Match week 26
A week in which the continuance for self-preservation has proved important and the moments I cracked
I was going in to this week a mess even before everything unfolded. Tottenham has been on a terrible run of losing a few games we “should’ve” won, which will probably cost us at the end of the season.
Enter an away game with Manchester City.
The morning of I felt sick, the nausea was swimming before my eyes and work was a welcomed escape from the build-up of the game. (Sometimes I feel like the games you want to avoid the most are the ones you end up getting all the notifications from and catch all the buzz beforehand.) I was walking back from work as the game started, and might’ve shouted very loudly in the street when I got the notification that Dejan Kulusevski had scored (still can’t believe we’ve got him lol), a joy quickly quelled as Ilkay Gündogan made it level for City. Oh well. I dragged my feet and got home for the start of the second half, reluctant about whether I should voluntarily put myself through this AGAIN, but my adventurous fandom-side got the better of me and I settled in, unknowing of the rollercoaster I was strapping in for.
Composed pressure! Excellent passing! Keeping City on their toes! We went head to head and were roaring - at the Etihad to the ‘run-away league leaders’! We went 2-1 up thanks to Harry Kane, then our 3-1 goal was disallowed (bollocks) and City got than pen in the last minute of the game (cue eye-rolling). It was another sort of nausea hitting me now, as we were the deserved winners of this tie who were having to settle for a point after the usual VAR drama. I had been screaming at the TV, cursing the referees and the whole City team.
Enter Kulusevski with a gorgeous ball into the box, deep into stoppage time, and a decisive header from Harry to win us the game.
There’s this place in the body where a certain type of happiness originates, from somewhere deep within it unfurls and builds like a wave, until it can only exit the body through the vibration of the vocal chords, in the form of SCREAMS. My whole body was jittery and I was on a cloud for days afterwards. Bar Chelsea, Tottenham is the team that Pep Guardiola has lost the most to IN HIS ENTIRE MANAGERIAL CAREER, and we’re only the fourth side ever to complete a league double over a side managed by Pep. Then we lost 1-0 to Burnley, abruptly bringing us all back to earth, only to send me soaring again when we beat Leeds 4-0 yesterday, and Kane and Heung-min Son became the highest goalscoring pairing in Premier League history. I feel like this wee journey quite perfectly epitomises what it’s like to support Tottenham.
There’s been a lot of tournaments going on in this international window of women’s football, and there’s a clear divide between tournaments that are simply named after the location they take place in (Algarve, Pinatar) and outright silly names (SheBelieves, Arnold Clark.) Sorry, I do not have the energy-reserves to hold back today, and those names are really silly lol. Let’s just look through them quickly.
SheBelieves cup was won by the US. The host nation took on Iceland in the final and won 5-0, but the score was not even close to being the most spectacular thing on the evening. Fact is that the game took place in Texas, a state where anti-trans rhetoric is rife, with the Texas Gov. alongside state attorney general, calling gender affirming procedures “child abuse”. The US Women’s National Team took a stance by all wearing a piece of tape on their wrists where it said “protect trans kids.”
Algarve Cup was won by Sweden, after they beat Italy on penalties in the Portuguese heat!
In England, the newly founded Arnold Clark Cup took place, which England won after beating Germany in the final. Many fans were in bits when they realised that England’s central defender Millie Bright was going to share the award for top scorer with Ballon d’Or winner Alexis Putellas.
Meanwhile in Spain, at the Pinatar Cup, it was Belgium who came out on top as they beat Russia in the final, a very controversial participant at this particular time considering what’s going on in Europe right now - and if you think that football has nothing to do with that, you’re sorely wrong.
First of all, let’s just defuse an argument that is thrown around way too easily - there is no such thing as “football and politics should not mix” and “I just want to be able to enjoy my football.” If you’re able to turn your head away from all the ways politics influence football and vice versa, it just means you’re in a privileged position where it hasn’t impacted you (yet).
And, let’s be clear - men’s football has willingly been mixing with politics since forever because … well, money and power.
Take Gazprom for example, a Russian majority state-owned energy corporation, who have been the main sponsor of UEFA since 2012. The European football governing body are currently in talks to sever the agreement which was only renewed last May and would bring in £33.5m annually for the next three years.
“It is not said for how long this will stay the case” is a key phrase however, as there’s been no official ending of the sponsorship. On Friday afternoon, Manchester United ended their partnership with Russian airline Aeroflot.
UEFA are however moving the location of the Champion’s League final, which was set to take place in St. Petersburg at the end of May, with the final now being played at Stade de France in Paris. There’s only one Russian team left in European competition, Spartak Moscow who went through to the last-16 of the Europa League, and will have to find a neutral venue for the “home” leg of the meeting with RB Leipzig.
The Russian national team are set to be playing World Cup qualification matches in March when it will be decided who clinches the the last spots for the tournament. Russia are set to be playing Poland, with Czech Republic and Sweden playing each other on the same ‘pathway’, meaning that the winners of these two games are set to play each other for one ticket to the WC.
FIFA or UEFA have as of yet taken no substantial action …
However, the three federations released an official statement on Friday claiming that they will not be playing any qualifiers on Russian soil. Furthermore, Poland just announced that they are going to boycott their match against Russia all together. Captain Robert Lewandowski said “It is the right decision! I can’t imagine playing a match with the Russian National Team in a situation when armed aggression in Ukraine continues. Russian footballers and fans are not responsible for this, but we can’t pretend that nothing is happening.” Sweden later joined in this action and will not be playing a possible game against Russia. Furthermore, the Swedish FA have called on FIFA to cancel Russia’s qualifiers. Leeds player Mateusz Klich (who Tottenham coincidently played yesterday) posted an official statement of Poland’s boycott on his IG, and Poland’s nr 1 goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny said “my conscience will not let me play.”
Then there’s Roman Abramovich. The owner of Chelsea FC since 2003 and a Russian oligarch who has had close ties to Vladimir Putin in the past, he’s now ‘handed over the stewardship and care’ of the club to the board of trustees. This event follows Labour MP Chris Bryant telling the government that Abramovich should have his assets seized, referencing a leaked Home Office document that allegedly makes the point that the billionaire should not be allowed to be based in the UK, and Bryant went on to claim that Abramovic should be barred from owning Chelsea.
New information is constantly being put out there about the current situation, all from folks with different agendas, so we need to ensure we stay vigilant and fact check, ok?