Sparky’s Column

Argentina in Arabia

 

 

The season is officially on and what a way to start at Jazira with all eyes were on Maradona. It is a strange phenomena when you look at the assembled photographers and the lenses are pointed at the touchline whilst there is a game in progress. I thought the hype that surrounds Maradona would die down after a few weeks, I was wrong. It tends to be the way in the UAE that things explode onto the scene and then tail off. The tailing off bit has not happened with Maradona, everybody wants to get a close to the Argentinian. The post match press conference proved that maybe a few people want to get too close. The press room was packed like I had never seen before and the majority was Argentinians desperate to get near to their idol. The presser attracted a bigger and livelier crowd than some of the games over the weekend. I am sure things will settle I am just not sure exactly when.

 

The game itself was nip and tuck all the way with Bare grabbing Jazira's winner in injury time. The speed of the game almost slowed to walking pace in the last 15 minutes, the heat and humidity making the conditions extremely tough. Lucas Neill commented in his blog that it was one of the hardest games he had played in. The temperature was touching 37 degrees all evening and towards the end of the match some players could barely move. I felt particularly sorry for Delgado who looked absolutely shattered, his running style reminded me of a marathon runner who had hit "the wall". He had little choice but to stay on the pitch as all the substitutes were used and to his credit it took a lot of heart to finish the game.

 

David Trezeguet's debut in the UAE will not be one he will remember too fondly. Bani  Yas led in the early stages of the match against Al Shabab but then capitulated to lose 4-1. The empty stands there to greet the French international must have done little to lighten his mood in a debut to forget.

 

I wanted to save the best till last and the best being the Al Wasl fans. The away section of the crowd at Al Jazira was the biggest in the stadium and it was literally jumping. The fans have taken the South American style to heart with constant noise and twirling of scarves for 90 minutes. I don't know if they have specifically tried to copy Boca Juniors fans but their section could have been straight from the Bombardera. Even when the team eventually lost they still made the most noise and the players joined them on the final whistle. If you didn't know the score then you would have thought it was a victory parade. If that support continues then Al Wasl will have a huge advantage with the crowd becoming an extra player. In fact I think Wasl already have a 12th man in the stands.