talked about as the best in the world and there can only be Messi that has looked anywhere close to deserving that title. I wouldn't say he has been outstanding and there is much more to come, but at times he really is on another planet.

I've also come to respect Messi even more after his performance against Greece in the group stages. He was man-marked during that game and, in all fairness, the Greek defender performed very well against him. He never left his side for the majority of the match and left Messi on the deck more than once, but the little Argentine never grew frustrated. If anything, he was more determined and, in the last 10 minutes, he put the game to bed almost single handedly.

I can't help but wonder if Rooney and Ronaldo would have managed to do the same.

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    great blog with some very good points about the world cup. good luck for saturday.

  • Comment number 2.

    Yes the tiny little Messi. There's something about this guy, isn't it? He may not have scored a single goal so far and is always heavily marked, however the brilliance that comes form the man even in spurts and stutters are simply mind boggling. He has set up a few brilliant goals and has had a few decent go's at the net himself. I sure hope our Messi has a bit more in store for the rest of

  • Comment number 3.

    Messi has been something of a revelation.
    Although he hasnt scored yet, he has been inspirational to his side. Other teams are so wary of his threat, that they often commit a man, or even two to the task of locking him down. This means that his presence opens up more space for the other members of his team. Despite this, he has hardly disappeared in the games that he has played in (unlike rooney and ronaldo), and is still playing some fantastic football.
    If Argentina win this world cup, it may well be attributed to a single player (not for the first time).

  • Comment number 4.

    Join the support group on Facebook for FIFA to implement technology:



    Enjoy the games!!!

  • Comment number 5.

    Thanks for the comments everyone.

    Some great points about Messi - he hasn't scored yet but has created so much for his team mates. The guy is simply incredible as far as I'm concerned. I'm certainly hoping Argentina continue to progress so he can keep showing us why he is the best player in the world.

  • Comment number 6.

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

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