I'd like to say a couple of things on the subject of Cristiano Ronaldo, who is easily the most vilified player since David Beckham. Like Beckham. Ronaldo has no shortage of haters who delight in criticising just about everything he does, ranging from each touch he takes on the field, to his haircuts, to his facial expressions, to the cars he drives.
Ronaldo didn't perform well in the first two games, but the ridiculous near-constant "negative" comparisons with Lionel Messi which he always has to put up with are, in my opinion, a joke. People despise Ronaldo's image and this influences their assessment of his abilities, with the word "overrated" popping up twice in every sentence, just like it did with Beckham.
Ronaldo's detractors love to point out that his successes can be attributed to playing for huge, wealthy, star-studded clubs like Manchester United and Real Madrid and that he is a dismal failure on the inetrnational stage.
But what about Messi? The same people who lambast Ronaldo and deify Messi generally omit to mention that the Argentine has played his entire career with Barcelona, in an era in which the Catalans possess one of the finest sides in history. If Ronaldo would be "****" playing for, let's say, West Bromwich Albion, would Messi be any less "****"? At least Ronaldo has proven himself in both Spain and England, where the game is far more physical.
Messi hasn't exactly delivered the goods in international football either and he is playing in Argentine sides which are stronger than Portugal. As Ronaldo himself pointed out in a frustrated response to fans chanting "Messi" whenever the Portuguese player touched the ball earlier in the tournament, the Argentine achieved bugger all at last year's Copa America...
Much is made of Ronaldo's lack of goals at the World Cup. Despite his prodigious hauls at club level, he has only scored two goals in two World Cup finals tournaments - and they were against Iran and North Korea. But, yet again, the people who compare Ronaldo unfavourably with Messi won't draw attention to the fact that the Argentine has only scored once in a World Cup. In fact, 16 of Messi's 26 international goals have come in friendly matches. In contrast, only 5 of Ronaldo's 35 international strikes have fallen in friendlies.
If Ronaldo was black, the media would probably be using the points I have outlined above in an attempt to "prove" that he is superior to Messi and most of the White fans who heckle him would automatically concur.
i agree, i don't like how ronaldo was criticized like after his 2 disapointing matches
same for messi after the penalty miss against chelsea, or after his copa america
that's why i said after the 2 first matches that portugal didn't know how to use him to his full potential
like beckham, ronaldo is a very passionate player
both have cryed after a disapointing world cup match for their national team
messi, althought said to be the "good guy" while ronaldo is the "bad boy", is much more perverse than he looks at first glance
both are very representative of their respective countries
regarding the football, which is the most important, ronaldo and messi are very different
ronaldo, like i said, is a super athlete, so he is better on the headers, and he also has a better long range shot (something messi lacks, it was obvious against chelsea because it can be a very usefull thing to do when playing against a very defensive team)
messi, on the other hand, is 1000X more skilled than ronaldo (ronaldo is still very very skilled, but messi is on another planet)
it's amazing that these 2 very different players happen to be WHITES, both of them
it's not surprising for a player relying on skills like messi (althought it could have been a brazilian) but it's really amazing that the best athlete in football is also white
i also thought the same, if ronaldo was black, the media would talk about him 24/24 and he would be considered the best player ever
i thought this while thinking about how they always mentions that balotelli is one of the best, while he has not even 1/1000 the skills that ronaldo has
if i am not mistaken, all the big stars so far delivered the goods: ronaldo, rooney, ibrahimowicz...
the only ones who didn't delivered so far are benzema and balotelli - i hope it will remain this way
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i didn't get the censored word
). Surely Joachim Loew will now have sufficient reason, and cover, to be able to bench Boateng in the semi final.
