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Didier Drogba, faith, God, and destiny.
A friend has started doing Five Minute Friday blogs – you write for five minutes to see what comes out. I haven’t posted here for a while so here’s my offering for the week.
GO
In the immediate aftermath of Chelsea’s victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League final last week, iconic striker Didier Drogba said this to an ITV interviewer:
I believe a lot in destiny. I pray a lot. It was written a long time ago. God is wonderful. This team is amazing. I want to dedicate this Cup to all our managers and players before. It [the goal] changed the game mentally. I’m very happy. Life is fantastic.
You will remember that Chelsea did not win the cup by dominating or playing the best football. They were 3-1 down against Napoli at the end of the first leg of the quarter final. They then stifled Barcelona in the semis, defending heroically but never getting their own rhythm or pattern going. And in the final they were second best on possession, chances created and entertainment. But somehow more stoic defending, closing down, hassling, and a little bit of luck, took them through extra time to penalties where they won – Drogba scoring the winning goal.
Given that extraordinay turnaround since the 3-1 first leg defeat to Napoli, and overcoming two excellent teams in the semis and final, it is unsurprising that people started to say ‘your name is on the cup’ or ‘it must have been destiny’. There was a lot of dodgy theology in the aftermath to that match.
But Drogba’s quote, made in the midst of euphoria, does not stack up to the God that I believe in. I can forgive him, as he is a footballer not a theologian and he is expressing his thanks and praise to God for what is the pinnacle of his career. Nevertheless, the quote indicates that you pray, and God grants. That your future is already mapped out or ‘written in the stars’. That we do not have much to do with what happens – it is all preordained. He is not a God of destiny.
I don’t believe in a God like that. I believe in a God that is sovereign (in charge) and omnipotent (all-powerful) and omniscience (all-knowing) but does not push us down paths that we don’t want to go. Success and failure, health and suffering seem somewhat arbitrary. Look at Job. What I believe is that God guides us in particular directions, and knows what we are going to choose, but does not force in any particular way. A God who responds to prayer requests with ‘no’ and ‘wait’ as well as ‘yes’. He is a God that in the suffering, failure, despair can be just as present, if not more so, than at times of success. This God is more full of grace, as he doesn’t rely on a meritocracy and doesn’t need to be bribed with prayers before acting. He is present and available whatever the situation.
I’m happy for Drogba, although it has taken me a few weeks to get to this point as I’m really not a fan of Chelsea. And I hope that he can articulate faith in his God when things are going as badly as well as at times like this.
STOP. Oh dear, that took 13 minutes. Must try harder.
Sepp Blatter wants an alternative to penalties
Sepp Blatter wants to find an alternative to penalty shoot outs in the next couple of years. He claims that ‘football should never come down to one vs. one’. Yet penalties often decide some of the most important matches of major competitions, and the destination of trophies. Of the five competitions open to premier league clubs last season, two of them were decided on penalties (whilst the premier league itself was decided on goal difference after injury time goals in the final match of the season).
So what is my alternative? The golden goal an silver goal trials of a few years ago were on the right track. The golden goal rule said that the once a game goes to extra time, the next goal wins and ends the game. Silver goal games ended at half time in extra time if one of the teams had taken the lead. The problem with both of these methods was that teams generally became negative. They were so scared of conceding a goal, and therefore losing the game immediately, that teams were reluctant to push players forward in case they over stretch themselves and leave openings at the back.
A better solution is this. At the end of 90 minutes the game goes into extra time and the first goal wins the game, as with the golden goal format. But every five minutes in extra time, each team loses one player. So at the beginning of extra time it is eleven vs. eleven (assuming no sendings off in normal time). After five minutes both teams go down to ten players each. Another five minutes and it’s nine vs. nine, and so on. Potentially at the end of 30 minutes of extra time it will be six a side.
This approach means that the longer the game goes on, the more space on the pitch to attack into. As players get tired they are more likely to make mistakes and give scoring opportunities.
After extra time, of the scores are still level you would have to go to penalties (with the whole team eligible to take one). But I’m sure the number of occasions that penalties would be required would be fewer.
What do you think? Are there any other good alternatives to penalty shoot outs?
Barnsley defender Bobby Hassell on his faith.
Barnsley defender Bobby Hassell talks about his Christian faith with Inspire magazine. He became a Christian in 2009 after saying that he felt empty inside, despite a good marriage and football career.
I started praying again [after about 5 years] and reading the Bible again, and six weeks later I told God that if he was real I wanted him to be a part of my life. Two days later the chaplain came into the club and said he was doing a Bible study and I went. I began to understand Jesus and realised that being a Christian isn’t about having a boring life but about living life and living it abundantly, as Jesus said. I had sudden peace come over me and I can’t explain the joy and freedom I felt.
I have always had a horrendous temper and everyone thought I would end up in prison when I was younger. But that aggression went instantly – it had to have been God.”
