The Longest Month

As I reported earlier, Cristiano was injured in a Champions League tie with Olympique Marseilles two weeks ago.  Diagnosed as a sprain with edema and curvature to the ligament (grade 1), he didn't play in the Real Madrid match with Sevilla last Sunday.  They lost.  Convincingly. 

Doesn't look like an ordinary knock to me...

I, and others who are not Madridistas and thereby are able to back up and look at the real picture, were not surprised that Sevilla pounded the Merengues...they have no defense.  If you listen to any sports guru they will tell you that "defense wins championships."  So this summer Real Madrid spent a king's ransom for strikers galore and barely bolstered their holy backside.  Sevilla capitalized on this and took los Blancos "to the woodshed."  Factor in that RM is a PR machine, with pithy soundbites to keep the masses happy.  That tactic does not work when you are losing, only when you are winning.  When everything begins to go wrong, as it did in Sevilla, then the well-trained birds begin to sing a different tune.  One such example was RM's star keeper, Iker Casillas, screaming at just about anyone who would listen to him during the match.  The co-captain of the team, Guti, just happened to be in earshot when Iker decided to rant about the defense not doing anything...

Iker blasting RM's co-captain, Guti

In a heated argument, heard by the ultra-sensitive TV cameras, Iker told Guti that he had "done nothing," to which Guti responded with, "shut your mouth!"  Giving Casillas some credit, the RM defense hadn't done anything and managed to give the Sevillans 18 corners!  But with that said, I don't think the powers-that-be at RM would like the public to know that everything isn't just peachy on the team.  Rumors of infighting and petty jealousies (mostly aimed at Cristiano) finally spilled onto the pitch in the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.

"without Cristiano...no paradise"

So...Cristiano played for Portugal yesterday in an international tie that the Portuguese needed desperately if they wanted to assure a place in the playoffs.  They succeeded with a convincing win over the Hungarians, 3-0, but their star limped off after the first goal with pain in his ankle.  The Madridistas probably didn't want to risk their star striker for an international match, but there was no way Cristiano was going to miss an international qualifier that would help or kill his team's chances of making the trip to South Africa.  With doctors on both sides giving treatments to the striker and the press in both nations on edge, with polls of "Should Cristiano risk playing in the match?" he decided to play.
As I said above, he played well for the 20 minutes he was on the pitch, but this photo says it all...

Portugal boss Carlos Queiroz shields CR's face as the medical team wraps his ankle

...his ankle really hadn't healed.  Now the Spanish press is lambasting the Portuguese national team for letting him play because their doctors should have known that he wasn't fully-healed.  The Portuguese press is reminding the Spanish press that he was injured in an RM match, not a Portuguese national team match and that the RM medical team failed to realize that the injury was that serious.  It's your fault.  No, it's your fault. 

Not that I want CR to be injured, but the drama is kind of funny.  I'm waiting for the Spanish Armada to park itself off of Lisbon's bay...war is imminent! hehe

It doesn't matter who's fault it is, but Cristiano now has a four-week layoff from playing.  The ankle is worse than it was before he played in the qualifier, as the RM mouthpieces were quick to counter. 

The part that really chaps my hide is that earlier this week when both sides were at each others' throats and RM "fans" were voting on the "should he shouldn't he play for Portugal" polls, the "leaders" of RM decided that they were looking very anti-World Cup.  So they released a statement that they wanted CR to play in the qualifier because it's imperative that the star plays in South Africa.  Why?  Because if he doesn't then they will stand to lose 100 million euros on CR merchandising.

Unbelievable.

This is going to be the longest month.