I know I shouldn't pollute this intellectual, beautiful blog with football, but this little boy here is my pride and joy. People in this country have the perpetual problem of complaining when everything is wrong and complaining even more when something is right. If we didn't have good football players, we would moan about the fact that we're a bunch of losers ; when we do have good players, like the little boy above, we complain about the fact that he makes too much money and that he can't speak properly. I would like to say the following about these attacks:
1) yes, he makes too much money. He should give some to charity. No disagreement here
2) he's a football player. He's not an academic. He's a poor boy from Madeira who is truly tallented at playing football. That's how we made his way in the world. We should be worrying instead about academics (and yes, journalists) who make grammar mistakes. These days, all you have to do is buy any Portuguese newspaper to encounter that sad reality. And, while we're at it, we should worry about all the other poor boys from Madeira (and they are a lot for such a small, holier-than-thou, bourgeois little island) who need proper help and cannot play excellent football.
Football can say a lot about a country, I truly believe so. My people wave flags during world cups and Euros and sing the national anthem and worship footballers like gods during matches only to go right back to hate their country when the match is over. Invisibility is a hard load to carry and when confronted with it, after the Euro is over or after losing the game, you have no other choice but to look life in the face, with no hymns of glory to crown it or embellish it. Sometimes it is not a pretty picture. But not accepting it does most definitely make you a loser.
My final thought: you go, Cristiano.
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