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The Sheer Hypocrisy of English Media in Football
When you cheat, you are a disgrace. When we cheat, “it’s part of the game!”
You must have read about Maradona being called a cheat. Righty so, one could argue. After all, he scored with a hand against England in 1986, which is the epitome of cheating in Football. But when asked about it, Maradona called it “cunning”, rather than “cheating”.
Call it a difference in culture or mentality, there has always been a dichotomy among football fans regarding what stands for “cheating versus cunning”. Reminds me of another infamous incident, the Suarez handball against Ghana. For Suarez and his fans, he did what was needed for his team. Simple as that.
I understand players want to win at all costs. So, I can somewhat digest cheating or cunning as another act of “everything is fair in love and war”. But, what I can not digest as a fan is sheer hypocrisy: calling others a cheat but overlooking the same incident done by your players.
And this is what the English Media does in Football every now and then.
A few minutes ago, England defeated Denmark thanks to a penalty borne out of a dive by Sterling. But trust me, you will never hear a word about it being a dive from English Media. The same Gary Linekar who would tweet about every wrong decision in other games will never…