What is your most prized possession?
I would probably say that’s my Bible. It’s important to me because I’m very religious. I believe that you have to pray, as well as work hard, in order to get what you want in life. When I was growing up, I prayed every morning and night – and I still do that today.
Daniel Sturridge, Chelsea forward, speaking to Match magazine (30/01/12)
Like this:
Kieran Richardson and Kaka
After scoring the first goal in Sunderland’s 2-1 defeat to Wolves last Sunday (4th Dec), with new manager Martin O’Neill watching, Kieran Richardson peeled away from the goal and took off his Sunderland shirt to reveal a t-shirt bearing the slogan “I belong to Jesus”.
This is, of course, the same slogan that Brazilian forward Kaka famously wore on his t-shirt in the Champions League final (whilst playing for Milan). The Brazilian team is known for their public displays of faith and before the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, they were told by FIFA to stop. British players are usually much more reticent about declaring their faith in overt ways, with a few notable examples.
I had not heard about Richardson’s faith before, but I tend not to listen much to Sunderland players! Some web forums have speculated that this t-shirt was not a declaration of faith rather than a show of support for the Brazilian player Socrates, who was ill at the time of the match and who died a day or two later. But in my opinion that would be an odd way to show support. Perhaps he is genuinely expressing his faith?
Like this:
Premiership Predictions 2011-12
It’s time again to take a guess on who will finish where. Last season I did pretty well at predicting the top six, but got two of the there relegation places wrong. This year
Champions: Man Utd – their squad strengthening has given them an extra edge over the others.
Runners Up: Man City – if they can keep their team spirit together all season.
Champions League Place: Chelsea.
There will be an almighty battle for fourth from Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs, But I predict that Liverpool will gett the final champions league spot, with Arsenal edging out Spurs for the Europa league place.
Newcastle will finish 11th.
Relegated: Swansea, QPR and Blackburn. Norwich will just escape.
The Championship is less open this year than last with some strong teams coming down from the Premiership.
Promoted: West Ham, Blackpool and Middlesbrough
Premier League Predictions 2010-11 – how did I do?
With the Premier League decided today, how were my predictions this season?
Champions: Manchester United
Runners up: Chelsea
Champions League positions: Arsenal and Manchester City
Top four were all correct although I got the third and fourth places the wrong way round
Europa League: Liverpool and Spurs
Positions correct but again the wrong way round (I thought fifth and sixth both qualified)
Relegation: Blackpool, West Brom, Wolves
Wolves survived by the skin of their teeth, Blackpool peaked to soon then couldn’t turn the season around despite playing attractive football. West Brom were always heading out of trouble as soon as Roy Hodgson arrived. West Ham surprised me at being consistently dismal all season whilst Birmingham lost their form after the Carling Cup win to slip out. I can’t say i’m disappointed to see the back of Birmingham. This morning I would have liked Wigan or Blackburn to join them and I’m glad Wolves stayed up.
Newcastle will finish 12th.
Bang on the money (thanks to a poor second half performance against West Brom with us losing a 3-0 lead on the last day)
The Championship is more open this season than it has been for a long time. There’s no obvious big teams to go up like there were last season. I’m going for Cardiff, Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest to go up.
League One – Charlton, Southampton and Sheff Wed. I don’t think my former town of Plymouth will be able to make it.
It’s fair to say my predictions for these divisions were way off. Cardiff and Forest went close but Norwich, QPR and either Reading or Swansea will join the premiership next year. I wasn’t expecting Plymouth to do quite so badly, but the 10 point deduction was the thing that really relegated them.
premiership predicitions
Here were my predictions for the prizes this season (made 2 weeks into the season)
A bit late, but here goes:
Champions: Chelsea (unfortunately)
Champions League places (rather uncontroversially): Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool
Europa League: Tottenham, Man City
Relegation: Portsmouth, Hull, Wolves. (Bolton narrowly escaping)
Championship Promotion: Cardiff, West Brom, Newcastle (hopefully)
I’m still on course for the title and two of the champions league places, and for the Europa league places. Looks like I got Wolves and Burnley wrong but the rest right. Championship promotion is still on course with Cardiff in the playoffs. Not bad predictions in the end then!
Premiership Predictions
A bit late, but here goes:
Champions: Chelsea (unfortunately)
Champions League places (rather uncontroversially): Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool
Europa League: Tottenham, Man City
Relegation: Portsmouth, Hull, Wolves. (Bolton narrowly escaping)
Championship Promotion: Cardiff, West Brom, Newcastle (hopefully)
The soap opera of football.
“It’s a soap opera and has been for a couple of years, and will continue to be in the Championship or whatever it’s called,” he said.
“It’ll be interesting to see the Toon Army (Newcastle’s followers) at Doncaster or wherever. I’m still a fan – sad but true.”
Rock star Sting, when asked about Newcastle United’s relegation from the Premiership.
