The thread for Ruud Gullit

With a handball yes. He won it with a handball against Stuttgart.

Not true. I will not show all the videos here but it is certainly more than two. I explicitly say it was not only 'directly' from set pieces, but also indirectly.

The header assist vs Stuttgart is a good example. It arrived from a corner kick situation. It is way more than just two.

In the end though, all his major achievements came with a handball. That is what this FIFA protege and project did.

 

Praasen is a dude who has consistently insulted me (and others). So no, I will not run down all the assists and clog up the thread with videos. He also evades the stuff about (Mexican) referees crying in the media that they 'boohoo' denied Maradona a second World Cup - a run again marred by handball scenes (vs USSR) and other stuff. That was not in the script, not the intention and part of the storyboard.

This thread is also not about Maradona. This one is (click link). Also for that reason I will not run down all the twelve 1988-89 UEFA Cup matches with the assists. With a video for each game.

And as almost all Maradona fans, in the image of their idol, they retort to lies. Because this claim is untrue: "he scored 3 penalties and 2 of those he won himself." He only won one penalty. With a handball vs Stuttgart. The penalty against PAOK was a foul against Careca (this match became later repeatedly associated with match-fixing, both by a Swiss referee and later in 1995 by a French prosecutor when they untangled the network around Marseille and Claude Bez of Bordeaux). The penalty against Juventus was a foul against Careca as well.

So it is a lie. You can say Maradona was involved in the build-up to both penalties, but then the choice is: either he won one penalty, vs Stuttgart, or he helped to win all three. To say 'two' is a wrong answer.

That was the first Praasen statement, and just as the others, it is false.

The next post of me on this thread will be about the 1994-95 season, again.

 

He won two directly himself (was fouled himself) and provided the through-ball to Jansen (who was fouled) for another one.

That is entirely different than that typical Latin viveza that you employ. By no count Maradona won two. And again there was a handball in play.

Politics and the 'mob rule' won the World Cup for him, from vetoing referees to a 'license to dope', not his brilliance. Someone as Goikoetxea actually received a lengthy ban for what he did - that didn't happen all the time when such thing took place. It still doesn't. That has an effect. It is not something trivial.

That is the last thing I say about it. It's not about Maradona.

 

I watched it now myself (for a large part). The Brescia match was a good performance indeed. This might well be his last for Milan.

I can understand though why he lost his motivation, with Capello etc.

People as Desailly are a tactical fouling machine here and was (wrongly) deployed in midfield. Rather than the five number tens of '70 Brazil you had now like the five center backs of Milan.

Some of the fouls are downright criminal and nothing happened. Not even a yellow card.



This scissor kick directly at the beginning (0:35) can break his leg and damage his knee again. No warning, no yellow (this really did typically happen with Maradona et al - the masses, Coca Cola and Kodak had something to say about that).

Little wonder that as the years rolled by he found it increasingly difficult to motivate himself, in Italy and Capello's Milan at least.

 

Yes! That is the solo goal you looked for!

 

I don't think I quite agree with the Zidane stuff (or the Saka call) but sounds as a smart and perceptive journalist. from what I can follow.

Grealish, just like Rice and others, was stolen from Ireland. They had already played games for Ireland and had been part of the youth set-up. For all the money and buying of coaches they have, they need to wrestle players away from other nations. That is how shameless they are. It is not what we do. On the contrary: you can fill a full Oranje XI with defectors now. England shamelesly sees how players perform in a different shirt and then steal them.

They are now doing the same for the Olympians. They steal Australian cyclists for example, who had already won medals for Australia (because that 'we' won one more gold, that is there explicitly and publicly seen as an affront - the Paralympics is their natural habitat ).

"He, like Grealish, has also had to face the allegation that maybe it was done for commercial reasons because playing for England can attract more sponsors and be more lucrative than playing for Ireland ever would.
[...]
West Ham were brought into it, too. Did they influence Rice’s decision? “You have to look at the club,” Ray Houghton, the former Ireland international, told Talksport. “Transfer fees are much higher for players playing for England.”
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5728652/2024/09/05/england-rice-grealish-ireland/

Related to the sponsorships and commercial part, if you play for England (or the Anglosphere in general) there is also more chance in the Ballon d'Or sort of stuff. Roy Keane, when playing for Ireland, didn't do very well in those things. He'd do much better in a different shirt. If he was German or English. De Bruyne for a very long time was a nonentity in the Ballon d'Or. And so on. The typical shenanigans.

They also do now it with Benelux youth players, the ones living here. Poaching and approaching them very early. If there is one distant English grandparent or things like this. Classless and shameless. As classless as Kuper and J. Wilson.

Let's hope there will not be swathes defecting to Suriname, but with the rule changes, expanded World Cups, club World Cups with the American continental teams in (not us) etc. that is possible. Sadly. Fifa changed the rules. Fifa and Uefa give Italy tonnes of money and entry tickets irrespective of recent performances or performance in qualifiers (as said earlier, Agnelli was behind this, said even The Athletic!).

In a different world Gullit is playing for Suriname

Italy and Spain have obviously a long history in naturalizing the odd Brazilian and Argentine. From Orsi to Marcos Senna and Diego Costa.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...side-for-amateur-football-to-end-violent-rows

They discussed this the past few days. 1864 matches (of 780000 matches in total) saw violent or intimidating incidents. A relatively small number, just 0.2% of the amateur games, but with an increase of 50% over 5 years. The Guardian of course does not see this is still a lot better as in most other European countries... that's not how clickbait, AI and pandering the markets works.

Ruud Gullit was annoyed when it was suggested by the host that the increasing dominance of minorities and foreign cultures/etiquette in football has maybe something to do with it. (some of the large cities have now significant minority populations).

Van Basten his comment was "that is shortcutting the corner a bit, too simplistic, as if all the white supporter groups are normal".

For example, this one has a youth population that has for 70% a foreign background (and increasing)
https://www.coe.int/en/web/intercul...ng to the data provided,and Cape Verde (2.5%)

Ruud Gullit cannot stomach that this might import intimidating behavior and mores into football. It takes centuries to build up civilization and culture. If that is normal but you are not allowed to observe this I'd say: play for Morocco, Suriname, Ghana or Turkey then. Defect and play for them.

The Ballon d'Or nominations are out. It was not yet known then.

Let's wait to hear what Gullit says about us becoming the first ever (!!) World Cup or Euro semi-finalist without any BdO nomination (for ex. Denmark with Kjaer had it in 2021, the Welsh Weirdos in 2016 had it, Greece 2004 etc.).

Classic, but the difference with what the awards did in 1994 and 1995 not huge (Gullit very arguably the outstanding Serie A player of 1994 but poorly reflected in the 'awards', even next to other players not present at the World Cup).