ONE last look at the Eduardo Horror Injury.
The hottest topic in football is the injury of Eduardo. The sickening snap above Eduardo’s ankle must rank among the most disgusting sports injuries, along with the David Buust injury, the Henrik Larsonn and the Joe Theismann. The aftermath of the injury amounts to what is basically a channel 5 documentary. Everybody feels horrible for poor Eduardo, but his injury has gained an extreme level of steam due to the goriness of it. The disappointment of a young starlet cut down in his prime could not quite out rank the disappointment of Sky Sports not being able to show the full extent of his injury.
We as a people find it hard to be shocked, television and film constantly breaks barriers of pain, gore and suffering. But there is one thing that people can always rely on to disgust even the most gore-malaised of souls: the clean leg break. About ten people have sent me the leg break and in sheer awe and ghoulishness I have forwarded the image to about another ten people.
Viewers of the incident have their guilt somewhat nullified by the return to prominence of Henrik Larson. Although Larson suffered a similar injury he returned to be an even better player. I hope the same happens to Eduardo. At the moment my emotion reminds me of the death of Heath Ledger. It was clear that Heath Ledger had a great amount of talent, and was ready to explode in the right circumstances. The same can be said of Eduardo, as he was slowly acclimatising to the English Premiership and evolving into a fantastic player. We can only hope that unlike Heath, Eduardo will get to fulfill that potential.
I’m not a hippy, so I don’t believe or claim to understand in the “chi of the universe” or any of that business. However, the Arsenal-Reading game was undoubtedly an example. In one half we see one of the most disgusting and horrifying images to happen on a football pitch. How can the universe possibly redeem itself and restore a balance. The universe waited till added time to restore its natural equilibrium. One of the greatest pieces of comedy ever took place after James Mcfadden’s penalty. William Gallas, the Arsenal captain and normally intimidating gentleman, went in what can only be described as a huff. He refused to play anymore and stopped a step short of picking up his ball and going home. Instead of surrounding the penalty area he sat in the centre circle, sulking. Then he charged at the advertising board like a child. Not even John Ritter (R.I.P.) could have controlled him.
The influence a manager can have on his players was clear for all to see as Arsene Wenger continued to act like a small child also. He was obviously upset about the Eduardo situation, but the viewer is less inclined to feel sympathy for him when he over-reacts every single week. No matter how tasking a situation on a football pitch can be and regardless of him retracting his statement, Wenger must think long and hard before essentially comparing Taylor to a murderer. Especially when on closer inspection it was simply a silly foul (cast your minds back to last week when Gallas was being defended by Wenger for silly petulant fouls against Nani).
The Premiership has two combustible elements: The skill-full foreigner and the classic British centre half. I don’t quite understand how they are expected to both exist in the same arena without fear of an adverse reaction. When a Martin Taylor comes up against an Eduardo, what is he supposed to do other than stick his leg out and hope for the best? He wasn’t malicious he was simply outclassed.
Hopefully Gallas and Wenger can grow up and their behaviour can be attributed to an aberration thanks to the horror of the injury. The effect of a disgusting injury cannot be ignored. I remember coming out of the movie “Any Given Sunday” with a few of my friends, after seeing one of the most inspiring speeches on film, the “INCHES AND YARDS” speech by Al Pacino, we still exited the cinema discussing the fact that we had seen a guy’s eye fall out. The universe always offers an other side of the coin to be focused on so instead of dining out on the Eduardo injury, let’s all forward the William Gallas incident to our friends. Focus on what’s really important, a grown man devolving into a mental state and throwing one of the most classic tantrums of all time.
